Virtuoso Schematic Composer User Guide

Text-to-Symbol Generator

The following example shows a symbol generated from the TSG symbol description file shown above.

TSG Symbol Description File Structure

Basic File Structure

A TSG file is an ASCII file used as input to TSG for generating symbol cellviews. To create the file, you must use a special format that includes several constructs and keywords. All constructs have one of the following forms (CF = construct format):

Some constructs can appear only inside certain other constructs. Some keywords can appear only once within a construct.

To define more than one symbol in a TSG file, you can use multipledefcell constructs.

Unless otherwise specified, draw input pins on the left side, output pins on the right side, and

I/O pins along the top.

®

To add comments to a TSG file, use the Cadence SKILL language comment characters ; or /* */ .

An illustration of the structure of the defcell construct, which is the only top-level construct allowed in a TSG file, follows.

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Text-to-Symbol Generator

Following the defcell example are further syntax descriptions for properties and labels.

Text in bold = keywords

Text in italics = data types

Text in angle brackets = < names of variables > cellName must be a character string pinName must be a pin name string

Words in square brackets = [optional]. Can be placed anywhere inside their own constructs

defcell( <cellName>

[input( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [output( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [io( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [defsymbol( [viewName]

[symbolProps( <property pair> <property pair>

.

.

[defTermProp( <terminal list> <property list>

)]

.

.

[defVisibleProp( <property pair> <label attributes>

)]

.

.

)] [symbolParam(

[wireSpacing = float] [wireLength = float] [vSideLength = float] [hSideLength = float] [pinConnector = string]

[origin = topLeftPin | bottomLeftPin | centerLeft]

)] [symbolLabels(

defLabel(<label specification>) defLabel(<label specification>)

.

.

)] [controlParam(

[queryMode = t | nil] )]

[pinNumSpec(

[<pinName1> : integer]

.

[<pinNameK> : integer] )] [pinLocSpec(

[leftPins( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [rightPins( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [topPins( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [bottomPins( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] )]

[pinGraphicSpec(

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Text-to-Symbol Generator

[<pinName1> : string]

.

.

.

[<pinNameN> : string] )] [pinLogicSpec(

[positive( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] [negative( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )] )]

[clockPins( <pinName1> <pinName2> ... <pinNameN> )]

)]

)

<property list>:= <property pair> <property list> | <property pair> <property pair>:= <property name> = <property value>

<property name>:= <string> <property value>:=

<simple value> |

( <simple value> [(<range>)]) | time( <time value> ) | filename( <filename value> ) | ilExpr( <string> ) |

nlpExpr( <string> )

<simple value>:= <string> | <numeric value> | <boolean value> <numeric value>:= <integer> | <float>

<boolean value>:= yes | no | true | false | TRUE | FALSE | t | nil <time value>:= <string>

<filename value>:= <string>

<range>:= <enumeration> | <lower bound> <upper bound> <enumeration>:= <string> <enumeration> | <string> <lower bound>:= <numeric value> | nil

<upper bound>:= <numeric value> | nil

<terminal list>:= all | input | output | inputOutput | topPins | bottomPins | leftPins | rightPins

<label specification>:=

name( string <label attributes>) <label attributes>:=

location("<expression>:<expression>") apply(string)

[labelType(normalLabel | NLPLabel | ILLabel)] [format("value" | "name=value" | "off") ] [layer(string) ]

[purpose(string) ] [justification(float) ]

[orientation( R0 | R90 | R180 | R270 ) ] [isOverbar(t/nil) ]

[fontStyle(string) ] [fontHeight(float) ]

Data Types

Some data types used in a TSG symbol description file are defined in the following sections.

Virtuoso Schematic Composer User Guide

Text-to-Symbol Generator

Character String

A character string can contain one or more alphanumeric characters (a–z, A–Z, 0–9), the underscore (_), and the question mark (?). The first character cannot be a number. Any character other than these must be enclosed in quotation marks (" "). Blank characters must be replaced by an underscore. Examples of character strings are as follows:

SN74LS169A Am2901_MPR006 FFTchip_2MC_V1 "RAM_1M-6/86"

Pin Name String

A pinName string is similar to a character string except that any slash ( / ) is replaced by a vertical bar ( | ). For example, X/Y is transformed to X|Y. Examples of pinName strings are as follows:

OutputEnable inputA "Read|Write_" "Up_|Down"

Terminal List

A terminal list consists of one of the following values: