13.23 Reference

Show Canvas View

Displays the Canvas

Show Grid View

Displays the Grid

Show Schematic View

Displays the Schematic Viewer

Show Memory Map / Data Sheet

Displays the datasheet for the design

Check Design Rules

Runs the Design Rules Check

Generate Design

Generates your SmartDesign component

Auto Connect

Auto-connects instances

Add Port

Adds a port to the top of the SmartDesign component

Auto-Arrange Instances

Auto-arranges the Canvas location of the instances on your Canvas; note that the Canvas location of the instances is a representation and not the actual layout.

Auto-Arrange Connections

Auto-arranges the Canvas location of the connections on your Canvas; note that the Canvas location of the instances is a representation and not the actual layout

Nets

Shows/hides the nets on the Canvas

Ruler

Shows/hides the ruler at the edges of your Canvas

Grid Points

Shows/hides grid points on your Canvas

Page Bounds

Shows/hides the page boundaries on your Canvas

Hide All Connected Ports

Hides all connected ports in the current grid

Fit All Columns to Data

Fits the column size to the data in the column

Reset Instance [or Net] View to Default

Resets the grid layout for the current grid

Show All Rows

Shows all rows in the Display Panel

Show All Instance Columns

Shows all instance columns in the Connection Panel

Show All Rows and Columns

Shows all rows and columns in the Display Panel

Attribute Column

Shows/hides the Attribute column in the Connection Panel

Top Level Column

Shows/hides the Top Level column in the Connection Panel

Fields

Shows/hides the selected field in the Display Panel

Go To First Page

Goes to first page in Schematic View (when using page splitting)

Go To Previous Page

Goes to previous page in Schematic View (when using page splitting)

Go To Next Page

Goes to next page in Schematic View (when using page splitting)

Go To Last Page

Goes to last page in Schematic View (when using page splitting)

Allow Page Splitting

Allows page splitting; useful when you have a large schematic

Fit to Page

Fits the content to a single page

BIF

Abbreviation for bus interface.

bus

An array of scalar ports or pins, where all scalars have a common base name and have unique indexes in the bus.

Bus Definition

Defines the signals that comprise a bus interface. Includes which signals are present on a master, slave, or system interface, signal direction, width, default value, etc. A bus definition is not specific to a logic or design component but is a type or protocol.

Bus Interface

Logical grouping of ports or pins that represent a single functional purpose. May contain both input and output, scalars or busses. A bus interface is a specific mapping of a bus definition onto a component instance.

Bus Interface Net

A connection between 2 or more compatible bus interfaces.

Canvas

Block diagram, connections represent data flow; enables you to connect instances of components in your design.

Component

Design element with a specific functionality that is used as a building block to create a SmartDesign core.

A component can be an HDL module, non-IP core generated from the Catalog, SmartDesign core, Designer Block, CoreConsole core, or IP core. When you add a component to your design, SmartDesign creates a specific instance of that component.

Component Declaration

VHDL construct that refers to a specific component.

Component Port

An individual port on a component definition.

Grid

Manual connection tool in SmartDesign.

Driver

A driver is the origin of a signal on a net. The input and slave BIF ports of the top-level or the output and Master BIF ports from instances are drivers.

Instance

A specific reference to a component/module that you have added to your design.

You may have multiple instances of a single component in your design. For each specific instance, you usually will have custom connections that differ from other instances of the same component.

Master Bus Interface

The bus interface that initiates a transaction (such as a read or write) on a bus.

Net

Connection between individual pins. Each net contains a single output pin and one or more input pins, or one or more bi-directional pins. Pins on the net must have the same width.

PAD

The property of a port that must be connected to a design’s top level port. PAD ports will eventually be assigned to a package pin. In SmartDesign, these ports are automatically promoted to the top-level and cannot be modified.

Pin

An individual port on a specific instance of a component.

