SystemVerilog - Language Support

This VS Code extension provides features to read, navigate and write SystemVerilog code much faster.

Features

• Elaborate syntax highlighting
• Go to symbol in document (Ctrl+Shift+O)
• Go to symbol in workspace folder (indexed modules/interfaces/programs/classes/packages) (Ctrl+T)
• Go to definition (works for module/interface/program/class/package names and for ports too!) (Ctrl+LeftClick)
• Find references (works for module/interface/program/class/package names and for ports too!) (Ctrl+LeftClick)
• Quick-start on already indexed workspaces
• Code snippets for many common blocks
• Instantiate module from already indexed module
• Linter capabilites with simulators (more info on the wiki)
• Fast real-time error identification through an integrated SystemVerilog parser and IntelliSense (fully accurate to IEEE Standard 1800-2017)
• If you find a bug or would like a feature, request it as an Issue or submit a Pull Request

Examples

Syntax Highlighting

Go To Definition

Find References

Module Instantiation

Recommendations

• If you have netlists in your workspace you can exclude them in the settings with systemverilog.excludeIndexing, e.g.: **/syn/**
• When running in workspaces with a large number of files, the systemverilog.documentSymbolsPrecision setting may need to be reduced down to 'full_no_references'. Doing this will turn off the 'find references' feature which will dramatically speedup the parsing.
• When you have large files, the systemverilog.maxLineCountIndexing setting can be tuned to prevent full parsing of these files, which will improve extension performance.
• Disclaimer: This is not a functional tool that will compile and simulate HDL, but it will make it easier and more user-friendly to write and navigate SystemVerilog and Verilog.

Settings

• systemverilog.includeIndexing: String, Files included for indexing (glob pattern). Examples:
  • Include files within the workspace's rtl folder (* at front of pattern denotes path is relative to workspace root): **/rtl/**/*.{sv,v,svh,vh}
  • Add all files with a '.svp' extension: **/*.svp
  • Add files only when in a specific workspace: /abs/path/to/workspace/rtl/**/*.{sv,v,svh,vh}
• systemverilog.disableIndexing: Boolean, Disable indexing
• systemverilog.excludeIndexing: String, Exclude files from indexing based on a glob pattern. Examples:
  • Exclude all files in the 'synth' folder: **/synth/*
  • Exclude more than one folder: **/{synth,pnr}/**
  • Exclude .v files in the 'compile' folder: **/compile/*.v
  • Exclude .v files in the 'compile' dir and exclude all files in the 'synth' folder: {**/synth/**,**/compile/*.v}
• systemverilog.forceFastIndexing: Boolean, Use fast regular expression parsing
• systemverilog.enableIncrementalIndexing: Boolean, Enable incremental indexation as files are opened
• systemverilog.parallelProcessing: Integer, Number of files to process in parallel during indexing
• systemverilog.forceFastIndexing: Boolean, force indexer to bo basic parsing. Good for when the extension takes too long to initialize.
• systemverilog.enableIncrementalIndexing: Boolean, Enable incremental indexation as you open files.
• systemverilog.maxLineCountIndexing: Boolean, When indexing a file, if the line count is larger than this number, fast indexing will be used to improve symbol lookup performance, as fewer symbols will be parsed.
• systemverilog.documentSymbolsPrecision: String, The level of detail the parser should use when looking for symbols:
  • full: detect blocks, ports, parameters, classes, methods, typedefs, defines, labels, instantiations, assertions, and references across files.
  • full_no_references: detect blocks, ports, parameters, classes, methods, typedefs, defines, labels, instantiations, and assertions.
  • declarations: detect blocks, ports, parameters, classes, methods, typedefs, and defines.
  • fast: detect only common blocks (module, class, interface, package, program) without hierarchy.
• systemverilog.antlrVerification: Boolean, Use ANTLR parser to verify code in real-time
• systemverilog.verifyOnOpen: Boolean, Run ANTLR verification on all files when opened.
• systemverilog.launchConfigurationVerilator: String, Command to run when launching verilator
  • Default: verilator --sv --lint-only --language 1800-2012 --Wall
  • If not in path, replace verilator with the appropriate command
• systemverilog.launchConfigurationVCS: String, Command to run when launching VCS
  • Default: vcs
  • If not in path, replace vcs with the appropriate command
• systemverilog.launchConfigurationVerible: String, Command to run when launching Verible
  • Default: verible-verilog-lint
  • If not in path, replace verible-verilog-lint with the appropriate command
• systemverilog.excludeCompiling: String, Files excluded from compiling when saved based on a glob pattern
• systemverilog.compileOnSave: Boolean, Compile files when saved
  • Default: true
• systemverilog.compilerType: String, Dropdown list to select a compiler type
  • Default: Verilator
• systemverilog.trace.server: String, Dropdown to select verbosity of LSP message tracing
• systemverilog.compileOnOpen: Boolean, Compile all files when opened
  • Default: false

