Phases

Rules are grouped together and executed in phases. This simplifies rule generation for rules in later phases. If issues are found during a phase, then successive phases will not be run. The phases are constructed to model the proper order of fixing issues. Each phase prepares the code for the next phase.

Which phase a rule is executed in is indicated by one of these phase labels:

phase_1 phase_2 phase_3 phase_4 phase_5 phase_6 phase_7

Phase phase_1 - Structural

This ensures the VHDL is structured properly for future phases.

It includes the following operations:

  • Addition or removal of optional VHDL elements

  • Addition or carriage returns to split lines

  • Removal of carriage returns to combine lines

Phase phase_2 - Whitespace

This phase checks whitespace rules.

It includes the following operations:

  • Addition of whitespace between VHDL elements

  • Reduction of whitespace between VHDL elements

Phase phase_3 - Vertical Spacing

This phase checks vertical spacing between lines.

It includes the following operations:

  • Addition of carriage returns to emphasize VHDL elements

  • Removal of carriage returns to deemphasize VHDL elements

Phase phase_4 - Indentation

This phase checks the indent of lines.

Phase phase_5 - Alignment

This phase checks VHDL elements are column aligned.

It includes the following operations:

  • Alignment of colons

  • Alignment of assignment operators

  • Alignment of identifiers

Phase phase_6 - Capitalization

This phase checks case of VHDL elements.

It includes the following operations:

  • Case of VHDL keywords

  • Case of identifiers

Phase phase_7 - Naming conventions

This phase checks naming conventions for non VHDL keywords.

It includes the following operations:

  • Signal prefixes

  • Port prefixes and suffixes

  • Architecture identifiers

Subphases

Each phase can have multiple subphases. There are rules which are executed within the same phase, but one is dependent on another. Utilizing a subphase allows for the proper execution of the rules.

Subphase 1

Prepare code for rules in subphase 2.

Subphase 2

Execute on code prepared in subphase 1.