Answers Database

Mentor 8.x: PLD_DA can't instantiate components, parts come up blank


Record #130

Product Family:  Software

Product Line:  Mentor

Problem Title:
Mentor 8.x: PLD_DA can't instantiate components, parts come up blank


Problem Description:
Users may find that, upon first installing the Xilinx software for use with
Mentor Graphics version 8.x, it is not possible to instantiate Xilinx
components even though the Xilinx library menus appear fine.


Solution 1:

This problem is caused by the lack of a variable definition for $LCA in the
mgc_location_map file (whose complete-path filename is contained in the
environment variable $MGC_LOCATION_MAP).  All Xilinx library components use
this variable to reference their schematics, symbols, and models.  For
example, the AND2 component in the XC4000 library references its symbol as
"$LCA/xc4000/and2/and2"; therefore, if $LCA is not set, these components
cannot be found.

Here is an example mgc_location_map file:

   MGC_LOCATION_MAP_1

   $MGC_GENLIB
   /idea/user/gen_lib

   $LCA
   /tools/xilinx/ds344

   $zoundz
   /home/neptune1/mentor/xc4000/solutions/zoundz

   $craps
   /home/triton/tran/mentor/craps

The line that must be added is the "$LCA" line.  The line directly below it
should either contain the path to where the Mentor interface (DS344) is
installed (in this example, /tools/xilinx/ds344) or should be left blank.
If left blank, the variable value is pulled from the parent shell
environment, so the $LCA environment variable must be defined to point to
the DS344 area.  For instance, if you removed the pathname below $LCA in the
example location map, you would need to issue the following in the Unix
shell (typically as part of your .cshrc file):

   setenv LCA /tools/xilinx/ds344



End of Record #130