1. Download HDLgen.zip and VHDLparser.zip. In order to have examples of synthesizable VHDL programs, it may be interesting to download also HDLLib.zip.
2. Create an empty directory (proj1, for example).
3. Go to the new directory and create two sub-directories: HDLgen, and VHDLparser (both are case sensitive!).
4. Go to the new directory HDLgen and unzip the file HDLGen.zip.
5. Go to the new directory VHDLparser and unzip the file VHDLparser.zip.
6. Include the directory's path (e.g. proj1) to the CLASSPATH environment variable (See the section below for details on how to set up this variable).
7. Create a directory called HDLLib (in any place) and unzip the file HDLLib into it.
8. Go to the HDLgen directory and run: java HDLGen (If you do not have Java installed in your computer, please see the "Getting the Java Runtime Environment" section below).

• Unix users:

Assuming the use of Korn Shell, just add the line below to the .profile file:

CLASSPATH=/home/eduardob/proj1:$CLASSPATH; export CLASSPATH

CLASSPATH=./:$CLASSPATH; export CLASSPATH

In this case the files were unzipped to the proj1 directory, and the user's home is /home/eduardob
 

• Windows-XP users:
 
If the files were unzipped, for example, into the directory \users\eduardo\proj1\ then the path to be added to the CLASSPATH variable should be: \users\eduardo\proj1\;.

In the "Control Panel", run the "System" program. Select the fold "Advanced" and the button "Environment Variables". Fill in the "User Variables for..." create a New CLASSPATH variable, and fill in the field "Variable Name" with the world CLASSPATH, and the field "Variable Value" with the path for the directory where HDLGen and VHDLparser were placed. If the CLASSPATH variable is already on the list of environment variables, then just click on it, and add the new path to the end of the list of paths for this variable. In short:

Variable Name: CLASSPATH
Variable Value: e:\users\eduardo\proj1\;.
 

N.G. When creating a new CLASPATH variable, do not forget to add the path for "this", i.e., Variable Value: e:\users\eduardo\proj1\;.

N.G. When editing an existent CLASPATH variable, check if the path for "this" is there, otherwise add it to the path, i.e., ;.

 

• Windows-NT users:
 
If the files were unzipped, for example, into the directory \users\eduardo\proj1\ then the path to be added to the CLASSPATH variable should be: \users\eduardo\proj1\;.

In the "Control Panel", run the "System" program. Select the fold "Environment" and fill in the field "Variable" with the world CLASSPATH, and the field "Value" with the path for the directory where HDLGen and VHDLparser were placed. If the CLASSPATH variable is already on the list of environment variables, then just click on it, and add the new path to the end of the list of paths for this variable. In short:

Variable: CLASSPATH
Value: e:\users\eduardo\proj1\;.
 

• Windows'95 and Windows'98 users:

Add the lines below to the autoexec.bat file, replacing the two occurrences of %1 by the path where HDLGen is installed. For example, if HDLGen is located at e:\users\eduardo\proj1\ then %1 must be replaced by e:\users\eduardo\proj1\

@echo off
echo ****************
echo setup for HDLGen
echo ****************
if DEFINED CLASSPATH goto var_found
goto var_not_found
:var_found
set CLASSPATH=%1;%CLASSPATH%
goto end_setup
:var_not_found
set CLASSPATH=%1
:end_setup
 

WARNING!!! THIS SOLUTION HAS NOT BEEN TESTED. IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEM RUNNING HDLGen UNDER Windows'95 or Windows'98 SYSTEMS, PLEASE SEND ME AN E-MAIL.