Clear/close a 'running' ADE-XL

Dear TempViator,

TempViator said:

The immediate problem I have is that I want to re-open the same ADE-XL as I was using, but I cannot because (per an error message) already running in another window.  There is no window where it exists, however.

As you may know, ADE-XL is no longer supported by Cadence. Hence, I might suggest you seriously consider migrating to Assembler or Explorer. The conversion process is quite easy and Assembler shares many of the commands of the former ADE-XL with a far more extensive set of features.

In any case, I used ADE-XL for years and never experienced the error you suggest. Are you sure the view is just locked? What exactly is the error message? Our Cadence platforms no longer support ADE-XL and hence I cannot recreate your situation. However, as shown in Figure 1, Assembler does have a "Close" menu item.

Shawn

Figure 1

Hi Shawn,

I did close the ADE-XL using the menu item you showed, but when I went to start up again a few minutes later, the message I got in the CIW was that there was already a window running that ADE-XL, so it could not open it again.  (Sorry no screen shot of this.)  Maybe the process was still running?  But I could not get a window going with that specific ADEXL anymore.

Regarding ADE Explorer and Assembler: I have been using them for my own work (and I am a fan), but I was in this case trying to debug an existing ADEXL set of tests for someone from another group without changing anything.

If I can take the discussion into the Explorer/Assemble area: Can I open 2 different Assembler windows (different maestro files) in a single Cadence session?  Can I open 2 of the same Assembler sessions in a single Cadence session, change what specific tests are checked, and run them in parallel?  When I tried this with ADEXL several years and versions back, it seems like I would get data that got mingled between the two. To avoid this I got into the habit of starting a separate Cadence session for each. What is the best way to have multiple Assembler processes/windows nowadays?

Dear TempViator,

TempViator said:

the message I got in the CIW was that there was already a window running that ADE-XL, so it could not open it again.  (Sorry no screen shot of this.)  Maybe the process was still running?  But I could not get a window going with that specific ADEXL anymore.

Without an error message, it is difficult for me anyway to provide any further insight. Did you check the Library manager to see if the test bench was locked? When you open a file for edit, there is a lock file created that will prevent it from being opened until the lock file is removed.

TempViator said:

If I can take the discussion into the Explorer/Assemble area: Can I open 2 different Assembler windows (different maestro files) in a single Cadence session? 

Yes - if there are two distinct maestro views.

TempViator said:

Can I open 2 of the same Assembler sessions in a single Cadence session, change what specific tests are checked, and run them in parallel? 

No - for obvious reasons I believe. There is only a single database for a maestro view and one would not want two sessions to both have write access to the database.

TempViator said:

To avoid this I got into the habit of starting a separate Cadence session for each. What is the best way to have multiple Assembler processes/windows nowadays?

If there are two distinct maestro views, you can have both open in a single Cadence session. However, my recommendation (and mine only) is to use a separate Virtuoso session for each in order that:

a. Each Assembler/Explorer session will  have full access to the resources of the machine as opposed to sharing the resources of a single machine.

b. If, for some reason, one maestro session leads to an unexpected Virtuoso failure, the use of separate sessions will avoid it impacting the second maestro session.

Shawn

Understood, and thanks for the responses!

Dear TempViator,

i  just happy to read my response made some sense! Good luck!

Shawn

A few small additional responses to statements in this thread:

TempViator said:

What I'd like to do is clear it out in the same way I can close all open schematics, layouts, etc. by using CIW->File->Close Data.  But apparently this action has no effect on the ADE-XL. (Perhaps it is really a process, not a file?)

It's not a separate process, but Close Data is really related to Open Access data, and this is not an Open Access view. However, closing the ADE XL window should absolutely close it and not prevent it being reopened again. If you were running an OCEAN XL script and neglecting to close the session for that OCEAN XL session (using ocnxlEndXLMode at the end), this would cause such a problem. Or if you're using some SKILL to open a session that way (e.g. using axlCreateSession). I have not seen the behaviour you describe.

Unknown said:

As you may know, ADE-XL is no longer supported by Cadence

Strictly speaking, we do still support it because we haven't yet reached the "end of support" date (which is the end of 2022). So you can still request support on this, but bare in mind there are only likely to be fixes for show-stopper bugs and nothing else. Since we stopped selling ADE L and XL, and they are not available in the ICADVM20.1 release, you should (as Shawn said) move to Explorer and Assembler.

Unknown said:

TempViator said:

Can I open 2 of the same Assembler sessions in a single Cadence session, change what specific tests are checked, and run them in parallel? 

No - for obvious reasons I believe. There is only a single database for a maestro view and one would not want two sessions to both have write access to the database.

You could open one in edit and the other in read-only mode (you can still make changes in the readonly mode, but the changes are recorded in the simulation directory only, and you could later import that history back into an editable session). Probably not the wisest use model though as it can get very confusing! You can't have the same maestro view open twice in edit mode (as Shawn said), either in the same or different virtuoso sessions.

Regards,

Andrew

Dear Andrew,

Andrew Beckett said:

A few small additional responses to statements in this thread:

As usual, thank you for your added insights!!

I was not aware ADE-XL is "technically" supported through the remainder of 2022. It was also re-assuring to read your other comments are consistent with my understanding and recommendations.

Shawn