Answers Database

Foundation XVHDL, F1.3/F1.4: Bidirectional pins must be described in top-level entity


Record #2591

Product Family:  Software

Product Line:  Metamor

Problem Title:
Foundation XVHDL, F1.3/F1.4:  Bidirectional pins must be described in
top-level entity



Problem Description:
Keywords:  VHDL, Metamor, bidirectional

Urgency:  Standard

General Description:

Due to the hierarchical nature of EDIF and the way in which
Metamor compiles hierarchical VHDL designs, bidirectional I/O
must be fully described in the top-level entity to avoid
illegal connections being made at the boundary of the top-level
entity and the lower-level macros.


Solution 1:

For bidirectional pins, the top-level entity should
have the port declared as 'inout', and the 3-state function of
the output should be described in the top-level entity.  The
lower-level entity should therefore have 2 ports, one for the
input side of the bidi pin ('in'), and one for the output side
of the bidi pin ('out').  Additionally, the 3-state enable
signal may also now be an output port of the lower-level macro,
since the output 3-state functionality is now described in the
top-level entity.



End of Record #2591