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Xilinx Synthesis Technology User Guide

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XST Constraint File (XCF)<br />

Design Constraints<br />

Starting in the 5.1i release, XST supports a new UCF style syntax to<br />

define synthesis and timing constraints. <strong>Xilinx</strong> strongly suggests that<br />

you use new syntax style for your new designs. <strong>Xilinx</strong> will continue<br />

to support the old constraint syntax without any further<br />

enhancements for this release of XST, but support will eventually be<br />

dropped. Please refer to the “Old XST Constraint Syntax” section for<br />

details on using the old constraint style.<br />

Hereafter this document will refer to the new syntax style as the<br />

<strong>Xilinx</strong> Constraint File (XCF) format. The XCF must have an extension<br />

of .xcf. XST uses this extension to determine if the syntax is related to<br />

the new or old style. Please note that if the extension is not .xcf, XST<br />

will interpret it as the old constraint style.<br />

The constraint file can be specified in ISE, by going to the <strong>Synthesis</strong><br />

Process Properties, clicking the XST <strong>Synthesis</strong> Options tab", clicking<br />

“<strong>Synthesis</strong> Constraint File" menu item, and typing the constraint file<br />

name. Also, to quickly enable/disable the use of a constraint file by<br />

XST, you can check or uncheck the "Use <strong>Synthesis</strong> Constraint File"<br />

menu item in this same menu. By selecting this menu item, you<br />

invoke the -iuc command line switch.<br />

To specify the constraint file in command line mode, use the -uc<br />

switch with the run command. See the “Design Constraints” chapter<br />

for details on the run command and running XST from the command<br />

line.<br />

XCF Syntax and Utilization<br />

The new syntax enables you to specify a specific constraint for the<br />

entire device (globally) or for specific modules in your design. The<br />

syntax is basically the same as the old UCF syntax for applying<br />

constraints to nets or instances, but with an extension to the syntax to<br />

allow constraints to be applied to specific levels of hierarchy. The<br />

keyword MODEL is used to define the entity/module that the<br />

constraint will be applied to. If a constraint is applied to an entity/<br />

module the constraint will be applied to the each instance of the<br />

entity/module.<br />

In general, users should define constraints within the ISE properties<br />

dialog (or the XST run script, if running on the command line), then<br />

use the XCF file to specify exceptions to these general constraints. The<br />

XST <strong>User</strong> <strong>Guide</strong> 5-11

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