Re: vhdl to edif

HI,

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert a 
> vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the Xilinx ISE 
> Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor but when I tried 
> to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:
> 
> ERROR:NgdBuild:766 - The EDIF netlist 'synthetic2.edf' was created by the
> Xilinx
>    NGC2EDIF program and is not a valid input netlist.  Note that this EDIF
>    netlist is intended for communicating timing information to third-party
>    synthesis tools. Specifically, no user modifications to the contents of
> this
>    file will effect the final implementation of the design.
> ERROR:NgdBuild:276 - edif2ngd exited with errors (return code 1).
> ERROR:NgdBuild:28 - Top-level input design file "synthetic2.edf" cannot be
> found
>    or created. Please make sure the source file exists and is of a
> recognized
>    netlist format (e.g., ngo, ngc, edif, edn, or edf).
> 
> Any help is appreciated!
> YY 
> 
> 
Hmm is it possible to embedd VHDL constructs in EDIF really?

Then who will do the syntheses?

/michael

Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert a 
vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the Xilinx ISE 
Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor but when I tried 
to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:

ERROR:NgdBuild:766 - The EDIF netlist 'synthetic2.edf' was created by the
Xilinx
   NGC2EDIF program and is not a valid input netlist.  Note that this EDIF
   netlist is intended for communicating timing information to third-party
   synthesis tools. Specifically, no user modifications to the contents of
this
   file will effect the final implementation of the design.
ERROR:NgdBuild:276 - edif2ngd exited with errors (return code 1).
ERROR:NgdBuild:28 - Top-level input design file "synthetic2.edf" cannot be
found
   or created. Please make sure the source file exists and is of a
recognized
   netlist format (e.g., ngo, ngc, edif, edn, or edf).

Any help is appreciated!
YY 

Pardon me, but I don't understand your question, are you saying its 
impossible? I was trying to make a edif file from my vhdl file, and 
synthesize it with Xilinx together with another external edif file which 
uses my vhdl component. I have tried to get Synplify and LeonardoSpectrum 
evaluation version which reportedly can change vhdl to edif, but the trial 
license is taking so long to arrive and I'm running out of time.

YY

"Michael Laajanen" <michael_laajanen@yahoo.com> wrote in message 
news:44ueg2F423kvU1@individual.net...
> HI,
>
> Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
>> Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert 
>> a vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the 
>> Xilinx ISE Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor 
>> but when I tried to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:
>>
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:766 - The EDIF netlist 'synthetic2.edf' was created by the
>> Xilinx
>>    NGC2EDIF program and is not a valid input netlist.  Note that this 
>> EDIF
>>    netlist is intended for communicating timing information to 
>> third-party
>>    synthesis tools. Specifically, no user modifications to the contents 
>> of
>> this
>>    file will effect the final implementation of the design.
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:276 - edif2ngd exited with errors (return code 1).
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:28 - Top-level input design file "synthetic2.edf" cannot 
>> be
>> found
>>    or created. Please make sure the source file exists and is of a
>> recognized
>>    netlist format (e.g., ngo, ngc, edif, edn, or edf).
>>
>> Any help is appreciated!
>> YY
> Hmm is it possible to embedd VHDL constructs in EDIF really?
>
> Then who will do the syntheses?
>
> /michael 

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert a
> vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the Xilinx ISE
> Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor but when I tried
> to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:

I would try a vhdl to verilog conversion:

        http://www.ocean-logic.com/downloads.htm

and then consider using Icarus Verilog to generate the edif:

        http://www.icarus.com/eda/verilog/

HI;

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Pardon me, but I don't understand your question, are you saying its 
> impossible? I was trying to make a edif file from my vhdl file, and 
> synthesize it with Xilinx together with another external edif file which 
> uses my vhdl component. I have tried to get Synplify and LeonardoSpectrum 
> evaluation version which reportedly can change vhdl to edif, but the trial 
> license is taking so long to arrive and I'm running out of time.
Hmm,

Am I missing something but from VHDL to EDIF is done with syntheses, 
then Xilinx can merge EDIFs to one for place and route using ngdbuild.

Or what are you trying to do exactly, you have Xilinx webedition is that 
not good enough for what you are trying to do?

cheers

Michael

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert a 
> vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the Xilinx ISE 
> Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor but when I tried 
> to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:
> 
> ERROR:NgdBuild:766 - The EDIF netlist 'synthetic2.edf' was created by the
> Xilinx
>    NGC2EDIF program and is not a valid input netlist.  Note that this EDIF
>    netlist is intended for communicating timing information to third-party
>    synthesis tools. Specifically, no user modifications to the contents of
> this
>    file will effect the final implementation of the design.
> ERROR:NgdBuild:276 - edif2ngd exited with errors (return code 1).
> ERROR:NgdBuild:28 - Top-level input design file "synthetic2.edf" cannot be
> found
>    or created. Please make sure the source file exists and is of a
> recognized
>    netlist format (e.g., ngo, ngc, edif, edn, or edf).
> 
> Any help is appreciated!

Xilinx's XST can be told to generate edif instead of ngc, though since 
ngdbuild can understand the ngc format, I am not sure what you expect to 
gain by doing it. You can combine ngc and edif files with ngdbuild, and 
it should combine them fine.

Anyway, XST takes an "-ofmt" parameter, which can be set to "NGC" or 
"EDIF". However, the gui does not provide a method for doing that, so 
you would need to execute XST from the command line.

