Vivado not opening non top level source files

[Kabs]

Hi all,

Have this project with a top level file and other non top level file all of which are included in the project hierarchy. The non-top level files are listed in the project hierarchy beneath the top level module file

Everything has been working fine in that which ever file I click at (top level or otherwise)  opens a tab for the file, as it should.

Right now the only source file that can be opened is the top level file, clicking any of the other level files does nothing i.e. exactly nothing happens...the clicked file does not open.

The file are visible in file explore in the same directory as the top level file.

in the hierarchy below only ns.v can be opened, SSD.v and myUart.v cannot be opened

Can someone please point me to what might be going wrong? 

Edited August 25, 2022 by Kabs
spelling

[JColvin]

Hi @Kabs,

I haven't seen this particular error in the Vivado GUI before so I don't have any direct insight into what might be happening, but I have some guesses (that you might have tried already, but I'll list them anyways) of things you can try.

- Confirm that the viewing pane where you would normally see the files isn't scrolled to the side.
- Confirm that the Vivado knows the files exist in the file location on your computer (I don't know what your errors are, it appears that Vivado isn't complaining it can't find the files based on your screenshot but I figured I'd throw this out there anyways).
- Close out and restart Vivado (the old turn it off and turn it back on technique)
- Copy those two files from your computer to somewhere else, right click on them in the Sources pane in Vivado to remove them from the project, and then re-add them.

Beyond that, I'm not certain what else you could try. I suppose recreating the project from scratch using the existing sources is an option, but I'd personally would save that option for last.

Thanks,
JColvin

[Kabs]

Thanks JColvin,

Actually I had done another major step which I forgot to mention.

I created a brand new project, 'added'  the same files again, but the result was the same.

Does that then point to my Vivado install?

 

On a side note, Anyboby knows if it is possible to develope for Nexys A7 via any other tool other than Vivado such as Quartus?

Edited August 26, 2022 by Kabs

[JColvin]

Hi @Kabs,

It could be your Vivado install; if you are comfortable sharing you can send the files to me I can attempt to see if I can replicate it.

Or alternatively, you can try opening this VHDL based project that has multiple different HDL files which I am able to successfully open. It is designed for the Nexys A7 and was generated in Vivado 2020.1, but that will not matter for your particular test.

I do not know of other tools that can generate bitstreams for Xilinx FPGA chips unfortunately.

Thanks,
JColvin

NA7-OLED-upgrade-20.1.zip

[Kabs]

Hi Jkolvin,

Thanks for the reponse.

In preparation to sending you the files, I removed the body from all verilog files leaving just the module and port declaration.

To my surprise In that state I was able to read all the files in the normal way.

I therefore concluded it was something to do with the source? Can't think what at the moment, I will at some stage put things back one at a time.

The work around I had adopted was to open the project in the simulator, installed breakpoints in any files that did not have any then did a blind 'run all'.

Whenever a breakpoint was hit the simulator had to open that file.

Once a file was opened at least once, it's tab remained available for the entire session even when I come out of the simulator. Only had to do this process on first opening of the project.

The other work around was to use an external editor but one has to be mindful of the fact that Vivado is not the greatest at detecting that a file was modified externally and therefore requiring Vivado to reload it (it rarely does!), so to make sure I was using the most up-to-date file I had to Ctr+A, Ctrl+C in the external editor and Ctr+A, Ctr+V in Vivado's copy of the file.

 

 

[JColvin]

Hi @Kabs

I'm not sure what the issue might be that you had to use this work around. To be honest it sounds like a problem with your particular installation with the GUI itself. I imagine that Vivado does not differentiate what kind of file it opens in Sources as long as has the correct extension (since realistically from a GUI standpoint, all of these source files are just .txt files with some fancy syntax highlighting, at least as far as opening and viewing them goes).

Thanks,
JColvin