The primary GUI of ESE is the Main Window, which is displayed in Figure 3-1. The Main Window consists of eight parts:
A Menu Bar that contains seven columns of commands. Each column is a drop-down menu.
A Tool Bar that contains a list of short-cut icons. Each icon represents a command in the menu bar.
A PE Window that contains the current design's PE's.
A Channel Window that contains the current design's busses and channels.
A Database Window that contains the current database's available components.
A Design Canvas that contains the graphical representations of the objects of the current design.
An Output Window.
A Status Bar that displays the current status of ESE, such as Loading... or Ready.
In this section, we introduce organization-related and display-related details of Menu Bar, PE Window, Channel Window, Database Window, Design Canvas, and Output Window. Some windows contain drop-down menus or pop-up menus. The menus further contain design commands. The usage and functionality behind the commands will be described later.
The Menu Bar contains seven main menu entries: File, Edit, View, Synthesis, Validation, Windows, and Help. Each main menu entry is a drop-down menu which contains a number of commands. In general, unless otherwise noted, selecting a main menu entry will apply the corresponding action to the currently active design, i.e. to the design that is currently open. If there is no currently active design, menu commands will silently fail (do nothing).
The File menu contains ten commands:
Selecting New... will create a new design file (see Section 4.2.1).
Selecting Open... will allow loading and opening of an existing design file (see Section 4.2.2).
Selecting Close will close the current design (see Section 4.2.5).
Selecting Reload will trigger reloading of the current design file from disk (e.g. in case the file has changed on disk or reverting to the last saved version) (see Section 4.2.4).
Selecting Save will save the current design file (see Section 4.2.3).
Selecting Save As... will save the current design file as a another file (see Section 4.2.3).
Selecting Export... will allow saving and exporting of the current design in a compressed file format (see Section 4.2.6).
Selecting Settings... will display the settings of the current design file (see Section 4.2.7).
Selecting Exit will exit from and quit ESE (see Section 4.2.9).
The Edit menu contains one command:
Selecting Preferences... will allow viewing and modifying of application preferences (see Section 4.1).
The View menu contains three commands:
Selecting Source... will allow viewing of the source file of the current design (see Section 4.2.8).
Selecting Chart... will display the chart of the current design.
Selecting Connectivity... will display the connectivity chart of the current design.
The Synthesis menu contains five commands:
Selecting Generate Functional TLM... generates the functional tlm for the current design (see Section 4.4.1).
Selecting Generate Timed TLM... generates the timed tlm for the current design (see Section 4.4.2).
Selecting Select Board... presents a sub-menu, which allows selection of the board to which the current design can be synthesized.
Selecting Synthesize to Board... synthesizes the current design onto the selected board.
Selecting Stop stops any running generation and synthesizing processes for the current design.
The Validation menu contains four commands:
Selecting Simulate Functional TLM... simulates the functional tlm for the current design (see Section 4.5.1).
Selecting Simulate Timed TLM... simulates the timed tlm for the current design (see Section 4.5.2).
Selecting Kill Simulation... presents a sub-menu allowing the selection of which active simulation to terminate from the current design.
Selecting View Log... shows the log of the current design.
The Windows menu contains two commands:
Selecting Output Window will display or undisplay the Output Window (see Section 3.6).
Selecting Toolbars presents a sub-menu allowing the selection of toolbar(s) to show/hide.
The Help menu contains two commands:
Selecting Manual... will open the ESE user manual in the online help browser.
Selecting About... will pop up a dialog with version and copyright information of the ESE environment.