Assignments

Assignment Editor Introduction



The Assignment Editor is the interface for creating and editing assignments in the Quartus® II software. Assignments are logic functions you assign to a physical resource on the device, or compilation resources you assign to logic functions.

The Category Bar contains all of the assignment types for the current device. You can resize, close, and move the Category Bar. The assignments appear in a spreadsheet in the main window of the Assignment Editor. The available spreadsheet columns vary for each type of assignment. You can sort the contents of the columns alphabetically using the Sort Ascending and Sort Descending commands (right button pop-up menu). You can also change the order of the columns by dragging and dropping a column to a different location in the spreadsheet.

To create a new assignment or edit an existing assignment, you can either select the cell you want to edit and choose Edit Cell (Edit menu), or single-click or double-click the cell you want to edit and begin typing. If applicable, a drop down menu appears from which you choose the assignment or value you want to enter; otherwise, you type the appropriate information. If the cell requires a hierarchy path to a specific node, for example, when an assignment requires you specify a source or destination path, you can click the arrow at the side of the cell and choose Node Finder from the menu. To delete assignments, use the Delete Rows command (Edit menu). You can use the Undo and Redo commands (Edit menu) with the Assignment Editor, but these commands are not available for all actions, or they become disabled after performing certain tasks, such as sorting columns.

The current cell appears with a blue background. If a certain cell cannot be edited and contains a value, for example, a value from the General Function column in the Pin category, the text appears dimmed and you cannot edit the value in the cell. If a cell does not contain a value and cannot be edited, for example, the cells in the Source Name column in single-point assignments such as the Inverted Clock timing assignment, the cell appears with a gray background.

The Pin category allows you to assign, reserve, and set I/O standards on pins, as well as view pin location and function information. The Pin category shows a coloring scheme similar to the Floorplan Editor; you can turn off color scheme in the Pin category with the Show I/O Banks in Color command (View menu). The other text colors are as follows:

Text Color Description
Green A new assignment can be created.
Yellow The assignment contains warnings, such as an unknown node name.
Dark Red The assignment is incomplete.
Bright Red The assignment has an error, such as an illegal value.

When creating and editing assignments, the Quartus II software dynamically validates the assignment. If an assignment or assignment value is illegal, the Quartus II software does not add or update the value, and instead reverts to the current value or does not accept the value. When you view all assignments, the Assignment Editor shows all of the assignments created for the target device family, but when you view individual assignment categories, the Assignment Editor displays only the assignments that are legal for the target device.

As you edit and remove assignments, the corresponding Tcl command displays in the System tab of the Messages window. You can also export the data from the Assignment Editor to a Tcl file or a spreadsheet-compatible file with the Export command (File menu).

You can view LogicLock region assignments in the Assignment Editor. You can also create and edit LogicLock region assignments, but with limited functionality. Creating and editing LogicLock region assignments in the Assignment Editor can cause compilation errors. Altera® recommends using the LogicLock Regions window for full LogicLock region support.

The Assignment Editor supports Cyclone, Stratix, and Stratix GX devices.


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