Emacs VHDL Mode

Features

Release Notes 3.37

Download (last update: 2015-03-12)

Maintenance

Links

Update History (last update: 2015-03-12)

Features

• Syntax highlighting
• Indentation
• Template insertion (electrification)
• Insertion of file headers
• Insertion of user-specified models
• Port translation / testbench generation
• Structural composition
• Configuration generation
• Sensitivity list updating
• File browser
• Design hierarchy browser
• Source file compilation (syntax analysis)
• Makefile generation
• Code hiding
• Word/keyword completion
• Block commenting
• Code fixing/alignment/beautification
• Postscript printing
• VHDL'87/'93/'08 and VHDL-AMS supported
• Comprehensive menu
• Fully customizable
• Works under GNU Emacs (recommended) and XEmacs
• Screenshot

Release Notes 3.37

Updates

Support for VHDL'08:

• New keywords, types, functions, attributes, operators, packages
• Context declaration
• Block comments
• Directives
• 'all' keyword in sensitivity list
• Usage: VHDL'93 is still the default. For enabling VHDL'08 support customize option `vhdl-standard'.

Remarks

• No major new features are planned for VHDL Mode. I'm rather focussing on bug fixes and small enhancements.
• Moving forward VHDL Mode is only tested on the latest GNU Emacs version (currently GNU Emacs 24). Therefore compatibility with older GNU Emacs versions as well as XEmacs are not guaranteed. In case of compatibility issues I recommend to stick with VHDL Mode 3.33.

See also release notes of previous releases.

Download

VHDL Mode 3.38 (tested on GNU Emacs 24):

vhdl-mode-3.38.1.tar.gz (2015-03-12, size 311KB)

vhdl-mode-3.38.1.zip (2015-03-12, size 313KB)

VHDL Mode 3.37 (tested on GNU Emacs 24):

vhdl-mode-3.37.2.tar.gz (2015-02-10, size 311KB)

vhdl-mode-3.37.2.zip (2015-02-10, size 313KB)

VHDL Mode 3.36 (tested on GNU Emacs 24):

vhdl-mode-3.36.1.tar.gz (2014-11-27, size 316KB)

vhdl-mode-3.36.1.zip (2014-11-27, size 318KB)

VHDL Mode 3.35 (tested on GNU Emacs 24):

vhdl-mode-3.35.1.tar.gz (2014-03-11, size 308KB)

vhdl-mode-3.35.1.zip (2014-03-11, size 310KB)

VHDL Mode 3.34 (tested on GNU Emacs 24):

vhdl-mode-3.34.2.tar.gz (2012-11-21, size 306KB)

vhdl-mode-3.34.2.zip (2012-11-21, size 308KB)

VHDL Mode 3.33 (GNU Emacs 20/21, XEmacs 20/21):

vhdl-mode-3.33.28.tar.gz (2010-07-27, size 324k)

vhdl-mode-3.33.28.zip (2010-07-27, size 329k)

VHDL Mode 3.32 (GNU Emacs 20/21, XEmacs 20/21):

vhdl-mode-3.32.21.tar.gz (2004-09-23, size 407k)

vhdl-mode-3.32.21.zip (2004-09-23, size 422k)

VHDL Mode 3.31 (GNU Emacs 20/21, XEmacs 20/21):

vhdl-mode-3.31.25.tar.gz (2001-11-21, size 382k)

vhdl-mode-3.31.25.zip (2001-11-21, size 398k)

VHDL Mode 3.30 (GNU Emacs 20, XEmacs 20/21):

vhdl-mode-3.30.tar.gz (1999-12-11, size 293k)

vhdl-mode-3.30.zip (1999-12-11, size 297k)

VHDL Mode 3.10 (GNU Emacs 19):

vhdl-mode-3.10.tar.gz (1997-10-03, size 79k), not supported anymore

VHDL'02 syntax as HyperText:

vhdl02_syntax.html (size 54k)

VHDL'93 syntax as HyperText:

vhdl93_syntax.html (size 51k)

VHDL'87 syntax as HyperText:

vhdl87_syntax.html (size 44k)

VHDL-AMS syntax as HyperText:

vhdlams_syntax.html (size 63k)

Maintenance

• submit bug reports, questions, and enhancement requests,
• subscribe to the `vhdl-mode-announce' mailing list for information about new VHDL Mode releases,

In case you want to make a donation for my past and ongoing efforts on VHDL Mode. Thanks.

Links

Useful Packages

• Display line numbers: Linum

Update History

3.38 (2015-03-12)

• Enhancement: Support "elsif/else generate" (VHDL'08).
• Bug fix: Minor indentation bug fix.

3.37 (2015-02-10)

• Enhancement: Add VHDL'08 support.
• Note: The setting for option `comment-padding' has been removed, so that the Emacs default value is now used. By default this causes "-- " to be inserted when commenting a region instead of "--". This fixes incorrect uncommenting of code regions that contain comment lines. The old behavior can be restored by customizing option `comment-padding' with "" (empty string).

