Timing Diagram Editing and Analysis

5.6 Parameter Window Operations

5.6 Parameter Window Operations

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5.6 Parameter Window Operations

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The Parameter Window shows parameters and free parameters in a row/column format.

Edit all instances of a parameter

Double click on a parameter in the Parameter window to open the Properties dialog with the Change all instances box checked. Any changes,  like to the Display Label, Min, or Max, will change every parameter of that name in the Diagram window.

ParmTable_properties

Margin Display changes with selection in drawing window:

When no instance of a setup or hold is selected in the Drawing window, the Parameter window displays the worst case margin for all the parameter instances.

When an instance of a setup or hold is selected in the Drawing window, the Parameter window will show the margin (slack) for that instance.

margins_in_table

Add a Free Parameter

A Free Parameter is a parameter that is not attached to any signal transitions in the Diagram window. They  are used as variables in other parameters. They can also be grouped together and saved as libraries files, which is covered in Chapter 10: Libraries.

Click the Add Free Parameter button in the Parameter window.

Notice that F0 is in a white row to indicate that it is referenced by another parameter. To turn off the coloring uncheck the View > Show Unreferenced Parms in Gray menu.

ParmTable_free

Show Formulas instead of values

Choose the Options > Parameter Window Preferences menu, and check the Display min/max formula, instead of the Display min/max value.

ParmTable_show_formulas

Move a Row

Select the name of the row to be moved and place the cursor near the very top or bottom of the parameter so that the cursor changes to double arrow.

ParmTable_move

Click and drag the mouse to the parameter's new location. Notice that as the mouse moves a green bar appears between the parameters.

Change Column Titles and Printing

To change the column title, double click on the column title to open a dialog for editing the name.

ParmTable_column_name

To remove columns from the Print image, right click on a column title and uncheck the the column to be excluded from printing.

ParmTable_no_print

To adjust the width of a column, move the cursor to the line between the column titles. When the cursor changes to the double arrow, click and drag to a new position.

ParmTable_column_width

Hide a Parameter Row

Hiding a parameter in the Parameter window will hide its timing data and all instances of the parameter in the Diagram window.

Either, select the parameter's name and choose the View > Hide Selected Parameter Row menu.

Or, double-click to open the Properties dialog, and check the Hide Row box (notice this is different than the Hide box which only hides an instance of the parameter in the diagram window).

To show a hidden parameter row, choose the View > Show Hidden Parameter Row menu.

Search for a Parameter name

To make the search box work on the Parameter window, click on the window so that it is the active window.

Then type in a parameter name (or a partial name) into the Search box on the main menu bar.

search_parm

The forward search and backward search buttons will cause the Parameter window to scroll to the next match and highlight the parameter name.

Search and Rename Parameters

To make the Search and Rename function work on the Parameter window, click on the window so that it is the active window.

Choose the Edit > Search and Rename menu to open a dialog.

search_rename_parms

Select Parameter Names and the fill the rest of the fields with regular expressions that will match to partial and full names. See section 11.1 Signal Names for export and import for examples of the regular expressions that can be used in the dialog.

Sometimes during a rename operation the program can encounter a duplication conflict when a parameter is being renamed to the same name as another parameter, but that the two parameters differ in properties (different min and max times) or types (delay, setup, hold). If such a conflict is found the Duplicated Parameter Names dialog will open so that you can fix the conflict. This dialog is described in Section 10.4 Merging Diagrams, because this type of conflict happens frequently during a timing diagram merge.