Customizations

Use the provided settings in a user or workspace settings.json as appropriate. Here are a few examples:

{
  "editor.bracketPairColorization.enabled": true, // turn on bracket pair coloring
  "editor.guides.bracketPairs": "active", // turn on bracket pair guides
  // Change theme default colors for specific tokens
  // To find tokens use: https://code.visualstudio.com/api/language-extensions/syntax-highlight-guide#scope-inspector
  "editor.tokenColorCustomizations": {
    // Customize per theme or globally
    "[Theme Name]": {
      "textMateRules": [
        {
          // Workaround: Extension marks escaped identifiers as regular expressions to prevent bracket matching,
          //             so recoloring it back to identifier color
          "scope": ["string.regexp.identifier.systemverilog"],
          "settings": {
            "foreground": "#e06c75"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  },
  // Customize formatting command to suite preferences
  "systemverilog.formatCommand": "verible-verilog-format --assignment_statement_alignment=preserve --case_items_alignment=infer --class_member_variables_alignment=infer --formal_parameters_alignment=preserve --formal_parameters_indentation=indent --named_parameter_alignment=flush-left --named_parameter_indentation=indent --named_port_alignment=flush-left --named_port_indentation=indent --net_variable_alignment=preserve --port_declarations_alignment=preserve --port_declarations_indentation=indent",
  // Add additional file extensions to associate with SystemVerilog and include them in the indexing
  "files.associations": {
    "*.svi": "systemverilog",
    "*.svp": "systemverilog",
    "*.pkg": "systemverilog"
  },
  "systemverilog.includeIndexing": ["**/*.{sv,v,svh,vh,svi,svp,pkg}"]
}

Handling Spaces In Executable Paths

Please exercise caution when setting an executable path in the settings, such as the case with systemverilog.formatCommand, systemverilog.launchConfigurationVerilator, systemverilog.launchConfigurationVCS, and systemverilog.launchConfigurationVerible. Any spaces will be assumed to be arguments and not the executable itself. In Windows, for example, you might have an executable configured as follows:

"systemverilog.formatCommand" : "C:\\Program Files\\verible\\bin\\verible-verilog-format --case_items_alignment=infer"

Because of the space in 'Program Files', the extension will infer that the executable is C:\\Program with two arguments: Files\\verible\\bin\\verible-verilog-format and --case_items_alignment=infer. This breaks the executable path. There are a couple solutions for tihs:

1. (Prefered) Add the executable to your PATH and call it directly.

