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Answers Database
Using OrCAD Capture with XACT
Record #655
Product Family: Software For example, suppose you wish to put a location attribute on an OPAD to lock it to Pin 14. To add this attribute in SDT 386+ you would place the cursor over the OPAD, select Edit -> Edit -> Loc, Options -> Name and then you would type the line LOC=P14. In OrCAD Capture the translators do not recognize the Xilinx part field names such as "LOC, OPTIONS" (or OPTIONS_1 for XC4000 designs). Capture can translate the default SDT 386+ Part Field names as previously mentioned, so we can take advantage of this in order to place the same location attribute on an OPAD in Capture. The method would be to select the OPAD and then from the menu bar select Edit -> Properties. A dialog box will appear and you should click on the "User Properties" button. Another dialog box will come up and you should click on the "New" button. A 3rd dialog box will appear. In the name field you would type 1ST PART FIELD (remember capitalization counts!). In the value field you would type LOC=P14. Select the OK button on each of the three dialog boxes, and the attribute will be successfully added. Below is a listing of the SDT part field names and their corresponding OrCAD Capture property names. This might be useful as you start using the interface. Capture Property XC2000/XC3000 XC4000 1ST PART FIELD LOC, OPTIONS OPTIONS_1 2ND PART FIELD BLKNM OPTIONS_2 3RD PART FIELD BASE INIT 4TH PART FIELD CONFIG BASE 5TH PART FIELD EQUATE_F CONFIG 6TH PART FIELD $FCONT EQUATE_F 7TH PART FIELD EQUATE_G EQUATE_G 8TH PART FIELD EQUATE_H Solution 2: USING ORCAD CAPTURE v6.0 with XACT 5.x or XACTstep 6.x: The best method is to update ORCAD CAPTURE to 6.1 or later, but if this is not possible, the following methodology has been successful on some designs: XACT's OrCAD interface was originally designed for use with OrCAD SDT 386+ version 1.1. Since the release of OrCAD capture for Windows, the following methodology has been determined to be workable with the XACT software. It will require use of the annotate.exe and inet.exe executables from the SDT 386+ ORCADEXE directory as well as the SDT.CFG file from your ORCAD\TEMPLATE directory. If you do not have a copy of these files, contact OrCAD technical support to have them provided. CREATING NEW DESIGNS IN ORCAD CAPTURE LIBRARY CONVERSION The libraries you need to translate from SDT format to OrCAD Capture format are: For XC2000 designs --> \XACT\XC2000\XC2000.LIB For XC3000 designs --> \XACT\XC3000\XC3000.LIB (also add XBLOX.LIB for 3KA designs) For XC4000 designs --> \XACT\XC4000\XC4000.LIB For XC7000 designs --> \XACT\XC7000\XC7000.LIB To translate one of these libraries: Start OrCAD Capture. From the menu bar select File --> Open --> Library. A dialog box will pop up in the middle of the screen. In the lower left hand corner there will be a selections that says "List files of Type" which will be set by default to OrCAD Capture Library (*.OLB). Change this to SDT Libraries (*.LIB). Select the Xilinx Library you wish to translate and click the mouse on the OK button. Within Seconds a new dialog box should appear which says Save Translated Library As ... This can be anything you want it to be, but it is probably a good idea to use the default name and select the OK button. After you hit the OK button it begins translating. This generally takes a few minutes. When it completes a window containing all of the library symbols appears. Select File --> Close. You have now translated the Library to OrCAD Capture format. DESIGN ENTRY In order to start entering the design you need to remove any of the default libraries that OrCAD capture uses and point to the translated Xilinx unified libraries. To swap the libraries select Place --> Part and a new dialog box will appear on the screen. Select all of the libraries already configured and hit the Remove Library button. Then, browse to the correct Xilinx Unified library directory and select each of the libraries you need for the design and hit the Add Library button. Use the OrCAD capture program to add components and nets to the design. When you need to add properties / attributes to components, it is important that the properties be named the same way they would be by default in SDT. The only user properties which will translate back to a .SCH file are the default Part Value names in SDT such as 1ST PART FIELD, 2ND PART FIELD, 3RD PART FIELD, etc. For example, suppose you wish to put a location attribute on an OPAD to lock it to Pin 14. To add this attribute in SDT 386+ you would place the cursor over the OPAD, select Edit --> Edit -> Loc, Options --> Name and then you would type the line LOC=P14. In OrCAD Capture the translators do not recognize the Xilinx part field names such as "LOC, OPTIONS" (or OPTIONS_1 for XC4000 designs). The translator tools can translate the default SDT 386+ Part Field names as previously mentioned, so we can take advantage of this in order to place the same location attribute on an OPAD in OrCAD Capture. The methodology would be to select the OPAD and then from the menu bar select Edit --> Properties. A dialog box will appear and you should click on the "User Properties"button. Another dialog box will come up in front of the original and you should click on the "New" button. A 3rd dialog box will appear where in the name field you would type 1ST PART FIELD (remember capitalization counts!). In the value field you would type LOC=P14. Select the OK button on each of the three dialog boxes, and the attribute will be successfully added. Below is a listing of the SDT part field names and their corresponding OrCAD Capture property names. This might be useful as you start using the interface. Capture Property XC2000, XC3000 XC4000 1ST PART FIELD LOC, OPTIONS OPTIONS_1 2ND PART FIELD BLKNM OPTIONS_2 3RD PART FIELD BASE INIT 4TH PART FIELD CONFIG BASE 5TH PART FIELD EQUATE_F CONFIG 6TH PART FIELD $FCONT EQUATE_F 7TH PART FIELD EQUATE_G EQUATE_G 8TH PART FIELD EQUATE_H SAVING IN SDT FORMAT Once you have entered the design you will need to save it as a .SCH file so the Xilinx interface will be able to process it. Save the design, and then in the Design Window, select the schematic folder and select File --> Save AS ... from the menu bar. A new dialog box will appear. Change Saved File type from Capture Design (*.DSN) to SDT 386+ (*.SCH). Change the name of the file to save to have a .SCH extension and then select the OK button. You now have a SDT compatible SCH file that can be used to work with the Xilinx interface. COMPILING THE DESIGN Quit out of OrCAD Capture, and go to DOS. Copy the SDT.CFG file from the ORCAD\TEMPLATE directory to the directory you saved the schematic in and then run XDRAFT # (Where # is the first digit of the family you are translating the design for. For example in a XC4000 design you would type XDRAFT 4). Next run XMAKE on the SDT schematic you just made, and Xilinx tools will place and route your design. MIGRATING EXISTING XILINX DESIGNS TO ORCAD CAPTURE. We currently are recommending finishing up existing designs in SDT 386+ before migrating to OrCAD Capture, as the translation process can lose attributes that are not specified as 1ST PART FIELD ... If you must move to OrCAD capture immediately, remember that the only property names which will currently translate from OrCAD capture to SDT files are the PART FIELD properties. End of Record #655 - Last Modified: 03/20/96 12:48 |
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