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  3. bypassing Virtuoso built-in viewer

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bypassing Virtuoso built-in viewer

vivkr
vivkr over 14 years ago

Hi All,

It is possible to adjust the editor settings so that model files and Verilog-A files are opened for editing with a user-specific editing program, e.g. vim, nedit, emacs etc. The built-in viewer that comes with Virtuoso is really rather limited in its features.

Can the same be done for viewing the netlist or the simulator output log? The best I could imagine was adding these on the model path list but keeping them disabled, but this is a rather inelegant solution, and one would need to do it by hand each time.

Regards,

Vivek

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  • skillUser
    skillUser over 14 years ago

     Hi Vivek,

    I'm not sure about the read-only viewer, but the editor can certainly be changed.  Look at the "editor" variable in the CIW, it might look something like this:

    
      editor
      => "vi"
      editor = "gvim"
      => "gvim"
    

     For the netlist and simulation logfile, I would imagine that you might need to add a custom menu item or bindkey for opening these with the editor, for example "gvim -R" to invoke it in read-only mode, but still have the features of Vim like syntax highlighting.

    Hope this helps you.

    Regards,

    Lawrence.

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  • vivkr
    vivkr over 14 years ago
    I already have set my default editor that way. So I can open Verilog-A files and even files listed in the "include" section such as models. But not input netlists for instance.

    Ideally, I would just like to use my favorite editor for viewing or editing all kind of stuff that Virtuoso throws at me: Verilog code, netlists, logs etc....

    Vivek
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  • SharksFan
    SharksFan over 14 years ago

    Vivek,

    I agree with you 100%.  I too have already have set my default editor so I can edit Verilog-A files, etc. with Nedit, but it drives me crazy that it isn't used when opening read-only and isn't used to display the netlist.


    Perhaps, we should both file enhancements requests for the functionality we want.  Probably low on their list of things to change, but at least they'll know people don't like how it is now.

     

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  • Andrew Beckett
    Andrew Beckett over 14 years ago

    Please do file enh requests. There are quite a few for these already. We are working on improving the view window (it's better in IC615, for example), and with the upcoming text view capabilities, this will get better - but still it's useful to hear.

    Sometimes however changing to an external editor may destroy some of the improvements we want to make (e.g. using hypertext type links when appropriate to cross-probe), so it may be better for us to do that than offer use of a custom text editor. Still, there are cases when using a text editor would be useful, and cases where it might not. 

    File the CCR at least...

    Regards,

    Andrew.

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  • MarkSummers
    MarkSummers over 14 years ago

     Set the following in .cdsinit

    hnlVerilogUseUserEditorToRead=t

    Just be careful if you open something for read and then later open it for write.  If you have two copies open at once you may get your changes reset.  

     I fully agree a better text viewer that is built into the cadence environment is a good thing since the issues like multiple copies open can be handled correctly.

     

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