create_hw_target - 2020.2 English

Vivado Design Suite Tcl Command Reference Guide (UG835)

Document ID
UG835
Release Date
2020-11-18
Version
2020.2 English

Create a hw_target (jtag chain) and set its name

Syntax

create_hw_target [‑copy <arg>] [‑quiet] [‑verbose] <target_name>

Returns

hardware targets

Usage

Name Description
[-copy] hardware target copy Default: copy of existing target
[-quiet] Ignore command errors
[-verbose] Suspend message limits during command execution
<target_name> name of hardware target to create

Categories

Hardware

Description

The Vivado hardware manager supports programming of hardware devices through the use of Serial Vector Format (SVF) files. SVF files are ASCII files that contain both programming instructions and configuration data. These files are used by ATE machines and embedded controllers to perform boundary-scan operations. The SVF file captures the JTAG commands needed to program the bitstream directly into a Xilinx device, or indirectly into a flash memory device. The SVF file can be written using the write_hw_svf command, or applied to an open hw_target through the execute_hw_svf command. Refer to the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Programming and Debugging (UG908) for more information.

The specific process for creating the hw_svf file is:
  1. Create an SVF target using create_hw_target.
  2. Open the SVF target.
  3. Create one or more devices on the SVF target using create_hw_device.
  4. Program the devices using commands like program_hw_devices.
  5. Write the SVF file of operation commands using write_hw_svf.

The create_hw_target command creates an SVF hw_target object on the current hw_server that can be used as a platform for programming devices, and exporting the programming commands in an SVF file. The SVF target, is a hw_target object that can be queried and managed like other hw_targets using commands like get_hw_targets and current_hw_target.

Note: When using the SVF flow, Xilinx recommends that you connect to a local hw_server on your system, as the SVF target does not require connection to an actual hardware board or device.

SVF hw_targets can be identified by the boolean IS_SVF property that can be returned by get_property or report_property commands. This property is TRUE for SVF targets.

This command returns nothing if successful, or returns an error if it fails.

Arguments

-copy <arg> - (Optional) Specifies that the new SVF hw_target should be a copy of an existing hw_target. The argument specifies a physical hw_target or SVF hw_target as returned by the get_hw_targets command.

-quiet - (Optional) Execute the command quietly, returning no messages from the command. The command also returns TCL_OK regardless of any errors encountered during execution.
Note: Any errors encountered on the command-line, while launching the command, will be returned. Only errors occurring inside the command will be trapped.
-verbose - (Optional) Temporarily override any message limits and return all messages from this command.
Note: Message limits can be defined with the set_msg_config command.

<target_name> - Specifies the name to assign to the new SVF hw_target object.

Examples

The following example creates a SVF hw_target object that is a copy of the specified hw_target:
create_hw_target -copy [get_hw_targets *210203327996A] svfTarget
The following example gets the currently defined SVF hw_target objects:
get_hw_targets -filter {IS_SVF}
The following example shows all of the steps needed for the SVF flow. First open the Vivado hardware manager and connect to a local hw_server; create and open an SVF hw_target; add a hw_device and program the bitstream into this device; and write the SVF file capturing the programming commands for the device:
open_hw  
connect_hw_server  
create_hw_target my_svf_target  
open_hw_target  
create_hw_device -part xc7k325t  
set_property PROGRAM.FILE {C:/Data/k7_design.bit} [current_hw_device]  
program_hw_devices [current_hw_device]  
write_hw_svf my_xc7k325t.svf  
close_hw_target