Xilinx CoreGen fifo - ngdbuild error

Hi everybody,

since one day I am fighting with a Xilinx CoreGen IP. I am using Mentor 
Graphics Precision 2006a.101 and Xilinx ISE 9.1. I have a fifo IP 
generated the Xilinx CORE Generator.
In my design, I make an instance of the fifo and can simulate it. For 
precision, I added two lines to the compilation script:

	add_input_file fifo18w16d.v
	add_input_file -exclude fifo18w16d.edn

Both files were generated by the Xilinx CORE Generator.
After compilation and synthesis, I call ngdbuild and get the following 
error message:


Checking timing specifications ...
Checking expanded design ...
ERROR:NgdBuild:604 - logical block 'inst_fifo/BU2' with type
    'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' could not be resolved. A pin name
    misspelling can cause this, a missing edif or ngc file, or the 
misspelling of
    a type name. Symbol 'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' is not 
supported
    in target 'virtex2'.

Partition Implementation Status
-------------------------------

   No Partitions were found in this design.

-------------------------------

NGDBUILD Design Results Summary:
   Number of errors:     1
   Number of warnings:   0


One or more errors were found during NGDBUILD.  No NGD file will be written.

Writing NGDBUILD log file "Xilinx_CoreGen.bld"...


What is wrong? BTW, this procedure works fine for dual ported RAM 
created with the CORE Generator.

Thank You very much,

Markus Fras

Markus Fras wrote:
> Checking timing specifications ...
> Checking expanded design ...
> ERROR:NgdBuild:604 - logical block 'inst_fifo/BU2' with type
>    'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' could not be resolved. A pin name
>    misspelling can cause this, a missing edif or ngc file, or the
> misspelling of
>    a type name. Symbol 'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' is not
> supported
>    in target 'virtex2'.
Is there a third file in the coregen-directory? There might be an
.ngc-file called fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1.ngc. If so, you
have to add this to your project as well (also with the -exclude
option). The .edn is then just a wrapper for the .ngc, and is way smaller.

I've had this problem before. Even if I explicitely tell CoreGen that I
want it to create an EDIF-netlist for third-party tools, I always get an
.edn and an .ngc, and I need them both. I don't remember this from
earlier ISE-versions, but I might just not have tried all different
settings.

HTH,
Sean

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Sean Durkin schrieb:
> Markus Fras wrote:
>> Checking timing specifications ...
>> Checking expanded design ...
>> ERROR:NgdBuild:604 - logical block 'inst_fifo/BU2' with type
>>    'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' could not be resolved. A pin name
>>    misspelling can cause this, a missing edif or ngc file, or the
>> misspelling of
>>    a type name. Symbol 'fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1' is not
>> supported
>>    in target 'virtex2'.
> Is there a third file in the coregen-directory? There might be an
> .ngc-file called fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1.ngc. If so, you
> have to add this to your project as well (also with the -exclude
> option). The .edn is then just a wrapper for the .ngc, and is way smaller.
> 
> I've had this problem before. Even if I explicitely tell CoreGen that I
> want it to create an EDIF-netlist for third-party tools, I always get an
> .edn and an .ngc, and I need them both. I don't remember this from
> earlier ISE-versions, but I might just not have tried all different
> settings.
> 
> HTH,
> Sean
> 

Well, Xilinx CoreGen created two additional files:

fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1.ngc
fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1_blkmemdp_v6_2_xst.edn

Even if I include both of the, I still get the same error message.

The solution is to add the output directory of CoreGen to ngdbuild with 
the switch `-sd'. Then you need only to include the *.v file in the 
synthesis.

I.e. in the synthesis script only add the line

`add_input_file fifo18w16d.v'


and to the ngdbuild command, add the switch

`-sd <coregen_output_directory>'


Cheers,

Markus Fras

Markus Fras wrote:
> Well, Xilinx CoreGen created two additional files:
> 
> fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1.ngc
> fifo18w16d_fifo_generator_v2_3_xst_1_blkmemdp_v6_2_xst.edn
> 
> Even if I include both of the, I still get the same error message.
> 
> The solution is to add the output directory of CoreGen to ngdbuild with
> the switch `-sd'. Then you need only to include the *.v file in the
> synthesis.
Well, this sets the macro search path for the entire project, and
ngdbuild just takes whatever it needs from there. Works fine if all your
cores are in the same directory, but if they're scattered over several
folders, the only way is to add them all to the project.

If you don't set the macro search path explicitely, ngdbuild assumes the
implementation directory as source directory for all cores. In this
case, Precision has to copy the corresponding files there, which it
should do if you add them to the project with the "-exclude"-option,
that's what that's for.

Don't know why that doesn't work for you, but I've never had any
problems there, as long as I included all the files CoreGen produces.

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