markdown/OR_docs/tools/src/gui/README.md

Graphical User Interface

The graphical user interface can be access by launching OpenROAD with -gui or by opening it from the command-line with gui::show.

Commands

- Parameters in square brackets `[-param param]` are optional.
- Parameters without square brackets `-param2 param2` are required.

Add Buttons to the Toolbar

This command creates toolbar button with name set using the -text flag and accompanying logic in the -script flag.

Returns: name of the new button, either name or buttonX.

create_toolbar_button 
    [-name name]
    -text button_text
    -script tcl_script 
    [-echo]

Options

Switch Name	Description
-name	The name of the button, used when deleting the button.
-text	The text to put on the button.
-script	The tcl script to evaluate when the button is pressed.
-echo	This indicate that the commands in the tcl_script should be echoed in the log.

Remove Toolbar Button

To remove toolbar button:

gui::remove_toolbar_button 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
-name	The name of the button, used when deleting the button.

Add items to the Menubar

This command add items to the menubar. Returns: name of the new item, either name or actionX.

create_menu_item 
    [-name name]
    [-path menu_path]
    -text item_text
    -script tcl_script
    [-shortcut key_shortcut] 
    [-echo]

Options

Switch Name	Description
-name	(optional) name of the item, used when deleting the item.
-path	(optional) Menu path to place the new item in (hierarchy is separated by /), defaults to "Custom Scripts", but this can also be "Tools" or "New menu/New submenu".
-text	The text to put on the item.
-script	The tcl script to evaluate when the button is pressed.
-shortcut	(optional) key shortcut to trigger this item.
-echo	(optional) indicate that the commands in the tcl_script should be echoed in the log.

Remove items from the Menubar

To remove menu item:

gui::remove_menu_item 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
-name	name of the item, used when deleting the item.

Save Image

This command can be both be used when the GUI is active and not active to save a screenshot with various options.

save_image 
    [-resolution microns_per_pixel]
    [-area {x0 y0 x1 y1}]
    [-width width]
    [-display_option {option value}]
    filename

Options

Switch Name	Description
filename	path to save the image to.
-area	x0, y0 - first corner of the layout area (in microns) to be saved, default is to save what is visible on the screen unless called when gui is not active and then it selected the whole block. x1, y1 - second corner of the layout area (in microns) to be saved, default is to save what is visible on the screen unless called when gui is not active and then it selected the whole block.
-resolution	resolution in microns per pixel to use when saving the image, default will match what the GUI has selected.
-width	width of the output image in pixels, default will be computed from the resolution. Cannot be used with -resolution.
-display_option	specific setting for a display option to show or hide specific elements. For example, to hide metal1 -display_option {Layers/metal1 false}, to show routing tracks -display_option {Tracks/Pref true}, or to show everthing -display_option {* true}.

Save Clocktree Image

This command saves the screenshot of clocktree given options to filename.

save_clocktree_image 
    filename
    -clock clock_name
    [-width width]
    [-height height]
    [-corner corner]

Options

Switch Name	Description
filename	path to save the image to.
-clock	name of the clock to save the clocktree for.
-corner	name of the timing corner to save the clocktree for, default to the first corner defined.
-height	height of the image in pixels, defaults to the height of the GUI widget.
-width	width of the image in pixels, defaults to the width of the GUI widget.

Select Objects

This command selects object based on options. Returns: number of objects selected.

select 
    -type object_type
    [-name glob_pattern]
    [-filter attribute=value]
    [-case_insensitive]
    [-highlight group]

Options

Switch Name	Description
-type	name of the object type. For example, Inst for instances, Net for nets, and DRC for DRC violations.
-name	(optional) filter selection by the specified name. For example, to only select clk nets *clk*. Use -case_insensitive to filter based on case insensitive instead of case sensitive.
-filter	(optional) filter selection based on the objects' properties. attribute represents the property's name and value the property's value. In case the property holds a collection (e. g. BTerms in a Net) or a table (e. g. Layers in a Generate Via Rule) value can be any element within those. A special case exists for checking whether a collection is empty or not by using the value CONNECTED. This can be useful to select a specific group of elements (e. g. BTerms=CONNECTED will select only Nets connected to Input/Output Pins).
-highlight	(optional) add the selection to the specific highlighting group. Values can be 0 to 7.

