11.7 Netlist Views

In addition to the chip view for floorplanning purposes, Chip Planner displays a schematic view of the design to make it easier to trace nets and debug the design.

Two netlist types can be displayed in the Floorplanner View window:

  • Post-Synthesis Hierarchical View (Netlist Viewer - Hier)
  • Post-compile flattened Netlist View (Netlist Viewer - Flat)

The Floorplanner View window and Netlist Viewer - Hier and Netlist Viewer - Flat tabs are present when Chip Planner is opened.

11.7.1 Netlist Viewer - Hier

The Post-Synthesis Hierarchical View (Netlist Viewer - Hier) is a hierarchical view of the netlist after synthesis and after technology mapping to the Microchip FPGA technology. Click the Hierarchical View window to display this view. The Chip Planner loads the netlist into the system memory and displays it in this window.

When the netlist loads into memory for the first time, a pop-up progress bar shows the progress of the loading process. Load times may incur a runtime penalty for large netlists.

Figure 11-48. Hierarchical NLV View

11.7.2 Netlist Viewer - Flat

The Netlist Viewer - Flat View is the flattened (non-hierarchical) netlist generated after synthesis, technology mapping, and further optimization based on the DRC rules of the device family and/or die. Click on the Canvas to load the 'Flat' view in the Netlist Viewer - Flat window to display this view. The Chip Planner loads the netlist into the system memory and displays it in this window, as shown in the following figure.

When the netlist loads into memory for the first time, a pop-up progress bar shows the progress of the loading process. Load times may incur a runtime penalty for large flattened netlists.

Figure 11-49. Flat NLV - Flattened Netlist

11.7.3 Display Across Multiple Pages

If a hierarchical or flattened netlist spans across multiple pages, the first page is displayed when it opens.

The current page number and the total number of pages are shown in the status bar at the lower right corner of the window.

Status Bar

To go to different pages of the Netlist view, use the left-pointing arrow:

or the right-pointing arrow:

.