VHDL Block Instantiator

Workspace-wide VHDL completion helper for entity instantiation.

Features

• Completion items for entities discovered from workspace .vhd/.vhdl files
• Optional workspace-wide entity discovery from all .vhd/.vhdl files
• Instantiation snippet insertion (entity <lib>.<name> + parsed generic/port maps)
• Optional auto insertion of library <lib>; if missing
• Command palette helper: VHDL Block Instantiator: Insert Block
• Command palette refresh: VHDL Block Instantiator: Refresh Entity Cache

Settings

• vhdlBlockInstantiator.libraryName (legacy compatibility setting)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.autoInsertLibrary (default: true)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.workspaceLibraryName (fallback, default: work)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.scanWorkspaceEntities (default: true)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.scanCacheSeconds (default: 30)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.scanMaxFiles (default: 4000)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.searchRoots (default: ["**/sources"])
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.searchExcludeGlob (default: **/{.git,node_modules,.hg,.svn,dist,out,build,sim}/**)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.leavePortsOpen (default: false) — Leave port/generic maps unfinished (open) instead of filling placeholders
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.addDefinitionsAsComments (default: false) — Include port and generic definitions as comments in the snippet

Library naming: the extension scans Vivado TCL files (add*_files.tcl, create_project.tcl) for explicit file-to-library assignments. If a file is not found in any TCL map, it defaults to vhdlBlockInstantiator.workspaceLibraryName (default: work).

TCL mapping: when enabled, the extension first scans Vivado TCL add-files scripts (for example add_system_pkg_lib_files.tcl) and uses those explicit file-to-library assignments. Top-level-directory inference is used only as a fallback.

• vhdlBlockInstantiator.useTclLibraryMap (default: true)
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.libraryMapTclGlob (default: {add*_files.tcl,create_project.tcl})

Recommended workspace filter for your case:

• vhdlBlockInstantiator.searchRoots: ["**/sources"]
• vhdlBlockInstantiator.searchExcludeGlob: **/{.git,node_modules,.hg,.svn,dist,out,build,sim}/**

Quickpick Features

When using the Insert Block command, the quickpick now shows:

• Entity name as the main label
• Library name as the description (searchable by typing library name)
• Port and generic counts as detail
• Filter by entity name, library name, or both

Example: type system_pkg_lib to filter entities from that library, or generic_sp_rom to find the entity.

Snippet Options

leavePortsOpen: When enabled, generates instantiation with port/generic maps left unfilled (no comments unless addDefinitionsAsComments is also true):

my_entity_i : entity work.my_entity
  generic map (
    WIDTH => ,
    DEPTH =>
  )
  port map (
    clk => ,
    rst => ,
    data =>
  );

addDefinitionsAsComments: When enabled (with or without leavePortsOpen), includes type definitions as inline comments:

-- With leavePortsOpen=false (default):
my_entity_i : entity work.my_entity
  generic map (
    WIDTH => WIDTH , --integer
    DEPTH => DEPTH   --positive
  )
  port map (
    clk  => clk  , --std_logic
    rst  => rst  , --std_logic
    data => data   --std_logic_vector(11 downto 0)
  );

-- With leavePortsOpen=true:
my_entity_i : entity work.my_entity
  generic map (
    WIDTH => , --integer
    DEPTH =>   --positive
  )
  port map (
    clk => , --std_logic
    rst => , --std_logic
    data =>   --std_logic_vector(11 downto 0)
  );

Note: addDefinitionsAsComments can be combined with leavePortsOpen for different comment styles.