Thanks for all your patience! I have never used the command line before, and 
the gui seems to only allow a project to have files of the same type: vhdl 
source files, schematic, edif, or ngc/ngo.
Is this what I should be doing?
1. compile vhdl file into ngc file  >> say myngc.ngc
2, "nbdbuild myedif.edf  myngc.ngc" to combine the edif file and the ngc 
file into a single .ngd file
3. use xst on the ngd file?

I have looked at the XST manual for command line...but it looks like greek 
to me. Am I supposed to learn how to do it my trial and error and figure it 
out myself here or is there any some better tutorial out there?
Thanks!

YY

"Duane Clark" <dclark@junkmail.com> wrote in message 
news:zhtGf.23106$Jd.21261@newssvr25.news.prodigy.net...
> Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
>> Hi, may I know whether there is any free program that is able to convert 
>> a vhdl file to a .edf file? I am unable to find such options in the 
>> Xilinx ISE Navigator. I have tried using the Xilinx ngc2edif convertor 
>> but when I tried to generate a bit file from the edf file its says:
>>
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:766 - The EDIF netlist 'synthetic2.edf' was created by the
>> Xilinx
>>    NGC2EDIF program and is not a valid input netlist.  Note that this 
>> EDIF
>>    netlist is intended for communicating timing information to 
>> third-party
>>    synthesis tools. Specifically, no user modifications to the contents 
>> of
>> this
>>    file will effect the final implementation of the design.
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:276 - edif2ngd exited with errors (return code 1).
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:28 - Top-level input design file "synthetic2.edf" cannot 
>> be
>> found
>>    or created. Please make sure the source file exists and is of a
>> recognized
>>    netlist format (e.g., ngo, ngc, edif, edn, or edf).
>>
>> Any help is appreciated!
>
> Xilinx's XST can be told to generate edif instead of ngc, though since 
> ngdbuild can understand the ngc format, I am not sure what you expect to 
> gain by doing it. You can combine ngc and edif files with ngdbuild, and it 
> should combine them fine.
>
> Anyway, XST takes an "-ofmt" parameter, which can be set to "NGC" or 
> "EDIF". However, the gui does not provide a method for doing that, so you 
> would need to execute XST from the command line. 

HI,

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Thanks for all your patience! I have never used the command line before, and 
> the gui seems to only allow a project to have files of the same type: vhdl 
> source files, schematic, edif, or ngc/ngo.
> Is this what I should be doing?
> 1. compile vhdl file into ngc file  >> say myngc.ngc
> 2, "nbdbuild myedif.edf  myngc.ngc" to combine the edif file and the ngc 
> file into a single .ngd file
> 3. use xst on the ngd file?
> 
> I have looked at the XST manual for command line...but it looks like greek 
> to me. Am I supposed to learn how to do it my trial and error and figure it 
> out myself here or is there any some better tutorial out there?
> Thanks!
I would suggest that you use the ISE GUI and its workflow.

/michael

> 1. compile vhdl file into ngc file  >> say myngc.ngc
> 2, "nbdbuild myedif.edf  myngc.ngc" to combine the edif file and the ngc
> file into a single .ngd file
> 3. use xst on the ngd file?

Concerning your step two, you have to declare one of the two as a black
box in the other. You can do this in EDIF by just having an interface
declared with no contents section. The object containing the black box
will be the top-level object. Send that top-level file to ngdbuild with
the other file in the same folder. ngdbuild will automatically merge
them. You'll see it in the log.

I usually use ngc2edif to make an ngc file a black box in my EDIF; I
just take the output of the ngc2edif and chop it down to the (cell ...
(interface ....) declaration, put two parenthesis on the end, and then
paste that into my EDIF file.

Leow Yuan Yeow wrote:
> Thanks for all your patience! I have never used the command line before, and 
> the gui seems to only allow a project to have files of the same type: vhdl 
> source files, schematic, edif, or ngc/ngo.
> Is this what I should be doing?
> 1. compile vhdl file into ngc file  >> say myngc.ngc
> 2, "nbdbuild myedif.edf  myngc.ngc" to combine the edif file and the ngc 
> file into a single .ngd file
> 3. use xst on the ngd file?
> 
> I have looked at the XST manual for command line...but it looks like greek 
> to me. Am I supposed to learn how to do it my trial and error and figure it 
> out myself here or is there any some better tutorial out there?
> Thanks!

As long as you are going to use ngc files, you might as well use the 
gui. The gui does not require that the files have the same type. I don't 
use schematics, but I have projects that include all kinds of 
combinations of VHDL, Verilog, edif, and ngc files.

I am assuming you have an edif file from another source, and you want to 
use it with some code you have in VHDL?

In your VHDL code, just put an entity declaration in for the edif file, 
and in the architecture body, connect it up. The name of the entity 
should match both the name of the edif file and the name of the top 
level entity within the file You can add declarations specifying that it 
is a "black box", but that is not necessary with recent versions of ISE. 
Put the edif file in some directory within your project.

Create your ISE project as usual. In the sources window, the edif file 
will show up as a "?". That is ok. Select your top level file, then 
select the "Translate" step in "Implement Design". Right click. In the 
box labeled "Macro Search Path", click browse, and find the directory 
with your edif file. Once that is set, run ISE as normal. When it gets 
to the translate step, ngdbuild will find the edif file and stick it in 
for you.