Quartus® II Tcl Automatically Archiving Projects

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When you do many compilations and vary different settings during each compilation, it can be hard to remember what your settings and results were from compile to compile. By archiving a project, you can preserve a complete copy of it, including the files generated during a compile. You can archive a project with a single command at a system command- prompt, but creating a Tcl script and adding a setting to execute it automatically makes the process easier.

To make the script run automatically at the end of every compilation, use the following script, and add a new assignment to your project. The assignment name is POST_FLOW_SCRIPT_FILE. For more information on this assignment, refer to the Automatic Script Execution examples. Assuming the script is named autoqar.tcl, add the following assignment to your Quartus II Settings File (.qsf):

set_global_assignment -name POST_FLOW_SCRIPT_FILE quartus_sh:autoqar.tcl

The script creates a file name based on the current date and time. For information about changing the date and time representation, refer to the Date & Time Formatting page.

# Use these options to control what files get archived.
# -include_outputs: Includes Quartus II output files, including the
#     db directory and programming files
# -include_libraries: Includes system libraries referenced in your
#     project

set options "-include_outputs"
#set options "-include_libraries"
#set options "-include_outputs -include_libraries"

# Subdirectory to put the automatically created qars into
set qar_directory autoqar

# Generates a name for the qar based on the name of the revision
# and the current time.
proc generateQarName { project revision } {

    # time_format_string controls how the qar is named.
    # These values give the value month_dd_yyyy-hh.mm.ss.
    # For example, Jan_28_2004-13.00.05

    set time_format_string "%b_%d_%Y-%H_%M_%S"
    set time_value [clock format [clock seconds] \
      -format $time_format_string]

    # The name of the qar is based on the revision name and the time
    return $revision-$time_value
}

global quartus

set module_or_flow [lindex $quartus(args) 0]
set project [lindex $quartus(args) 1]
set revision [lindex $quartus(args) 2]

# If a qar is made, set this to 1 and attempt to move it later on
set ran_qar 0

# Add any modules or flows to the list in the switch statement
# As is, it'll make a qar after each compile, compile and simulate,
# and incremental fit.
switch -exact -- $module_or_flow {

    compile -
    compile_and_simulate -
    incremental_fitting {

    if { [catch {
        project_open -revision $revision $project
        set qar_name [generateQarName $project $revision]
        project_archive $options $qar_name
        project_close
    } res ] } {
        post_message -type warning $res
    } else {
        set ran_qar 1
    }
    }

}

# If a qar was made, try to move it to the right directory
if { $ran_qar } {

    if { [catch {

    file mkdir $qar_directory
    file copy $qar_name.qar $qar_directory
    file copy $qar_name.qarlog $qar_directory
    file delete $qar_name.qar
    file delete $qar_name.qarlog

    } res ] } {
    post_message -type warning $res
    } else {
         set qname [file join $qar_directory $qar_name]
    post_message "Successfully archived your project in $qname.qar"
    }
}