• Windows instructions
• Linux Instructions
• Mac Instructions

"systemverilog.formatCommand" : "verible-verilog-format --case_items_alignment=infer"

2. If you can't edit your path (maybe because of privileges), then don't use spaces in paths. Either move the executable to a different location with no spaces, or (in the case of windows) you can use DOS short names as follows:

"systemverilog.formatCommand" : "C:\\PROGRA~1\\verible\\bin\\verible-verilog-format --case_items_alignment=infer"

Known Issues

• Initial indexing might hog CPU/RAM when looking through files in very large workspaces

Future

• Tree view of module hierarchy
• References document
• Back-end Language server for SystemVerilog
• Update workspace state to save to storagePath

Contributing

• If you want to contribute with the project please fork this repository, clone it, make changes (preferably in a branch other than master) and finally create a Pull Request (more details here).
• To debug the extension locally first install the required dependencies (in the repository's root directory):

npm install

• Then compile the project at least once (this will generate the SystemVerilog lexer and parser in src\compiling\ANTLR\grammar\build):

npm run compile

• Finally, run the "Client + Server" run configuration:

Release Notes

See the changelog for more details

0.13.2

• modified formatter command parser to support windows paths by joecrop
• module instantiator now detects parameters correctly by joecrop

0.13.1

• Improved remote ssh performance by eirikpre

0.13

• input/output/input now have different icons in the outline tree by joecrop
• Format module instance and dropdown list of modules for auto-instantiator by joecrop
• support more file extensions and no extension in antlr parser by joecrop
• Bump minimist from 1.2.5 to 1.2.6 by dependabot
• Include indexing docs by joecrop

0.12.1

• Update VS Code engine to 1.56.0 to support Node.js 14
• Update several dependencies to address CVEs
• Update ESLint to version 8 and implement some suggested fixes
• Update Prettier and apply suggested formatting changes
• Remove React-related ESLint dependencies
• Remove direct dependency on antlr4 package as it is a submodule of antlr4ts
• Remove on Markdown activation
• Rename .eslintrc to .eslintrc.json to fix ESLint editor integration
• Add -Xexact-output-dir to compile command to fix MacOS build
• Update README.md with a suggested configuration section and add missing settings
• Enable bracket matching and coloring to function with SystemVerilog textual brackets
• Fix port-net-parameter highlighting corner case
• Enhance Github Actions test workflow
• Fix coverage collection

0.12

• Implemented 'find references' feature, thanks to joecrop
• Ports and parameters are now recognized as symbols, thanks to joecrop
• Illegal/reserved words contained with symbols is now supported, thanks to joecrop
• Added more consistent syntax highlighting for UDP tables, thanks to sw23
• Added support for verible_verilog_lint as a compiler/linter, thanks to joecrop
• Fixed 'npm run compile' on MacOS, thanks to sw23
• Added 'Contributing' section to documentation, thanks to gasrodriguez

0.11

• Syntax Highlighting Overhaul, thanks to jecassis
• Smaller extension footprint, thanks to jecassis
• Support for external formatter, thanks to jecassis
• Documentation upgrade, thanks to jecassis
• Dev update with ESLint, Prettier and tests update, thanks to jecassis

0.10

• Folders outside the workspace can now be included with systemverilog.includeIndexing
• It now saves the indexed database between runs, allowing quickstart on previous workspaces

0.9

• Increased the number of symbols the parser understands.
• Extensive bug squashing

0.8

• Compile an opened document using Verilator simulator, display errors/warnings as Diagnostics in documents, thanks to oehaddouchi
• Compile documents on save feature using Verilator simulator
• Added output channel SystemVerilog
• Added an LSP, set it to communicate with the extension's client
• Keep track of the recently used modules in the indexer
• Added diagnostic support for VCS compiler

0.7

• Instantiate module from already indexed module, thanks to oehaddouchi
• Update to documentSymbolProvider

0.6

• Stability and performance upgrade
• PCRE Regexes

0.5

• HoverProvider added, thanks to toastedcornflakes
• Improvements to DocumentSymbolProvider to better support Hover

0.4

• Added setting to exclude folders from indexing

0.3

• DefinitionProvider fetching from indexed modules implemented
• Indexing is now more safe, and will work for large workspaces

0.2

• Alpha 2 release with expanded syntax highlighting and snippets
• Indexing of every module/interface/program/class in workspace

0.1

• Alpha 1 release with syntax highlighting, and go to symbols