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Simulation and Animation
State Diagram and Flow Chart Animation
Note
The cursor tracking feature is not available if you are using ModelSim PE.
A Cause command is also added to the Debug menu in the simulator List window and can be
used to update all open animation windows to the simulation step or event corresponding to the
selected line in the List window.
ModelSim uses the drivers command to determine the driver of the signal. If the signal is driven
from an instance which corresponds to a diagram that can be animated and which has data
capture enabled, it is opened (or popped to the front if already open).
If the selected signal is a vector, the driver of the first element in the vector is chosen. This may
be incorrect if the vector has more than one driver.
If the instance corresponds to a state machine or flow chart with concurrent diagrams, the
default concurrent state machine or flow chart is opened although the process driving the signal
may be contained in one of the other concurrent diagrams. The last view of the diagram is
displayed and may not include the current animation state or action (especially if it is in a
hierarchical diagram).
State Diagram and Flow Chart Animation
The state diagram and flow chart views in a VHDL or Verilog design can be animated if a
ModelSim or NC-Sim simulator is available.
Animation exercises the generated HDL for your design and displays simulation behavior
graphically on the source diagrams as well as in the monitoring windows provided within the
simulator.
You can animate individual flow charts and state machines, one or more diagrams in a
hierarchical branch of your design or the entire design. For example, you can invoke simulation
from a test bench block diagram and simultaneously display animation for the flow chart which
controls the test bench and state diagrams within the design under test.
Note
If you enable animation in a concurrent or hierarchical diagram, all the flow charts or
state diagrams are animated. Flow chart or state diagram views describing an embedded
block can be animated but you cannot animate an embedded view which is contained
within a FOR generate frame.
The views can be animated in three usage modes:
•
Animation of one or more diagrams or an overall system with simulation stimuli
provided by a HDL test bench. The test bench runs scenarios which are selected at run
Graphical Editors User Manual, V2008.1
September 18, 2008
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