Setting up an SVE Project

Before editing source with SVEditor, an SVEditor project must be created and configured. There are five steps to setting up an SVEditor project:

Create an Eclipse project around the source
Set variables to point to external sources
Create an argument file to specify the root files
Specify SVEditor project properties
Rebuild the project and check results

This step-by-step guide will use the UBus example, provided as part of the UVM package, as an example.

Step1: Create an Eclipse Project

The first step in setting up an SVEditor project is to create an Eclipse project around the source to be edited. In the case of this example, the source that we are most interested in is the source for the UBus test bench environment. A video is available showing project Creation..

Start by making sure the System Verilog Perspective is open
1. Window>Perspective>Open Perspective>Other>SystemVerilog
Start the System Verilog Wizard
1. File>New>SVE Project

Next, the project name must be specified and the physical location of the source files selected. To do this:
1. Specify the project name as ubus
2. Uncheck the Use default location check box
3. Select the location Browse button, and navigate to the directory where the source is

Hit Next
Next we need to specify the argument file. An argument file is typically a .f file, which contains a list of files in the design
1. In this particular example, a argument (.f) file does not exist, so this step will be skipped
2. If an argument file(s) exist, please select them now
Select Finish to create the project around the existing UBus source. The new ubus project will be shown in the Project Explorer.
At this point you will be able to edit your code.

Optional Project Creation Topics

Step 2: Create an Argument File - Optional

If you already have an argument file(s) please skip this step.

Source files, include paths, and other directives are specified to SVEditor via an argument file. Argument files should have a .f file extension.

There are two mechanisms for creating argument files within Eclipse:

Please refer to the SystemVerilog Filelist Wizard tutorial to guide you through argument file creation using the "New Filelist Wizard"
Please refer to the Importing Compilation Arguments video to guide you through argument file creation through an existing build structure (Makefiles)

Step 3: Specify Project Argument File - Optional

An argument file tells the Eclipse which files are included in the project. If you didn't add the argument file in the wizard, or have your own argument file, the following steps show you how this can be added to the Eclipse Project.

Open the Project Explorer window
Browse to the argument file in your hierarchy
Right-click on the argument (.f) file
Select Add Argument File to Project

Step 4: Rebuild Project and Check Results - Optional

Finally, we need to rebuild the project index and confirm that the project paths are properly specified. Rebuild the index by selecting the ubus project, then selecting Rebuild SV Index from the context menu.

After the project index is rebuilt, source files managed by the index will be shown with a small blue dot in the project explorer.

Note: that the source files, and files included by the root files, are annotated with a blue dot. Note that files that are not included in the index, such as the Makefiles, are not annotated with a blue dot.

Advanced Project Topics

External-Source Code

Many, if not most, test bench environments use some external components. These components could be verification IP, components that are shared across projects, or verification methodology libraries.

One of the easiest ways to reference these external components is to define a variable that points to the external source.

Note: If an environment variable points to the external component, this variable can be used directly. There is no need to define a variable, as described in this section.

The ubus project depends on the UVM library. We will define a variable named UVM_HOME to point to the installation location of the UVM library. We will refer to this variable when specifying the files for SVEditor to parse.

Select Window->Preferences from the main Eclipse menu.

Navigate to the General->Workspace->Linked Resources category.

Select the New button, and specify the name of the variable and path to the file or folder. In this case, we specify UVM_HOME as the variable and the location where the UVM library is installed.

Resource Filters

On larger projects it becomes useful to have Eclipse ignore selected resources or include only selected resources. Files to exclude are typically generated files, that just add clutter to the Eclipse workspace. Examples may include:

Compiled Verilog code
Binary files
Log files

These can be configured in the Verilog Properties as follows:

Open up the Project Properties as shown above
Go to the resource filters (Resource > Resource Filters)
Include / exclude files & folders as applicable

Note: When this is done your Project Explorer view will reflect these changes (not show resources filtered out / be limited to selected resources), and Open Resource Ctrl+Shift+R will no longer list excluded resources.

Automation of Project Creation

It is reasonably easy to automate the generation of the project files used by eclipse to work on your project and save having to go through all the steps above each time you create a new user area / switch projects.

Please refer to the Automating Project Setup page for more details.

Last updated February 2018, v1.8.4

Google Sites

Report abuse