DVT SystemVerilog IDE User Guide
Rev. 24.1.22, 1 October 2024

41.2.1 Top candidates

When no top design element is specified in the project build config file, then any design element that satisfies the following requirements is considered a top:

  1. The design element is either a SystemVerilog module, a SystemVerilog program, a VHDL entity or a VHDL configuration. Do note that a SystemVerilog configuration cannot be a candidate.

  2. The design element is not instantiated anywhere. Even instantiations under inactive generate constructs are considered and rule out the element in question.

  3. Customizable: The design element has sub-instances or local generate constructs. This requirement can be disabled by specifying in the project build config the following directive: +dvt_enable_elaboration_empty_tops+true.

As mentioned before, a mixed-language project can have any combination of SystemVerilog, SystemVerilog or VHDL top candidates.