Syntax Coloring

Source code is colored in the DVT editor. Some language constructs are colored based on a syntactical analysis of the code, while others require a more elaborate semantic analysis, as detailed in the table below. Semantic coloring is only performed when the source code is compiled.

Category

Requires compilation

Details

Arguments

y

Function arguments

Comment Hyperlinks

Comment Pragmas

y

Compilation is required for Custom Pragmas

Comments

Constants

y

Const fields, enum members and predefined constants like TRUE, FALSE

Default

Any word which does not belong to other categories

Define Groups

Syntactical category tag of a define as or define as computed macro

Events

y

Expansion Literals

Expansion Replacements

Fields

y

Struct fields and union fields

HDL Paths

Javadoc Tags

Keyphrases

Combination of keywords: “is a”, “keep for each”

Keywords

Labels

y

Methods

y

Methods and time consuming methods

Numbers

Ports - Input, Inout

y

Ports - Output

y

Preprocessing

Preprocessing #macros

Replacement Terms

Constructs like <any>, <exp>, <type>

Section Start/End

Begin or end of code section <’ and ‘>

String Literals

Task Tags

Types

y

scalar types, units, structs

Template Identifiers

Time Units

Time units like ms, ns or ps

Variables

y

You can change the coloring style for each of the categories. Go to Window > Preferences > DVT > e Language > Editor > Syntax Coloring, select the category you wish to modify from the list and set the color and font style.

../../_images/e_highlight_prefpage.png

A code sample in the Syntax Coloring preference page helps you preview the changes instantly. The default style is shown below:

../../_images/e_highlight_preview.png

Note

Inside macro definitions and macro calls, only syntactic coloring is performed.