The Settings dialog box is the main interface for creating project-wide, or global, assignments. Project-wide settings include device specification, user libraries, and various Compiler, Analysis & Synthesis, Fitter, and Timing assignments.

For example, on the Fitter Settings page, you can specify settings for timing-driven compilation, and in the Compilation Process Settings page, you can turn on incremental compilation to control how and when the Fitter optimizes different design partitions.

You can create and adjust device-wide settings and pin options in the Device & Pin Options dialog box. For example, you can assign a default I/O standard for the design in the Voltage tab and you can override electromigration default values on the Pin Placement tab.

In order to obtain power consumption estimates for the design, you can use the PowerPlay Power Analyzer. You can specify data sources and other settings on the PowerPlay Power Analyzer Settings page of the Settings dialog box and you can specify operating conditions on the Operating Settings and Conditions page.

To create project-wide assignments using Tcl scripts, you can use the set_global_assignment command.

You can assign logic functions to physical resources on the device with the Chip Planner or the Assignment Editor. In the Assignment Editor, you can create node and entity-level assignments, which take precedence over any project-wide assignments that affect the same nodes and entities. In the Chip Planner, you can edit and view all node and entity-level assignments you created in the Assignment Editor, or you can filter the assignments by choosing to view assignments only for specific locations, such as DSP blocks. If you want to create new location assignments, you must use the Assignment Editor.

Once you create a location assignment, you can edit it in the Assignment Editor or the Chip Planner. You may want to use the Chip Planner to edit assignments because it gives you a graphical view of the device and its features. The Chip Planner allows you to view the device from a variety of different perspectives, and you can make precise assignments to specific locations. With the Chip Planner, you can adjust existing assignments to device resources, such as pins, logic cells, and LABs using drag and drop features and a graphical interface. You can also view equations and routing information, and demote assignments by dragging and dropping assignments to various regions in the Regions window.

Use the Pin Planner to visualize and assign design elements or other properties to device I/O pins. You can view and edit pin assignments in a graphical view of the device. You should make assignments for all user pins in the design. The Fitter assigns locations to pins that are not assigned a specific location on the device, but the location of unassigned pins may change each time the design is processed by the Fitter.

You can assign SignalProbe pins, including I/O standards and reserving pins in the SignalProbe Pins dialog box. You can view pin assignments you create in the Pin Planner In the Assignment Editor along with all assignments for the project.

To place logic into target areas of your choosing, you can use the Chip Planner, the LogicLock Regions window, or the Project Navigator to create LogicLock regions. You can use the Chip Planner, the LogicLock Regions window, or the LogicLock Region Properties dialog box to assign nodes or entities to LogicLock regions; and you can view the contents of LogicLock regions with the Assignment Editor.

To create LogicLock assignments using Tcl scripts, you can use the ::quartus:: incremental_compilation Tcl package.

Tcl scripting offers another method of creating and editing assignments. Tcl scripts allow you to edit and create assignments using the various Application Programming Interface (API) Functions, rather than using the different dialog boxes and editors in the Quartus II software. You can also transform project assignments and other project information into an executable Tcl Script File (.tcl) with the Generate Tcl File for Project dialog box.

To create location assignments in a Tcl script, use the set_location_assignment command. To create an instance-specific assignment in a Tcl script, use the set_instance_assignment command. To create project-wide assignments in a Tcl script, use the set_global_assignment command. Tcl scripts you generate for existing projects with the Generate Tcl File for Project dialog box may contain several examples of each of these commands.

For more information on Tcl scripting see About Tcl Scripting.