labview-fpga-hdl-tools 0.3.0

LabVIEW FPGA HDL Tools

Pre-release LabVIEW FPGA HDL Tools for use with the ni/flexrio repository.

Getting Started

Read the architecture/workflow background in Theory of Operation.

From a target folder that contains projectsettings.ini (for example, c:/dev/github8/flexrio-custom/targets/pxie-7986custom), install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

All nihdl commands are run from the target folder unless noted otherwise.

nihdl --help

Command Reference

The current CLI surface is defined in labview_fpga_hdl_tools/main.py.

Command	Purpose	Options
migrate-clip	Migrate CLIP assets into top-level HDL workflow artifacts.	--config
install-target	Install generated LabVIEW FPGA target plugin files.	--config
get-window	Extract TheWindow netlist/support files from a Vivado Project Export.	--test, --config
gen-target	Generate full LabVIEW FPGA target support outputs (XML, VHDL stubs, plugin content).	--config
gen-hdl	Generate Window VHDL outputs only.	--config
gen-xdc	Generate XDC files from constraint templates/macros.	--config
create-project	Create or update the Vivado project from INI + file lists.	--overwrite (-o), --update (-u), --test, --config
check-syntax	Run Vivado RTL elaboration syntax/hierarchy check.	--test, --config
compile-project	Run Vivado compile flow to bitstream generation.	--test, --config
launch-vivado	Launch the configured Vivado project.	--test, --config
create-modelsim	Create a ModelSim project for HDL simulation.	--overwrite (-o), --test, --modelsim, --config
launch-modelsim	Launch ModelSim with the current project.	--test, --batch, --modelsim, --config
install-deps	Install GitHub dependencies from dependencies.toml.	--delete, --pre, --latest
create-lvbitx	Build a .lvbitx from Vivado implementation output.	--test, --config
gen-guid	Generate a new GUID for LVTargetGUID.	(none)

Common Command Notes

• Most commands support --config to use an INI path other than ./projectsettings.ini.
• --test validates inputs/settings and skips external tool execution.
• install-deps and gen-guid do not read projectsettings.ini.
• install-deps treats a pre-release specifier in dependencies.toml (for example, ~=26.2.0.dev0) as opting that dependency into pre-release matching even without global --pre.
• create-lvbitx is intended to run from VivadoProject/.runs/impl_1 (it warns if run elsewhere).
• create-modelsim uses vcom -autoorder -2008 to compile all VHDL files in a single invocation with automatic dependency resolution. No manual compile-order file is needed.
• launch-modelsim defaults to GUI mode; use --batch for headless simulation.

Per-Command INI Requirements

Command	Required INI keys (normal run)	Notes
migrate-clip	CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPXML, CLIPMigrationSettings.LVTargetBoardIO, CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPHDLTop, CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPInstantiationExample, CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPtoWindowSignalDefinitions	If CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPXDCIn is provided, CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPInstancePath and CLIPMigrationSettings.CLIPXDCOutFolder are also required.
install-target	LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetInstallFolder, LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetName, LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetPluginFolder	LVTargetInstallFolder and LVTargetPluginFolder must exist.
get-window	LVWindowNetlistSettings.VivadoProjectExportXPR, LVWindowNetlistSettings.TheWindowFolder, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoToolsPath	In --test mode, Vivado is not launched; path-length enforcement for VivadoProjectExportXPR parent folder is skipped.
gen-target	GeneralSettings.TargetFamily, GeneralSettings.BaseTarget, LVFPGATargetSettings.WindowVhdlTemplates, LVFPGATargetSettings.WindowVhdlOutputFolder, LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetPluginFolder, LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetName, LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetGUID, LVFPGATargetSettings.BoardIOXML, LVFPGATargetSettings.ClockXML, LVFPGATargetSettings.BoardIOSignalAssignmentsExample, LVFPGATargetSettings.TargetXMLTemplates, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectFilesLists	LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetBoardIO is required when IncludeLVTargetBoardIO=True.
gen-hdl	LVFPGATargetSettings.WindowVhdlTemplates, LVFPGATargetSettings.WindowVhdlOutputFolder	LVFPGATargetSettings.LVTargetBoardIO is required when IncludeLVTargetBoardIO=True.
gen-xdc	None enforced by a dedicated validator	For useful output, set VivadoProjectSettings.ConstraintsTemplates. VivadoProjectSettings.TheWindowFolder is used when extracting LV constraints/macros; VivadoProjectSettings.CustomConstraintsFile is optional.
create-project	VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectName, VivadoProjectSettings.TopLevelEntity, VivadoProjectSettings.FPGAPart, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectFilesLists	Non-test adds VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoToolsPath. If UseGeneratedLVWindowFiles=True, VivadoProjectSettings.TheWindowFolder is required. VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoTclScriptsFolder and template TCL files are also required at runtime.
check-syntax	VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectName, VivadoProjectSettings.TopLevelEntity, VivadoProjectSettings.FPGAPart, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoTclScriptsFolder	Requires CheckSyntax.tcl.mako in VivadoTclScriptsFolder. Non-test adds VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoToolsPath and existing VivadoProject/.xpr.
compile-project	VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectName, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoTclScriptsFolder	Requires CompileProject.tcl.mako in VivadoTclScriptsFolder. Non-test adds VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoToolsPath and existing VivadoProject/.xpr.
launch-vivado	VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoToolsPath, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectName	Also requires existing VivadoProject/.xpr.
create-modelsim	VivadoProjectSettings.TopLevelEntity, VivadoProjectSettings.VivadoProjectFilesLists, ModelSimSettings.ModelSimToolsPath	Uses ModelSimSettings.ModelSimFilesLists if set, otherwise VivadoProjectFilesLists. ModelSimSettings.XilinxSimLibPath is optional but recommended for Xilinx primitive support.
launch-modelsim	VivadoProjectSettings.TopLevelEntity, ModelSimSettings.ModelSimToolsPath	Requires existing ModelSimProject/ directory (run create-modelsim first).
create-lvbitx	GeneralSettings.LabVIEWPath	Uses VivadoProjectSettings.TopLevelEntity to derive input/output filenames. If UseGeneratedLVWindowFiles=True, VivadoProjectSettings.TheWindowFolder is used; otherwise VivadoProjectSettings.CodeGenerationResultsStub is used.
install-deps	None	Command uses dependencies.toml and does not read projectsettings.ini. A pre-release specifier such as ~=26.2.0.dev0 automatically enables pre-release matching for that dependency; --pre enables it globally.
gen-guid	None	Command does not read projectsettings.ini.

