Managing Source Files in Project Mode - 2021.2 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Design Flows Overview (UG892)

Document ID
UG892
Release Date
2021-11-17
Version
2021.2 English

In Project Mode, source management is performed by the project infrastructure. The Vivado IDE manages different types of sources independently, including RTL design sources, IP, simulation sources, and constraint sources. It uses the concept of a source set to enable multiple versions of simulation or design constraints sets. This enables you to manage and experiment with different sets of design constraints in one design project. The Vivado IDE also uses the same approach for simulation, enabling management of module-level simulation sets for simulating different parts of the design.

When adding sources, you can reference sources from remote locations or copy sources locally into the project directory structure. Sources can be read from any network accessible location. With either approach, the Vivado IDE tracks the time and date stamps on the files to check for updates. If source files are modified, the Vivado IDE changes the project status to indicate whether synthesis or implementation runs are out of date. Sources with read-only permissions are processed accordingly.

When adding sources in the Vivado IDE, RTL files can optionally be scanned to look for include files or other global source files that might be in the source directory. All source file types within a specified directory or directory tree can be added with the File > Add Sources command. The Vivado IDE scans directories and subdirectories and imports any file with an extension matching the set of known sources types.

After sources are added to a project, the compilation order and logic hierarchy is derived and displayed in the Sources window. This can help you to identify malformed RTL or missing modules. The Messages window shows messages related to the RTL compilation, and you can cross probe from the messages to the RTL sources. In addition, source files can be enabled and disabled to allow for control over configuration.