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Active-HDL

Copyright Aldec, Inc.

Signal Alias Editor

Table Of Contents
Signal Alias Editor............................................................................................................................ 1 Signal Alias Editor Window ...................................................................................................... 1 Using Aliases............................................................................................................................ 2 Procedures................................................................................................................................... 3 Create an alias ......................................................................................................................... 3 Create a mapping ..................................................................................................................... 3 Edit alias/mapping .................................................................................................................... 4 Remove an alias....................................................................................................................... 5 Remove a mapping .................................................................................................................. 6 Index ................................................................................................................................................ 7

Signal Alias Editor


The Signal Alias Editor allows the creation of aliases for real signal values displayed by the Memory or Waveform Viewer/Editor window. It can be useful in Verilog designs to display userfriendly mnemonics instead of hexadecimal numbers (e.g. corresponding in VHDL, the enumerated type used to specify values of the state register of the state machine). This tool allows you to assign your own easy-to-recognize design mnemonics to real values of signals displayed in the waveform window. Such defined aliases can be saved to a user-defined Alias Configuration file (*.xml) and location. To open the Signal Alias Editor window, choose Signal Alias Editor from the Tools menu, click the Edit Aliases button in the Signal Properties dialog box (in the Waveform Viewer/Editor window), or Aliases button in the Memory View - Properties dialog box.

Signal Alias Editor Window


The Signal Alias Editor allows creating and modifying signal aliases. It can be used to: Create a new alias Create new value mappings for existing aliases Modify or delete existing aliases and their value mappings

The Signal Alias Editor window is shown below:

Columns Alias Name Lists all existing aliases. Clicking Add new aliases creates a new alias. Value/Mnemonic List the value/mnemonic pairs of the alias selected in the Name column. Clicking Add new mapping creates a new mapping for the selected alias. This Others edit box allows you to define a mnemonic that will represent all values that are not defined in the mapping list for the specified alias.

Others

Accelerators 1

Button Description Allows you to open the Alias Configuration file (*.xml) with user-defined definitions of Ctrl+L aliases Saves changes to the current Alias Configuration file (*.xml). Saves changes made to alias definitions to the user-defined file and location. Adds a new alias to the Name column.

Ctrl+S

Ctrl+N

Ctrl+M

Adds a new value mapping to the Value column.

Del F1

Deletes the selected mapping item(s) or alias(es). Opens the on-line documentation.

Using Aliases
An alias maps values into mnemonics (literals defined by the user). A value can be a number or object of the enumeration type. The purpose of the alias is to represent some values in an easyto-recognize form. The aliases are managed by the Signal Alias Editor window. The Signal Alias Editor allows creating new aliases as well as modifying and deleting the existing ones. To open the Signal Alias Editor, choose Signal Alias Editor from the Tools menu, click the Edit Aliases button in the Signal Properties dialog box (in the Waveform Viewer/Editor window), or Aliases button in the Memory View - Properties dialog box. The left pane (Name column) shows the names of existing aliases while the right one lists value mappings for the alias highlighted in the Name column. If you have made some changes and you try to close the Signal Alias Editor window, you will be asked to confirm whether you want to save the changes or not. In the Signal Alias Editor window, you can: Add or create an alias Add or create a new mapping Edit an alias Delete an alias Delete a mapping

The changes made in the Signal Alias Editor window are saved when you click the OK button. To discard any changes, click the Cancel button. By default, alias definitions are stored in the \Dat\aliases.xml file. However, they can be saved to another location by using the Save Aliases to Custom Location option. Saving the definition to the file allows using it by other users and

and on other computers. To load the previously saved Alias Configuration, choose open point to the definition file.

Procedures Create an alias


1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. Click the Add new alias button or the Add new alias label (column Name). 3. Enter the name of the alias in the place indicated by a flashing cursor and hit the Enter key. The Add new mapping label will appear in the Value column of the right pane.

NOTE: The names of aliases are case-sensitive. Alias "TrueAndFalse" is not the same as "trueandfalse".

Create a mapping
1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. Select the alias in the Name column for which you want to add a new mapping or create a new alias first. 3. Click the Add new mapping label (column Value) or the Add new mapping button. 4. Enter the value in the Value column and its mnemonic in the Mnemonic column and press Enter. You can define the same value for more than one item of the mapping list. To do this: 5. Select values by clicking them with the Shift or Ctrl key held down. 6. Click the button.

7. Enter a new mnemonic for the selected values in the Set mnemonic dialog box. The Others edit box allows users to supply the name for values not included in the current alias mapping list. Example: Mapping:

Value 0 1

Mnemonic False True

Others: undefined If a signal has four values: -1, 0, 1, and 4 then its mapping will be as follows:

-1 0 1 4

undefined False True undefined

Edit alias/mapping
To modify an alias: 1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. Click the desired alias to switch it to the edit mode (you can use the Edit selected button) and enter a new name. To modify a mapping: 1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. In the Name column, select the alias for which you want to change the mapping settings. 3. Click the entry in the Value or Mnemonic column to switch it to the edit mode. 4. Enter a new value or mnemonic.

NOTE: The names of aliases are case-sensitive. Alias "TrueAndFalse" is not the same as "trueandfalse".

Remove an alias
1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. Highlight the desired alias in the Name column and click the Delete Selected button or right-click the alias and chose Delete from the context menu.

NOTE: If the alias you intend to delete is bound to one or more signals (waves) then these bindings will be removed automatically. The binding(s) will be recovered automatically if you create another alias with the same name as the name of the previously deleted alias.

Remove a mapping
1. Choose the Signal Alias Editor option from the Tools menu. The Signal Alias Editor window will open. 2. Highlight the alias in the Name column and select the mapping you want to delete in the Value-Mnemonic area. 3. Click the Delete Selected button.

Index
A Alias Editor creating a mapping ..................................5 creating an alias .......................................4 editing an alias/mapping ..........................6 removing a mapping ................................8 removing an alias .....................................7 Alias Editor...................................................1 S Signal Alias Editor creating a mapping.................................. 5 creating an alias ...................................... 4 editing an alias/mapping ......................... 6 removing a mapping................................ 8 removing an alias .................................... 7 Signal Alias Editor....................................... 1

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