Altera Mentor Verification IP Altera Edition AMBA AXI3/4TM - Manual (Page 206)

Mentor VIP AE AXI3/4 User Guide, V10.2b 188
VHDL API Overview
Creating Transactions
September 2013
Creating Transactions
To transfer information between a master BFM and slave DUT over the protocol signals a
transaction must be created in the master test program. Similarly, to transfer information
between a master DUT and a slave BFM a transaction must be created in the slave test program.
To monitor the transfer of information using a monitor BFM, a transaction is created in the
monitor test program.
Creating a transaction also creates a Transaction Record that exists for the life of the
transaction. This transaction record can be accessed by the BFM test program during the life of
the transaction as it transfers information between the master and slave.
Transaction Record
The transaction record contains transaction fields. There are two main types of transaction
fields, protocol and operational.
Protocol fields hold transaction information that is transferred over the protocol signals. For
example, the prot field is transferred over the AWPROT protocol signals during a write
transaction.
Operational fields hold information about how and when the transaction is transferred. Their
content is not transferred over protocol signals. For example, the operation_mode field controls
the blocking/nonblocking operation of the transaction, but is not transferred over the protocol
signals.AXI3 Transaction Definition
The transaction record exists as a SystemVerilog class definition in each BFM. Example 7-1
below shows the definition of the axi_transaction class members that form the transaction
record.