This post details the Netlist Explorer in XJDeveloper, a very useful tool in XJDeveloper for finding out how things are connected in the netlist. It also shows relevant properties for each item.

Launching the explorer

Currently the Netlist Explorer is a modal dialog which means you have to close it before you can use the rest of XJDeveloper. We hope to remove this restriction in a future release. You can launch the Netlist Explorer from most screens in Developer. All relevant toolbars have an “Explore” button, and right-clicking on items in controls will display a drop-down menu with an “Explore” button as well.

It can be very useful for determining what various pins are connected to – without having to refer to a schematic.

Two examples are of when it would be useful are shown below.

Example 1: Do I have access to the chip enable pin on a memory device?

  • Either go to “Categorise Devices” screen and select the device, or go to the “Test Device Files” screen and select the file associated with the device and select the device from there.
  • Click “Explore…”
  • Select the chip-enable pin
  • In the properties pane check the JTAG Access – if it has Write Access then you will be able to control the pin from your tests.

Example 2: Are all the I2C devices on the same bus?

  • Select one of the I2C devices
  • Click “Explore…”
  • Double click the appropriate pin and the explorer will show all pins on all devices which are on the same net. Check that all the other I2C devices are listed.