Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: Platform Designer

ID 683364
Date 12/15/2018
Public
Document Table of Contents

5.1.2. Component Structure

Intel provides components automatically installed with the Intel® Quartus® Prime software. You can obtain a list of Platform Designer-compliant components provided by third-party IP developers on Altera's Intellectual Property & Reference Designs page by typing: qsys certified in the Search box, and then selecting IP Core & Reference Designs. Components are also provided with Intel development kits, which are listed on the All Development Kits page.

Every component is defined with a <component_name>_hw.tcl file, a text file written in the Tcl scripting language that describes the component to Platform Designer. When you design your own custom component, you can create the _hw.tcl file manually, or by using the Platform Designer Component Editor.

The Component Editor simplifies the process of creating _hw.tcl files by creating a file that you can edit outside of the Component Editor to add advanced procedures. When you edit a previously saved _hw.tcl file, Platform Designer automatically backs up the earlier version as _hw.tcl~.

You can move component files into a new directory, such as a network location, so that other users can use the component in their systems. The _hw.tcl file contains relative paths to the other files, so if you move an _hw.tcl file, you should also move all the HDL and other files associated with it.

There are three component types:
  • Static— Static components always generate the same output, regardless of their parameterization. Components that instantiate static components must have only static children.
  • Generated—A generated component's fileset callback allows an instance of the component to create unique HDL design files based on the instance's parameter values.
  • Composed—Composed components are subsystems constructed from instances of other components. You can use a composition callback to manage the subsystem in a composed component.