3.36 (2014-11-27)

• Enhancement: Enhance regular expressions for compilation error parsing. Also change default value for 'vhdl-compile-use-local-error-regexp' to nil. The reason is to limit the impact on other commands and language compilers.
• Maintenance: Replace functions from deprecated assoc.el package.

3.35 (2014-03-11)

• Enhancement: Remove use of deprecated `assoc.el' package.
• Enhancement: Include tabify/untabify in beautification.
• Enhancement: Makefile generation: support compilers with no unit-to-file name mapping.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.34 (2012-11-21)

• Enhancement: Support compilation error parsing for new `compile.el' package in GNU Emacs 22/23/24.
• Enhancement: Improved code beautification. Force some keywords (like "begin") on a separate line to guarantee correct indentation. Variable `vhdl-beautify-options' allows to control individual beautification features when running beautification command.
• Enhancement: Improved sensitivity list updating.
• Enhancement: Port translation: Derive actual generic name from formal generic name.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.28 (2010-07-27)

• Note: In GNU Emacs 23 the default value for custom option 'comment-style' has changed from 'plain' to 'indent'. This causes different commenting behavior (comment/uncomment out region). To restore the old behavior the option has to be customized back to 'plain'.
• Enhancement: Add support for GHDL compiler. Make GHDL the default compiler.
• Enhancement: Add command 'vhdl-fix-clause-buffer' and menu entry "VHDL -> Fix -> Generic/Port Clause Buffer" to fix all clauses in buffer at once.
• Enhancement: Support direct instantiation in 'imenu'.
• Bug fix: Fix parsing of extended identifiers in port copying.
• Bug fix: Various indentation fixes.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes for highlighting and speedbar.

3.33.27 (2008-11-27)

• Enhancement: Special syntax highlighting (option `vhdl-highlight-special-words') now allows to highlight words inside comments ("In comments" switch in option `vhdl-special-syntax-alist').
• Bug fix: Fix comment filling in Emacs 22.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes in sensitivity list updating.

3.33.26 (2008-08-07)

• Enhancement: TAB now indents region if a region is active (selected). Compatible with new standard behavior in Emacs 23 (not in XEmacs).
• Bug fix: Fix indentation of clock templates in testbench insertion.
• Bug fix: Improve highlighting of component instantiations.
• Bug fix: Fix error "Variable binding depth exceeds max-specpdl-size" in Emacs 21.

3.33.25 (2008-06-04)

• Enhancement: Add / update support for VHDL-AMS packages.
  • Include templates for package use clause insertion.
  • Add highlighting / word expansion for standardized constant and types.
• Enhancement: Update reserved words for math packages.
• Enhancement: Highlighting / case-fixing for standardized constants.
• Bug fix: Fix indentation for lines with '^L' (formfeed) character.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.24 (2008-05-08)

• Enhancement: Add "authorfull" keyword to VHDL header template (inserts author full name without login name, email address).
• Enhancement: New option to also add array indices and record fields in sensitivity list instead of just the signal names (option `vhdl-array-index-record-field-in-sensitivity-list').
• Bug fix: Use correct initialization values for "integer" and "real" types in pasting ports as testbench.
• Bug fix: Fix handling of "terminal" type (VHDL-AMS) in pasting ports.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.23 (2008-04-01)

• Compatibility: Change some key bindings for Emacs compatibility (i.e. not use `C-c [a-zA-Z]' bindings in a major mode, reserved as user bindings). Most importantly the key binding for `vhdl-comment-uncomment-region' changed from `C-c c' to `C-c C-c'. Other changed bindings are listed in the integrated release notes (Menu "VHDL" -> "Documentation" -> "Release Notes").

3.33.22 (2007-12-21)

• Bug fix: Fix sensitivity list updating for record fields.
• Enhancement: Add missing keywords "hwrite", "owrite", "hread", "oread".
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.21 (2007-08-07)

• Bug fix: Fix template for "variable" keyword inside labeled process.

3.33.20 (2007-07-27)

• Bug fix: Small bug fixes in code alignment and case fixing.
• Distribution: Removed out-of-date patches of speedbar and hideshow packages.

3.33.19 (2007-06-22)

• Bug fix: Also consider "==" VHDL-AMS assignment operator in indentation.
• Bug fix: Correctly adjust case of keywords after "end".

3.33.18 (2007-05-15)

• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes, enhancements.

3.33.17 (2006-12-12)

• Bug fix: Handle extended identifiers in code beautification.

3.33.16 (2006-09-19)

• Bug fix: Fix indentation of comments at beginning of line.
• Bug fix: Not align keywords inside comments.

3.33.15 (2006-09-15)

• Enhancement: Indent comment lines like following (instead of preceding) code line. Gives nicer indentation when comments belong to the code that follows. Old behavior can be restored using option `vhdl-indent-comment-like-next-code-line'.

3.33.14 (2006-08-21)

• Bug fix: Fix error message regexp for Modelsim.

