Installation Problems - cannot see xtags

CarlWalters · Post by **CarlWalters** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 4:35 pm

I've just installed Zeus 3.95z on a Windows XP machine. It looks as though it could be a useful tool - if it worked! here's what I did

Download Zeus (evaluation)
Install Zeus - not changing any of the installation defaults
Run Zeus - from the desktop shortcut
Create a new Workspace containing source (.v Verilog and .h include) files.

But then I get lots of error messages saying
"Unexpected Error Spawning xTags Executable"

I know that "C:Program Files\Zeus" is in my PATH variable and that "C:Program Files\Zeus" directory does contain xtags.exe So I've no idea what might be wrong.

Also - and this may be related - I have tried to set up my Verilog compiler (ModelSim vlog.exe) by entering

vlog.exe -work work "$nf"

as the compiler command line option. I know that from an MS-DOS prompt I can execute vlog.exe (so It has to be in my PATH). If I then click compile button I get an error

Unknown spawn error
cSpawn: C:\WINDOWS\System32\cmd.exe;C:\Program Files\VBiDiff /c vlog.exe -work work "$nf" failed with '123' return code

Does anyone have any ideas about this please - because as I say it looks as though Zeus could be useful for me - but at the moment it isn't!

thanks

Carl

Post by **jussij** » Mon Dec 18, 2006 10:56 pm

Hi Carl,

But then I get lots of error messages saying "Unexpected Error Spawning xTags Executable"

I know that "C:Program Files\Zeus" is in my PATH variable and that "C:Program Files\Zeus" directory does contain xtags.exe So I've no idea what might be wrong.

Since this file has was installed correctly, I suspect something on your machine is stopping it from running, as this feature does normally work straight out of the box

Also - and this may be related - I have tried to set up my Verilog compiler (ModelSim vlog.exe) by entering
vlog.exe -work work "$nf"

My guess would be you have some sort of anti-virus software installed and it is this that is stopping Zeus from starting any external applications and hence why nothing is working

Cheers Jussi

CarlWalters · Post by **CarlWalters** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:03 am

well I'm running McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.0.0 (company PC) I wonder if there is anything in that that needs to be disabled to allow Zeus to work correctly?

CarlWalters · Post by **CarlWalters** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:37 am

and another problem I think I've encountered is that I have previously used my own folding editor which marks up folds using

//{{{ (for start of fold)
//}}} (for end of fold)

and I don't think I can modify the Verilog language template to mimic this can I? I tried setting the Brace Prefix String to //{{{ and the Brace Postfix String to //}}} and re-starting Zeus but it was still folding using the begin-end keywords as folding indicators.

I think this is going to be the killer for me. It's a shame as I'd love to have an integrated development environment for Verilog/VHDL coding but I don't think Zeus is going to work for me.

CarlWalters · Post by **CarlWalters** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 10:48 am

Aha! I think I found the problem. I had previously installed a program called VBinDiff (binary file difference) and it had amended the environment variable called ComSpec from %SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe to
%SystemRoot%\system32\cmd.exe;C:\Program Files\VbinDiff.

I changed this back and compiling and tags now seems to work OK

Now all I have to do is get my brand of folding to work and I might be ready to part with some cash

Post by **jussij** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 3:23 am

I tried setting the Brace Prefix String to //{{{ and the Brace Postfix String to //}}} and re-starting Zeus but it was still folding using the begin-end keywords as folding indicators.

The folding does not use the Brace Prefix String settings but rather the folding points are hard coded into the xFolder.dll itself.

The Brace Prefix String are used for auto brace matching and for automatic brace completion

I think this is going to be the killer for me.

Am I right in guessing // is a line comment in verilog

If so I assuming //{{{ and //}}} are just speical fold points you have created

It's easy enough to change the xFolder.dll to fold on these points, but as I said earlier this change will be hardcode into the dll, so I need to be sure there no chance of breaking something else

Cheers Jussi

CarlWalters · Post by **CarlWalters** » Wed Dec 20, 2006 10:18 am

Hi Jussi,

you are correct -

// is a line comment in Verilog and I use
//{{{ as a special marker to indicate start of fold and
//}}} as a special marker to indicate end of fold

so if I have the following text

//{{{ regs/wires
// Clocks and Resets
wire RST;
wire CLK;
//}}}

Then this appears by default folded (in a different colour) as

--- regs/wires

then a right-mouse click on this fold will unfold it and display

{{{ regs/wires
// Clocks and Resets
wire RST;
wire CLK;
}}}

i.e the fold comment markers // are not normally displayed

a second right-mouse click on this fold will fold it back up again to

--- regs/wires

If this manual folding structure could possibly be included then I'd be a very happy man

Post by **jussij** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:03 pm

//{{{ (for start of fold)
//}}} (for end of fold)

The latest Zeus 3.96a patch adds these fold points to the Zeus Verilog folder

Refer to this link for more details: http://www.zeusedit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1035

Cheers Jussi