Specifications

48 www.xilinx.com Embedded System Tools Guide (EDK 6.2i)
1-800-255-7778 UG111 (v1.4) January 30, 2004
Chapter 2: Xilinx Platform Studio (XPS)
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1. Generate Netlist: This button calls the platform building tool PlatGen with the correct
MHS file and produces the netlist files in NGC format.
2.
Generate Bitstream: If using XPS for implementation tools, this button calls the tool
xflow with the fast_runtime.opt and bitgen.ut files residing in the etc. directory in the
project directory. XFlow in turn calls the Xilinx iSE Implementation tools. If using
ProjNav for the implementation flow, the button is greyed out. User must use
Tools o
Export to ProjNav menu to add the XPS files into ProjNav project, run the complete
flow in ProjNav and then use
Tools o Import from ProjNav menu to import bitstream
and bmm files back into the flow.
Merging Hardware and Software Flows and Downloading
1. Update Bitstream: This button invokes the tool bitinit. This is the stage where the
hardware and the software flows come together. This button also calls hardware and
software flow tools if required. At the end of this stage, users get download.bit file
which contains information regarding both the software and the hardware part of the
design.
2.
Generate SystemACE File: This menu item generates a SystemACE file. This option
is available only when you have single processor in your system. This option is
available only on windows and linux platform in this release. Note that there is no
toolbar button for this option.
3.
Download Bitstream: This button downloads the download.bit file onto the target
board using the Xilinx iMPACT tool in batch mode. XPS uses the file
etc/download.cmd for downloading the bitstream.
XPS generates a makefile in the project directory and calls the corresponding target. The
dependencies between various tools being run is take care of by the Makefile.
When LibGen is invoked, an MSS file is created for the software specification. When the
user exits the application, a prompt to save the current project appears.
ISE Project Navigator Interface
If ISE (ProjNav) is chosen for implementation flow in the Project Options dialog box, then
user must specify the ProjNav project (NPL) file. ProjNav will run implementation tools in
the directory where this ProjNav project file is created. Default NPL file location is
<proj_dir>/projnav/<proj_name>.npl. It is recommended not to use implementation
directory for ProjNav flow since XPS clean mechanism deletes this directory. To run the
ProjNav flow, user can create a new ProjNav project file or specify an already existing
ProjNav project file.
Menu option
Tools o Export ProjNav Project adds the required vhdl and bmm files to
the ProjNav project. It also sets the ProjNav option Macro Search Path to
<proj_dir>/implementation so that implementation tools can locate ngc files generated by
PlatGen or XST.
Menu option
Tools o Import ProjNav Project gives user the option to import a bitstream
and a bmm file back into the XPS Project. The bit file should be the one generated by bitgen
at the end of implementation tools. The bmm file should also be the one generated by
bitgen, which has BRAM placement information. XPS copies the bit and bmm files into the
implementation directory as <mhsbasename>.bit and <mhsbasename>_bd.bmm
respectively.