3.33.13 (2006-08-16)

• Enhancement: Customize Makefile default targets (new option `vhdl-makefile-default-targets').
• Enhancement: Add support for "ADVance MS" compiler.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.12 (2006-05-23)

• Bug fix: Fix indentation bug for simultaneous if/case-statements.
• Enhancement: Enhance code alignment.

3.33.11 (2006-05-15)

• Bug fix: Fix indentation bug for argument lists.
• Bug fix: Fix code alignment/beautifying bugs.

3.33.10 (2006-05-11)

• Enhancement: Use relative instead of absolute path for files when compiling (`vhdl-compile').
• Bug fix: Fix indentation bug.

3.33.9 (2006-04-12)

• Enhancement: Add support for "Aldec" simulator.
• Enhancement: Update to VHDL'02 standard (add 'protected' keyword, but indentation not supported yet).
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.8 (2005-12-20)

• Bug fix: Undo comment filling fix for XEmacs (broke beautification).

3.33.7 (2005-12-09)

• Enhancement: Better support for extended identifiers.
• Enhancement: Add compilation support for Xilinx compiler.
• Bug fix: Comment filling in XEmacs.
• Bug fix: Fix VHDL-AMS "case...use" and "if...use" constructs.
• Bug fix: Minor bug fixes.

3.33.5 (2005-06-22)

• Bug fix: Incompatibility issue with XEmacs, minor fixes.

3.33.4 (2005-05-17)

• Bug fix: Identify signals read as index in multi-dimensional arrays in sensitivity list updating.

3.33.3 (2005-02-25)

• Enhancement: Set default project (at startup) within "Project" menu.
• Enhancement: Handle extended identifiers for generics in port copying.
• Enhancement: Query for target in "Make" command, use last target as default.
• Enhancement: Minor enhancements and bug fixes.

3.33.2 (2004-10-01)

• Enhancement: Handle c-preprocessor directives (fontification, indentation, etc.).

3.33.1 (2004-09-30)

• New release: Configuration declaration generation.

3.32.21 (2004-09-23)

• Bug fix: Fix infinite loop bug in code beautification.
• Bug fix: Correctly identify signals used as array index as read signals in sensitivity list updating.

3.32.20 (2004-02-16)

• Enhancement: Separate customization of entity and architecture file names for testbenches (new options 'vhdl-testbench-entity-file-name' and 'vhdl-testbench-architecture-file-name').
• Documentation: Add note that package and testbench files can be placed in separate directories (see options 'vhdl-package-file-name', 'vhdl-testbench-entity-file-name' and 'vhdl-testbench-architecture-file-name').
• Bug fix: Improve indentation of "record" type declaration.
• Bug fix: Whitespace fixing in comments (beautification).

3.32.19 (2003-12-18)

• Bug fix: Beautify inserts too many spaces after comma/string.

3.32.18 (2003-11-17)

• Bug fix: Define alias for missing 'member-ignore-case' function in XEmacs.

3.32.17 (2003-09-17)

• Enhancement: Add Makefile generation information for Cadence NC.
• Bug fix: Ignore different case of signals read in a process for sensitivity list updating.

3.32.16 (2003-09-08)

• Bug fix: Case change on identifiers in port translation.

3.32.15 (2003-08-04)

• Bug fix: Some signals were not correctly detected as being read.

3.32.14 (2003-04-21)

• Bug fix: Include aliases, not include formal parameters in sensitivity lists.

3.32.13 (2003-03-12)

• Bug fix: Beautification of character literals (e.g. ':').

3.32.12 (2003-02-28)

• Bug fix: Indentation of comment line with string inside.

3.32.11 (2002-11-12)

• Enhancement: Allow changing case when deriving file names from VHDL unit names (option `vhdl-file-name-case').

3.32.10 (2002-10-27)

• Bug fix: Indentation after comment lines in XEmacs 21.4+ (works around buggy `forward-comment' built-in function in XEmacs 21.4).
• Minor enhancements.

3.32.9 beta (2002-07-01)

• New feature: Subprogram translation.
• New feature: Code filling.
• New feature: Code statistics.
• Enhancement: Hierarchy scanning finds component instantiations with no generic/port maps (VHDL'93 syntax only using keywords "component", "entity" or "configuration").
• Enhancement: Case-insensitive wiring (structural composition).
• Enhancement: Better error handling and messaging.
• Enhancement: Support for "Speedwave" compiler.
• Fixes and minor enhancements.

3.32.8 beta (2002-03-15)

• Bug fix: Commenting region in Emacs 20.
• Enhancement: `global-font-lock-mode' controls automatic buffer highlighting (GNU Emacs).
• New feature: "Port -> Reverse Direction" to reverse direction of ports for copying (useful in testbenches).

3.32.7 beta (2001-12-12)

• Fixes and minor enhancements.

3.31.25, 3.32.6 beta (2001-11-21)

• Emacs 21 related bug fixes.