PJN

Overview: Using the Project Navigator



The Project Navigator provides direct visual access to most of the key project information. The Project Navigator contains a representation of the project hierarchy, files, and design units; shortcuts to various menu commands; and many features that are unavailable from other menus. Without the Project Navigator, some of the features of the Quartus® II are unavailable, so Altera® recommends that you leave the dockable Project Navigator window open in an easily accessible position.

NOTE To display the names associated with each Project Navigator tab, you can expand the Project Navigator window with the split bar. The icons that identify the tabs are always visible.

The Project Navigator displays information related to the current project. To view information about another Quartus II project, you must close the current project and open another project.

The Project Navigator contains the following tabs. Each tab displays a different view of the current project and provides different commands for modifying the project or displaying more information about a specific view of the project.


Hierarchies Tab

The Hierarchies tab provides a visual representation of the project's hierarchy and specific resource usage information. The resource usage columns are populated with data after design compilation, and the data is accurate until you update the design, for example by changing the device or device family, assigning logic options, changing the compilation focus, changing the design source code, or making other changes that can reallocate the use of device resources. Inaccurate data in the table is displayed in red.

Listed directly beneath the Compilation Hierarchies folder are the entities of the project. The Hierarchies tab uses different icons to display information about the entities in the project. For example, the blue square around an entity indicates that the entity is the current compilation focus. After you compile a design, if the design contains more than one entity, a + icon appears beside the entity that has the compilation focus. You can change the entities that appear beneath the top-level entity in the hierarchies list into top-level entities that have the compilation focus with the Add Current Entity at Top Level command (Project menu).

The Hierarchies tab display updates when you add or remove a top-level entity and when you compile a design. The lower-level entities in the Hierarchies tab follow the naming format <entity>:<instance>.

Files Tab

The Files tab displays the files associated with the current project. The Files tab display updates when you add or remove files in a project. The Device Design Files and Software Files folders list the design and software files associated with the current project. The Other Files folder lists ancillary files associated with the current project, such as waveform files, and HTML, Word, and text documents. The Quartus II software automatically sorts all files into the Device Design Files, Software Files, and Other Files folders, according to the file extensions. You can identify the file type of each file in the Device Design Files folder by the letter that appears on the file icon.

The files in the Device Design Files and Software Files folders are named according to relative path names (relative to the project directory). The files in the Other Files folder are named according to absolute path names.

Design Units Tab

The Design Units tab displays the design units in the project. The Design Units folder is empty until you compile or simulate a design. After you compile or simulate a design, the design units appear beneath the Design Units folder. Click the + icon beside any design unit to expand it and view the name and icon of the corresponding source file. You can also open the source file from this tab.

The Design Units tab display updates when you compile or simulate a design. You can identify the type of each design unit by the letters that appear on the design unit icon.


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