Editing SystemVerilog Files

SVEditor provides several features to make editing SystemVerilog files easier and more productive.

Outline View

The Outline View is a built-in Eclipse view that provides a structural view of the actively-edited file. SVEditor populates the Outline View with structural SystemVerilog information, such as classes, modules, functions, and fields.

Selecting an element in the Outline View causes the active editor to navigate to the selected element and highlight the bounds of the item.

Quick Outline (Ctrl+O)

A quick outline can be used to quickly jump to any location of the file you are editing without changing views from the editor view to the outline view. The quick outline is opened using Ctrl+O which will bring up a dialog with the outline of the file you are editing. The quick outline has filtering built in which allows wildcards to narrow the choices of files, functions, tasks etc. within the file. For example, given a file with a task called thisIsAnAwesomeFunction in it, typing *Awesome will filter out everything that doesn't have the word Awesome in it.

Cross-Linking (F3)

When editing a SystemVerilog class or module, it is often helpful to reference a class or module used within the current module. SVEditor provides a context-menu entry and a shortcut F3 to access cross-linking. Cross-linking works when the cursor is positioned:

On the file path of an `include directive. Invoking Open Declaration opens the referenced file
On a class or structure type name (eg class-field declaration). Opens the file that contains the class or structure declaration.
On a field or task/function reference. Figure 14 shows invoking Open Declaration on the expression slaves[i].assign_vi(xi). The cursor was placed on assign_vi. In this case SVEditor will navigate to the task or function named assign_vi within the class of which slaves is an instance.

Content Assist (Ctrl+Space)

Content assist is common in many editors for code files (Java, C++, etc). SVEditor provides content assist that is very similar to the content assist provided by the Eclipse Java or C++ editor.

Content assist is invoked either explicitly by typing CTRL+SPACE, or implicitly when a "." is typed. In both cases, SVEditor provides a list of possible matches for the specified prefix.

Content assist can be used for:

Class method / member instantiation
Module instantition
Variable instantiation
Common Verilog Constructs (always, case, if statements etc).

Word Completion (Alt+/)

The word completion function will attempt to complete the word you are typing by searching through the text in the file you are editing. It is very similar to using the Tab key to auto complete commands on the Linux command line. To use the function:

Start typing the variable (first couple of letters)
Hit Alt+/
SVEditor will complete the word you are typing from matching variables within the file
If the suggestion doesn't match what you are looking for, release the "/" while holding Alt
While continuing to press Alt press "/" repeatedly till the variable you are looking for comes up

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