Opening a Previously Saved Simulation Run - 2021.2 English

Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Logic Simulation (UG900)
Document ID
UG900
Release Date
2021-10-22
Version
2021.2 English

There are three methods for opening a previously saved simulation using the Vivado Design Suite: an interactive method and a programmatic method.

Standalone mode

You can open WDB file outside Vivado using the following command:

xsim <name>.wdb -gui
Tip: You can open a WCFG file together with the WDB file by adding -view <WCFG file> to the xsim command.

Interactive Method

  • If a Vivado Design Suite project is loaded, click Flow > Open Static Simulation and select the WDB file containing the waveform from the previously run simulation.
Tip: A static simulation is a mode of the Vivado simulator in which the simulator displays data from a WDB file in its windows in place of data from a running simulation.
  • Alternatively, in the Tcl Console, run: open_wave_database <name>.wdb.

Programmatic Method

Create a Tcl file (for example, design.tcl) with contents:

current_fileset
open_wave_database <name>.wdb

Then run it as:

vivado -source design.tcl
Important: Vivado simulator can open WDB files created on any supported operating system. It can also open WDB files created in Vivado Design Suite versions 2014.3 and later. Vivado simulator cannot open WDB files created in versions earlier than 2014.3 of the Vivado Design Suite.

When you run a simulation and display HDL objects in a Wave window, the running simulation produces a waveform database (WDB) file containing the waveform activity of the displayed HDL objects. The WDB file also stores information about all the HDL scopes and objects in the simulated design. In this mode you cannot use commands that control or monitor a simulation, such as run commands, as there is no underlying 'live' simulation model to control.

However, you can view waveforms and the HDL design hierarchy in a static simulation.