Port

An individual connection point on a component or instance that allows for an electrical signal to be received or sent. A port has a direction (input, output, bi-directional) and may be referred to as a ‘scalar port’ to indicate that only a single unit-level signal is involved. In contrast, a bus interface on an instance may be considered as a non-scalar, composite port.

A component port is defined on a component and an instance port (also known as a ‘pin’) is part of a component instance.

Signal

A net or the electrical message carried on a net.

Slave Bus Interface

Bus interface that terminates a transaction initiated by a master interface.

System Bus Interface

Interface that is neither master nor slave; enables specialized connections to a bus.

Top Level Port

An external interface connection to a component/module. Scalar if a 1-bit port, bus if a multiple-bit port.

Representation of an instance in your design. An instance is a component that has been added to your SmartDesign component. The name of the instance appears at the top and the name of the generic component at the bottom.

The instance type is indicated by an icon inside the instance. There are specific icons for instances from SmartDesign, CoreConsole, HDL, and ViewDraw. The instance icon at left indicates an Actel core.

Bus instance; you can click and drag the end of a bus instance to resize it; also, the bus instance will resize based on the number of instances that you connect to it.

Optional unconnected pin. Required pins are red.

Connected pin

Pin with default Tie Off

Pin tied low

Pin tied high

Pin inverted

Pin marked as unused

Pin tied to constant

Instance details. If there are less than twenty ports, they are listed in the details.

Display panel (default Instance-Instance view). Note the +/- next to the instances to expand and contract the lists.

You can click and drag an edge to resize the columns in the Display panel.

Click and drag the column headings (Instance, Port Name, Slice, etc.) to change the order of the columns.

Right-click the column headings to modify the fields (show/hide Instance, Port, etc.)

Filter button

Output icon (Port field). Shows that the port is a connected (green) output (letter O).

Input icon (Port field). Shows that the port is a connected (green) input (letter I).

INOUT icon (Port field). Shows that the port is a connected INOUT port. Unconnected INOUT ports are white.

Disconnected (white) output icon

Disconnected input icon

Master icon, connected

Master icon, unconnected

Slave icon, connected

Slave icon, unconnected

Display panel instance details.

Name is the name of your component; the default name for components is <instance>_0.

Instance of specifies the component that was used to create the instance.

Type shows the origin of the component, such as Design Block if the component was created from the the Catalog, or IP if the core was created by CoreConsole.

Library is the library location of the core.

Connection panel (Instance-Instance view). This default view of this panel shows your top level, all instances, and their corresponding connections to instances in the Display panel.

Use the filter button to show/hide your instances. Intersections between

identical instances are grayed out.

Also, inputs may only be connected to outputs, outputs only connected to inputs. INOUT ports may be connected to inputs or outputs.

White, empty cells indicate that a connection is possible, but not active.

White cells with text indicate that the cell is connected and a non-driver.

Light green cells indicate that the cell is connected and is a driver.

Gray cells are read-only and indicate that the connection is exclusively reserved for pads.

Blue dotted cells indicate that there are multiple connections at that intersection - the number in the cell shows how many connections there are; click the cell to view the connections.

Black dotted cells indicate that multiple connections are possible - the number in the cell indicates how many connections are available; expand the instance in the Display panel to show more connections.

Diagonal hatch cells indicate no legal connections are possible

List of ports available to connect. The intersection of an instance in the Display panel and an instance in the Connection panel enables a drop-down menu.

Select the pin you want to use to connect the two instances from the drop-down menu.

Icons in the drop-down menu represent whether the connection is a connected input, output, master, or slave. See the Display panel icon list for more information.

Schematic input icon

Schematic output icon

Schematic inout icon

Schematic input icon (multiple addresses)

Schematic connection icon

Schematic connection icon (multiple connections)

Schematic inverter icon; hover your mouse over the inverter symbol in the schematic view for more information on the state of your inverter. An inverter symbol does not necessarily indicate that all your pins are inverted.