% render "layouts/guides.html" do

The pattern generator is launched via the Origen generate command, see the command line
help to get details of the most up to date options:

~~~text
origen generate -h
~~~

As this is such a commonly used command it has a short cut alias:

~~~text
origen g -h
~~~

The generator can be run on a single file:

~~~text
origen g pattern/ram/march.rb
~~~

It can also be run without a path and by just supplying a name, Origen is also pretty flexible
with regards to file extensions and pre and post fixes and in most cases it should do a good
job of finding the pattern that you want:

~~~text
origen g march
~~~

It can also run on a whole directory:

~~~text
origen g pattern/ram
~~~

Pattern list files can also be used, by convention these should be kept in the list directory
and should have the extension <code>.list</code>:

~~~text
origen g list/production.list
~~~

Here is an example of a list file:

~~~text
# List files can be commented like this
# Simply list the name of the patterns that you would use on the command line
march.rb
data_retention.rb
# List files can also call other lists
probe.list
~~~

By default the generated patterns will be put in <code>output</code> or whatever directory
is returned by the <code>config.output_directory</code> attribute in <code>application.rb</code>.

Submit to the LSF by appending <code>-l</code> and optionally interactively
wait for completion:

~~~text
origen g list/production.list -l -w
~~~

#### Regression Testing

Every time Origen generates a pattern it will check to see if it has generated it before, and
if so it will compare the current version to the previous version and alert if there is a
difference. This can be used to check for regressions when making changes that you don't want
to affect the output, or to verify that the change is what you intended in cases where you
are intentionally modifying the output.

The diff is a smart diff and will not care about any changes to comments, only about changes
that will affect the pattern's operation.

In the case of a difference being found Origen will automatically present you with the diff command
to run if you want to view the change.

To accept changes or to start tracking the differences in a pattern (or patterns) run the following command
after generating:

~~~text
origen save all
~~~

#### Programmatically Launching the Generator

If you start writing your own [commands](<%= path "guides/misc/commands" %>) you may want
to launch the generator from Ruby, do that as follows:

~~~ruby
Origen.app.runner.launch action: :generate,
                       files: "list/production.list"
~~~

This can be combined with [Target Loops](<%= path "guides/runtime/programming" %>) to run the
generator for multiple targets.

A generate job can also be posted to the LSF by supplying the same options that you would use
on the command line like this:

~~~ruby
Origen.lsf.submit_origen_job("g march")
~~~

% end