f4pga-examples/docs/personal-designs.rst

.. _Building-Custom-Designs:

Building custom designs
=======================

This section describes how to compile and download your own designs to an FPGA using only
the F4PGA toolchain.

Before building any examples, you will need to first install the toolchain. To do this, follow the steps in :ref:`Getting`.
After you have downloaded the toolchain, follow the steps in :ref:`Building-Examples` by seting the installation
directory to match what you set it to earlier, assigning the path and source for your conda environment, and activating
your env.

Preparing Your Design
---------------------

Building a design in F4PGA requires three parts: the HDL files for your design, a constraints
file, and a Makefile. For simplicity, all three of these design files should be moved to a single
directory. The location of the directory does not mater as long as the three design elements are all
within it.

HDL Files
+++++++++

F4PGA provides full support for Verilog. Some support for SystemVerilog HDL code is also
provided, although more complicated designs written in SystemVerilog may not build properly under
Yosys. Use whichever method you prefer, and add your design files to the directory of choice.
If you are using the provided Makefiles to build your design, the top level module in your HDL
code should be declared as ``module top (...``. Failure to do so will result in an error from
symbiflow_synth stating something similar to ``ERROR: Module 'top' not found!`` If you are using
your own makefiles or commands, you can specify your top level module name using the -t flag in
``symbiflow_synth``.

Constraint File
+++++++++++++++

The F4PGA toolchain supports both .XDC and .PCF+.SDC formats for constraints.
You can use XDC to define IOPAD, IOSETTINGS, and clock constraints. SDCs can be used to
define clock constraints and PCFs can be used to define IOPAD constraints only. Use whichever
method you prefer and add your constraint file(s) to your design directory.

Note that if you use an XDC file as your constraint and neglect to include your own SDC, the
toolchain will automatically generate one to provide clock constraints to VTR.


Makefile
++++++++

Visit the `Customizing Makefiles <customizing-makefiles.html>`_ page to learn how to make a simple
Makefile for your designs. After following the directions listed there return to this page to
finish building your custom design.

Building your personal projects
-------------------------------

Before you begin building your design, navigate to the directory where you have stored your
Makefile, HDL, and constraint files:

.. code-block:: bash
   :name: your-directory

   cd <path to your directory>

Then, depending on your board type run:

.. tabs::

   .. group-tab:: Arty_35T

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-a35t-group

         TARGET="arty_35" make -C .

   .. group-tab:: Arty_100T

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-a100t-group

         TARGET="arty_100" make -C .

   .. group-tab:: Nexus4

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-nexys4ddr-group

         TARGET="nexys4ddr" make -C .

   .. group-tab:: Basys3

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-basys3-group

         TARGET="basys3" make -C .

   .. group-tab:: Nexys Video

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-nexys_video-group

         TARGET="nexys_video" make -C counter_test

   .. group-tab:: Zybo Z7

      .. code-block:: bash
         :name: example-counter-zybo-group

         TARGET="zybo" make -C counter_test


If your design builds without error, the bitstream can be found in the following location:

.. code-block:: bash

   cd build/<board>

Once you navigate to the directory containing the bitstream, use the following commands on the
**Arty and Basys3** to upload the design to your board. Make sure to change ``top.bit`` to the
name you used for your top level module:

.. code-block:: bash

   openFPGALoader -b arty_a7_35t top.bit


.. tip::
    Many of the commands needed to build a project are run multiple times with little to no
    variation. You might consider adding a few aliases or even a few bash functions to your
    .bashrc file to save yourself some typing or repeated copy/paste. For example, instead of
    using the command used to upload the bitstream to Xilinx 7 series FPGA every time, you
    could just add the following lines to your .bashrc file:

    .. code-block:: bash
       :name: bash-functions

        f4pga_bit() {
        #Creates and downloads the bitstream to Xilinx 7 series FPGA:
        openFPGALoader -b $OFL_BOARD top.bit
       }

    Now whenever you need to download a bitstream to the Xilinx-7 series you can simply type
    e.g. ``OFL_BOARD=basys3 f4pga_bit`` into the terminal and hit enter.