VHDL Quesiton

[3bdallah]

Hey!

I'm writing a VHDL code.

I want to use the value of length in the for loop below. I can't ... it is giving me an error ? Can you please tell me how to fix it ?


library IEEE;
use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_1164.ALL;
use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_ARITH.ALL;
use IEEE.STD_LOGIC_UNSIGNED.ALL;


entity BSD_Full_Comp is
Generic (n:integer:=8 );
Port(X, Y : inout std_logic_vector(n-1 downto 0);
FZ : out std_logic_vector(1 downto 0));
end BSD_Full_Comp;

architecture struct of BSD_Full_Comp is


Component BSD_BitComparator
Port ( Ai_1 : inout STD_LOGIC; Ai_0 : inout STD_LOGIC;
Bi_1 : inout STD_LOGIC; Bi_0 : inout STD_LOGIC;
S1 : out STD_LOGIC; S0 : out STD_LOGIC
);
END Component;

Signal X1 : std_logic_vector(2*n downto 0);
Signal Y1 : std_logic_vector(2*n downto 0);
Signal Z : std_logic_vector(10*n downto 0);

shared Variable length : integer := n;
shared Variable pow : integer :=0 ;
shared Variable ZS : integer :=0;;
begin

ass : process

begin
while length /= 0 loop
length := length/2;
pow := pow+1;
end loop;
length:= 2 ** pow;
ZS := length - n;
wait;

end process;

Filling_Zeros : For i in 0 to ZS-1 Generate
X1(i)<= '0';
Y1(i)<='0';
End Generate;

Fiiling_Bits : For i in ZS to length-1 Generate
X1(i)<=X(i-ZS);
Y1(i)<=Y(i-ZS);
End Generate;

Compare1: For i in 0 to length/2-1 Generate
BitCompare1: BSD_BitComparator Port map(X1(2*i),X1(2*i+1),Y1(2*i),Y1(2*i+1),Z(2*i),Z(2*i+1));
End Generate;
Compare2: For i in 0 to length/2-2 Generate
BitCompare2: BSD_BitComparator Port map(Z(2*i),Z(2*i+1),Z(2*i+2),Z(2*i+3),Z(2*i+length),Z(2*i+length+1));
End Generate;

FZ(0)<=Z(length);
FZ(1)<=Z(length-1);


end struct;



The Error :

The actual for parameter s0 must denote a static signal name.


There must be away to use the value of length in the loop. How can I make it static ?

 

[3bdallah]

What guys ? no clue ?

 

[jeppe]

I believe the fact that length is a reserved word must give you problems.
The wait; inside the process will stop the execution - this could be useful in simulation but not for synthesizing.
Jeppe

 

[jeppe]

Your properly used to write programs in C#, Java etc.
But you must realize that the purpose of VHDL is to Describe Hardware - hence can't you create a component where the actual connection depend at a variable. Only static (constant) declaration allowed.

Z(2*i+length) must be Z(2*i+ 5)

 

[joris]

Actually, I think you could make this work -- by making length a constant. This can be done because its calculation really only depends on the value of n, which is known at elaboration?compile? time.

Its initialisation then must be done in a function, something like this (though untested, it might have syntax errors or so)

function topow2(n : natural) return natural is
  variable len : natural := n;
 -- using len instead of length, in case that's a reserved keyword
begin
while len /= 0 loop
length := len/2;
pow := pow+1;
end loop;
return  2 ** pow;
end;

constant len : natural := topow2(n);
constant ZS : integer := length - n;