Integration of ALINT with Active-HDL

Introduction

Active-HDL is provided with an interface to Aldec’s ALINT design analysis tool. By using this functionality, you can launch the design linting process directly from Active-HDL.

Depending upon the specified options, the interface generates a set of macro files that open the design in ALINT, or both open the design and run the compilation-time and simulation-time linting. Alternatively, the operations performed by ALINT can be controlled by a custom macro.

How to setup the interface

1. Prior to specifying your settings in Active-HDL, verify that you have the latest version of ALINT installed on your machine.

2. Open your desired design in Active-HDL

3. Point to the ALINT installation directory:

   • Go to Tools | Preferences

   • Under the Linting category, select ALINT

   • Browse for the proper installation directory

   

   Figure 1. Pointing to the ALINT Installation Directory in the Preferences window

4. Specify your Linting Design Settings to point to ALINT as your linter:

   • Go to Design | Settings

   • Under the Linting category, select ALINT

   

   Figure 2. Linting Design Settings

   Setting up the options

   You have the option to Generate macro or Use custom macro.

   • The Generate macro option controls the linting process performed by ALINT by generic macro files created by Active-HDL. These macro files are responsible for controlling particular stages of the design linting (i.e: preparing the design structure for ALINT, compilation-time linting, simulation-time linting, etc.). The sequence of launching the macros is defined in the main macro file (run.do), stored in the design folder. Under this option, you can:

     • Disable/Enable the Use default compilation and simulation rules option which controls whether the design can only be opened in ALINT without running the linting process, or the design can be opened and the complete linting process is performed.

     • Specify additional libraries to be referenced during the linting process.

   • The Use custom macro option allows you to choose a custom macro file that may contain commands for preparing the design structure for ALINT, compiling the source files, launching the linting process with desired options, etc.

   How to run the process

5. Perform the linting process:

   • In the Simulation menu, select Run in Aldec ALINT

   

   Figure 3. Start the linting process within the Active-HDL Simulation menu

6. View your results in ALINT

Figure 4. Results in ALINT

In ALINT, you can observe your workspace and design created in the Design Manager window. ALINT also creates a violation database (AVDB) file. This file shows the breakdown of the errors and warnings that occured for each design unit. In the console window, you can observe the messages stating the generation of macro files (run.do, create_workspace.do, compile_workspace.do, and initialize_simulation.do). The run.do file is what generates the other macros that create the workspace, compile the workspace, and initialize the simulation. These macro files can also be viewed in the Design Manager.

Figure 5. Generated macro files

For future usage, you can modify the macro files and use them to run your simulations.