Using Logix

The window

• Toolbar: Verify, Upload, Run Tests, Simulate, Stop, and the board list.
• Tabs: one per file of the project. A dot marks unsaved changes.
• Editor: Verilog and SystemVerilog with syntax colors. Mistakes in the grammar (a missing ;, a misspelled keyword) are underlined as you type. Other problems, such as a name that isn't declared, are found by Verify and marked when you click it. Hover over a mark to read it. If you turn it on in Settings, hovering over a name shows what it is.
• Right-click in the editor for Go to Definition (jump to where the name you clicked is defined), Cut, Copy, Paste, Comment/Uncomment and Auto Format. The same items are in the Edit and Tools menus.
• Status bar: while Logix is busy (checking the tools, verifying, uploading, opening an example…), a spinning circle and what it's doing. When it's done, the result, e.g. "Build succeeded…", or Ready.
• Output: what the FPGA tools print. References like main.v:12 are links to that line. Click in it and press Cmd+A to select all of it and Cmd+C to copy, or right-click for Copy, Select All and Clear Output. Drag the bar above it to resize it, or hide it with View > Toggle Output (Cmd+J); it comes back when you Verify, Upload, Run Tests or Simulate.

Projects

A project is a folder. Its main file is always main.v (or main.sv for SystemVerilog), and the design's top module must be named main. Other files in the folder show up as tabs:

• more Verilog or SystemVerilog files (.v, .sv, .vh, .svh),
• the board's pin file (.pcf, .lpf, .cst, .xdc, .pdc or .ccf),
• testbenches (*_tb.v, see Testbenches and simulation).

Logix also keeps a small logix.json with the project's board. You don't need to edit it.

Other files and subfolders in the project folder are kept as they are, and data files (such as memory contents) go along to the build. Verilog and pin files inside subfolders aren't part of the design: Logix only builds the ones at the top of the folder. Keep each project in its own folder, not inside another project.

• New project: File > New (Cmd+N) starts from the selected board's basic example (blinky). To start from scratch instead, open the board's Bare Minimum (see below).
• New file: the + at the end of the tabs, or File > New File… (Shift+Cmd+N). Double-click a tab to rename it; right-click it to rename or delete it. These changes, like edits, are saved when you save the project.
• Open and save: File > Open…, Open Recent, Save, Save As…. Logix reopens the last project when it starts; otherwise it starts a new project for the last board you chose (the Alhambra II the first time).
• Show Project Folder: Project > Show Project Folder (Option+Cmd+K) opens the folder in Finder.

Boards and examples

Choose the board in the toolbar's board list; the project remembers it. Click it to see all boards, grouped by FPGA type (Lattice iCE40, Lattice ECP5, Gowin, Xilinx), and type to search. Click a group's name to open or close it; the group of the current board opens by itself. The arrow keys and Enter work too.

As in the Arduino IDE, choosing a board doesn't change your files: Logix offers the board's examples, and Keep Current Files (or Esc) just switches the board. Choosing the current board again is a quick way to get to its examples.

Boards plugged in by USB are listed first, under Connected, and the word next to the list (Connected or Not connected) tells whether the selected board is plugged in. Some boards use a common USB chip that can't tell which board it is; they're not listed under Connected, but Upload still finds them.

File > Examples… lists the examples for each board, with a search box. The boards are grouped by FPGA type in the same way.

Every board's list starts with Bare Minimum, as in the Arduino IDE: the board's pins (from its basic example) and a design that does nothing yet. Its outputs are set to 0 so that it builds; replace that with your design.

An example opens as a new, unsaved project; saving it asks where to put it. A few of the examples that come with the FPGA tools use features Logix doesn't support yet, so they're not listed.

Verify and Upload

Verify (Cmd+R):

1. checks the design for common mistakes (lint): warnings are shown in yellow and don't stop the build,
2. builds it for the selected board,
3. shows how much of the FPGA it uses and the maximum clock speed.

Upload (Cmd+U) builds the design, shows the same usage tables, and programs the board.

Both use the files as they are in the editor, saved or not. Stop (Cmd+.) stops a build or upload that takes too long.

Auto Format

Tools > Auto Format (Cmd+T) tidies up the indentation and spacing of the open Verilog file. Undo (Cmd+Z) restores the previous text.

Diagram

Project > Show Diagram (Shift+Cmd+D) draws the design's modules and signals. Choose another module in the window to draw just that one.

Connected devices

Tools > Connected Devices… lists the USB devices and serial ports connected to the computer, which helps when Upload can't find the board.

Help

The Help menu links to these pages, the keyboard shortcuts and troubleshooting, and to the Apio documentation for going further. Report a Problem opens a new report on GitHub, and Show Log Folder opens the folder with Logix's log, to attach to a report (see Troubleshooting).

Settings

Logix IDE > Settings… (Cmd+,):

• Projects folder location: where new projects go.
• Editor font size.
• Interface scale: make everything bigger or smaller.
• Theme: System, Light or Dark.
• Show lint warnings on Verify: turn off to skip the lint step.
• Check code while typing: underline syntax errors as you type. On by default.
  • Show info when hovering: hovering over a name shows what it is, e.g. its type. Off by default.

Keyboard shortcuts

Action	Shortcut
New project	Cmd+N
Open project	Cmd+O
Examples	Shift+Cmd+E
New file	Shift+Cmd+N
Save / Save As	Cmd+S / Shift+Cmd+S
Verify	Cmd+R
Upload	Cmd+U
Run Tests	Shift+Cmd+T
Simulate	Option+Cmd+T
Stop	Cmd+.
Show Diagram	Shift+Cmd+D
Show Project Folder	Option+Cmd+K
Auto Format	Cmd+T
Toggle Output	Cmd+J
Comment/Uncomment lines	Cmd+/
Go to Definition	F12 (on a Mac keyboard, Fn+F12)
Settings	Cmd+,
Close Window	Cmd+W