How to Create a Simple Devices Window

The Devices window is a versatile user content-defined window to display memory mapped I/O devices.

Creating a Devices File

The file used for the Devices window is an ASCII text file with particular formatting described in detail in the Devices  window introduction. This file can be created using your favorite text editor.

1. Open your text editor.

2. The first active lines in your devices file should begin with the keyword [Group]. This will be the primary text displayed in the Devices window. We will use the Altera Excalibur SOPC as our example.

Input:

[Group]
Name=Altera Excalibur EPXA1/4/10 Device Registers

3. The next portion of your device file describes groupings of particular devices. You can have multiple devices groupings using the syntax Device0, Device1, ...

Input:

[Device0]
Name=Reset and Mode Control Regs

4. Type the following to create the Device window shown below:

Note: Each device is composed of cell entries built in a row/column grid fashion. Cells MUST be numbered in sequential fashion. You can create your cell contents with text, memory data, or register values. Review the information found in "Devices Window," under Devices Overview," part of Devices Window for specifics on each type. Flyover tooltips can also be included for each cell. Spaces are not allowed between fields. Comment lines are delineated with a // at the beginning of the line.

 

//-----------------------------------------------------------

// Column Headers
// format is shown as:
// cell#,row,col,type,string,bkgd color,text color,tooltip
//-----------------------------------------------------------
cell0=0,0,text,"  REGISTER NAMES    ",back=gray,text=white  
cell1=0,1,text,"  VALUE   ",,back=gray,text=white,

 

//-----------------------------------------------------------

// Register Names  
// format is shown as:
// cell#,row,col,type,string,text color,tooltip
//-----------------------------------------------------------
cell2 =1,0,text,"BOOT_CR",text=blue,tooltip="boot control"  
cell3 =2,0,text,"RESET_SR",text=blue,tooltip="reset status"
cell4 =3,0,text,"IDCODE",text=blue,tooltip="identity and ver"
cell5 =4,0,text,"SRAM0_SR",text=blue,tooltip="SP SRAM0 size"
cell6 =5,0,text,"SRAM1_SR",text=blue,tooltip="SP SRAM1 size"
cell7 =6,0,text,"DPSRAM0_SR",text=blue,tooltip="DP SRAM0 size"
cell8 =7,0,text,"DPSRAM0_LCR",text=blue,tooltip="DP SRAM0 lock"
cell9 =8,0,text,"DPSRAM1_SR",text=blue,tooltip="DP SRAM1 size"
cell10=9,0,text,"DPSRAM1_LCR",text=blue,tooltip="DP SRAM1 lock"

 

//-----------------------------------------------------------

// Memory Mapped locations for registers listed above
// format is shown as:
// cell#,row,col,type,memory location,access,tooltip
//-----------------------------------------------------------
cell11=1,1,mem,0x7fffc000,4,access=rw,tooltip="base+000H BUS 2"  
cell12=2,1,mem,0x7fffc004,4,access=rw,tooltip="base+004H BUS 2"
cell13=3,1,mem,0x7fffc008,4,access=r,tooltip= "base+008H BUS 2"
cell14=4,1,mem,0x7fffc020,4,access=r,tooltip= "base+020H BUS 2"
cell15=5,1,mem,0x7fffc024,4,access=r,tooltip= "base+024H BUS 2"
cell16=6,1,mem,0x7fffc030,4,access=r,tooltip= "base+030H BUS 2"
cell17=7,1,mem,0x7fffc034,4,access=rw,tooltip="base+034H BUS 2"
cell18=8,1,mem,0x7fffc038,4,access=r,tooltip= "base+038H BUS 2"
cell19=9,1,mem,0x7fffc03C,4,access=rw,tooltip="base+03CH BUS 2"

5. Save the file with the extension ".dev".

Loading the Devices File

1. Select the Devices window icon, or from the View menu select Devices.  A file dialog displays asking for the file.

2. Select your device.dev file and click on Open.

 Note: You can add additional views by right clicking in the devices side (left) of the Devices window pane.

Sample device files may be found in the \Samples\Devices directory of your SourcePoint installation.