projectsettings.ini Reference

Configuration is loaded by common.load_config with these rules:

• Default INI path: ./projectsettings.ini (current working directory).
• Inline comments are stripped after # and ; before parsing.
• Relative paths are resolved from the current working directory.

[GeneralSettings]

Setting	Description
TargetFamily	Device family name (for example, FlexRIO).
BaseTarget	Base target model (for example, PXIe-7903).
LabVIEWPath	Path to LabVIEW installation root.

[VivadoProjectSettings]

Setting	Description
TopLevelEntity	HDL top-level entity/module name.
FPGAPart	FPGA part string used by Vivado (for example, xcku15p-ffve1517-2-e).
VivadoProjectName	Vivado project name without .xpr extension.
VivadoToolsPath	Vivado installation root containing bin/vivado(.bat).
VivadoProjectFilesLists	File-list text files used to assemble project sources (space-separated).
VivadoProjectVHDL2008FilesLists	File-list text files containing VHDL-2008 source files (space-separated). These files are compiled with -2008 flag in both Vivado and ModelSim.
ConstraintsTemplates	XDC template files consumed by gen-xdc/create-project.
CustomConstraintsFile	Optional custom XDC content inserted into templates.
VivadoProjectConstraintsFiles	Final XDC files to add to the Vivado project.
VivadoTclScriptsFolder	Folder containing Vivado TCL Mako templates/scripts (for example, CreateNewProject.tcl.mako, CheckSyntax.tcl.mako, CompileProject.tcl.mako).
UseGeneratedLVWindowFiles	True/False: use extracted/generated TheWindow content instead of stubs.
TheWindowFolder	Folder containing TheWindow files used by project generation/checks.
CodeGenerationResultsStub	Stub CodeGenerationResults file used when UseGeneratedLVWindowFiles is False.

[LVFPGATargetSettings]

Setting	Description
LVTargetBoardIO	Path to board-I/O CSV definition.
IncludeCLIPSocket	True/False: include CLIP socket interfaces in generated target artifacts.
IncludeLVTargetBoardIO	True/False: include custom board I/O interfaces.
LVTargetName	Display name for generated custom target/plugin folder naming.
LVTargetGUID	GUID for custom LabVIEW FPGA target plugin identity.
LVTargetInstallFolder	Destination path used by install-target.
LVTargetConstraintsFiles	Constraint files copied into generated target content.
LVTargetMenusFolder	Source folder for target plugin menu assets.
LVTargetInfoIni	Path to TargetInfo.ini source used in plugin output.
LVTargetExcludeFiles	Exclusion list used while copying plugin content.
MaxHdlRegOffset	Maximum HDL register byte offset (parsed as integer, supports 0x... format).
WindowVhdlTemplates	Mako templates for Window-related generated HDL files.
TargetXMLTemplates	Mako templates for target resource XML generation.
WindowVhdlOutputFolder	Output folder for generated Window HDL files.
BoardIOSignalAssignmentsExample	Output file for generated board-I/O signal assignment example.
LVTargetPluginFolder	Output folder for generated target plugin package.
BoardIOXML	Output boardio.xml path.
ClockXML	Output clock XML path.

[ModelSimSettings]

Setting	Description
ModelSimToolsPath	Path to ModelSim installation root directory (for example, C:/modeltech_pe_2020.4).
XilinxSimLibPath	Path to pre-compiled Xilinx simulation libraries for ModelSim (for example, C:/dev/libraries/vivado/2021.1/modelsim_PE_2020). Optional but recommended.
ModelSimFilesLists	Optional override file-list text files for ModelSim compilation. If not set, VivadoProjectFilesLists is reused.

[CLIPMigrationSettings]

Setting	Description
CLIPXML	Input CLIP XML path.
CLIPHDLTop	Input CLIP top-level HDL path.
CLIPXDCIn	One or more input CLIP XDC files.
CLIPInstancePath	HDL hierarchy instance path used to rewrite CLIP constraints.
LVTargetBoardIO	Output CSV path generated from CLIP LabVIEW interface definitions.
CLIPInstantiationExample	Output HDL instantiation example file.
CLIPtoWindowSignalDefinitions	Output signal-definition helper file.
CLIPXDCOutFolder	Output folder for migrated CLIP XDC files.

[LVWindowNetlistSettings]

Setting	Description
VivadoProjectExportXPR	Path to LabVIEW Vivado Project Export .xpr input.
TheWindowFolder	Output folder for extracted TheWindow files.

Example Usage

# Validate INI and generated TCL without launching Vivado
nihdl create-project --test

# Build or refresh project
nihdl create-project --overwrite

# Fast RTL syntax/hierarchy check
nihdl check-syntax

# Generate custom target support artifacts
nihdl gen-target

# Create ModelSim project and compile all VHDL
nihdl create-modelsim

# Launch ModelSim GUI
nihdl launch-modelsim

# Run ModelSim simulation headless
nihdl launch-modelsim --batch