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Institute for Computing Systems Architecture

HASE Userguide

The Entity Description Language reference manual - V2.0

The entity description language (EDL) is used to describe the parameters and components of an architecture. It creates a library of parameter types from which parameter instances (variables) can be created and a library of components from which an architecture can be constructed by linking the defined components together in the desired manner. It does not deal with screen position information of the displayed entities, ports and parameters.

Structure

The EDL file is divided into five major sections :
  1. PREAMBLE: Specifies the basic attributes of the project including project name, working directory and project description.
  2. PARAMLIB: Contains the type definitions of all the parameters used in the project. HASE supplies three basic parameter types (integer, floating-point and string) from which all of the other types (enumerated, structures, arrays, ranges, etc) must be constructed.
  3. GLOBALS: Contains the parameter definitions of those parameters which are available to all entities.
  4. ENTITYLIB: Contains a library of conponents used by the project.
  5. STRUCTURE: Defines which components and how many of them are in the project and how they are connected together.

Conventions

Throughout this manual the following conventions will be followed when describing the syntax of commands.
  1. Keywords: ALL EDL KEYWORDS ARE SHOWN IN UPPER CASE.
  2. Required Components: All required components of a given command are shown in normal typeface.
  3. Optional Components: All optional components of a given command are shown in italic typeface.
  4. Repeated Components: Repeated components of a given command are specified using '...', for example ( str , ... ) represents one or more strings surrounded by ( and ).
  5. Choice Components: Where there is a choice of possible components the choices will be separated by '|'. This operator has a higher precedence than '...'.
  6. Extensions: All extensions or important modifications since the version 1.0 are shown in pink..

Layout

The screen layout is described in the Entity Layout manual.


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