When you add an HDL object to a waveform configuration, the waveform viewer creates a wave object of the HDL object. The wave object is linked to, but distinct from, the associated HDL object.
You can create multiple wave objects from the same HDL object, and set the display properties of each wave object separately.
For example, you can set one wave object for an HDL object named myBus to display values in hexadecimal and another wave object for myBus to display values in decimal.
There are other kinds of wave objects available for display in a waveform configuration, such as: dividers, groups, and virtual buses.
Wave objects created from HDL objects are specifically called design wave objects. These objects display with a
corresponding icon. For design wave objects, the icon indicates whether the object is a
scalar 
or a compound 
such as a Verilog vector
or VHDL record.
The following figure shows an example of HDL objects in the waveform configuration window. The design objects display Name and Value.
- Name: By default, shows the short name of the HDL object: the name alone, without the hierarchical path of the object. You can change the Name to display a long name with full hierarchical path or assign it a custom name.
-
Value: Displays the value of the object
at the time indicated in the main cursor of the wave window. You can change the
formatting, or radix, of the value independent of the formatting of other design
wave objects linked to the same HDL object and independent of the formatting of
values displayed in the Objects window and source code window.Figure 1. Waveform HDL Objects
The Scope window provides the ability to add all viewable HDL objects for a selected scope to the wave window. For information on using the Scope window, see Scope Window.