Display Timing Cones

This command displays timing cones for a pin given options.

display_timing_cone 
    pin
    [-fanin]
    [-fanout]
    [-off]

Options

Switch Name	Description
pin	name of the instance or block pin.
-fanin	(optional) display the fanin timing cone.
-fanout	(optional) display the fanout timing cone.
-off	(optional) remove the timing cone.

Focus Net

This command limits the drawing to specified net.

focus_net 
    net
    [-remove]
    [-clear]

Options

Switch Name	Description
pin	name of the net.
-remove	(optional) removes the net from from the focus.
-clear	(optional) clears all nets from focus.

TCL functions

Is GUI Enabled

Determine is the GUI is active:

gui::enabled

Trigger GUI to Load Design

Announce to the GUI that a design was loaded (note: this is only needed when the design was loaded through the odb API and not via read_def or read_db):

gui::design_created

Load DRC Result

To load the results of a DRC report:

gui::load_drc 
    filename

Options

Switch Name	Description
filename	Filename for DRC report.

Show GUI

To open the GUI from the command-line (this command does not return until the GUI is closed):

gui::show 
    script
    interactive

Options

Switch Name	Description
script	TCL script to evaluate in the GUI.
interactive	Boolean if true, the GUI should open in an interactive session (default), or if false that the GUI would execute the script and return to the terminal.

Hide GUI

To close the GUI and return to the command-line:

gui::hide

Layout Fit

To fit the whole layout in the window:

gui::fit

Zoom to a specific region

To zoom in our out to a specific region:

gui::zoom_to 
    x0 y0 x1 y1

Options

Switch Name	Description
x0, y0, x1, y1	first and second corner of the layout area in microns.

Zoom In

To zoom in the layout:

gui::zoom_in 
    x y

Options

Switch Name	Description
x, y	new center of layout in microns.

Zoom Out

To zoom out the layout:

gui::zoom_out 
    x y

Options

Switch Name	Description
x, y	new center of layout in microns.

Center At

To move the layout to new area:

gui::center_at 
    x y

Options

Switch Name	Description
x, y	new center of layout in microns.

Set Resolution

To change the resolution to a specific value:

gui::set_resolution
    resolution

Options

Switch Name	Description
resolution	database units per pixel.

Add a single net to selection

To add a single net to the selected items:

gui::selection_add_net 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the net to add.

Add multiple nets to selection

To add several nets to the selected items using a regex:

gui::selection_add_nets 
    name_regex

Options

Switch Name	Description
name_regex	regular expression of the net names to add.

Add a single inst to selection

To add a single instance to the selected items:

gui::selection_add_inst 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the instance to add.

Add multiple insts to selection

To add several instances to the selected items using a regex:

gui::selection_add_insts 
    name_regex

Options

Switch Name	Description
name_regex	regular expression of the instance names to add.

Select at point or area

To add items at a specific point or in an area:

Example usage:

gui::select_at x y
gui::select_at x y append
gui::select_at x0 y0 x1 y1
gui::select_at x0 y0 x1 y1 append

gui::select_at 
    x0 y0 x1 y1
    [append]

Or

gui::select_at
    x y 
    [append]

Options

Switch Name	Description
x, y	point in the layout area in microns.
x0, y0, x1, y1	first and second corner of the layout area in microns.
append	if true (the default value) append the new selections to the current selection list, else replace the selection list with the new selections.

Select next item from selection

To navigate through multiple selected items: Returns: current index of the selected item.

gui::select_next

Select previous item from selection

To navigate through multiple selected items: Returns: current index of the selected item.

gui::select_previous 

Clear Selection

To clear the current set of selected items:

gui::clear_selections

Get Selection Property

To get the properties for the current selection in the Inspector:

gui::get_selection_property 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the property. For example, Type for object type or bbox for the bounding box of the object.

Animate Selection

To animate the current selection in the Inspector:

gui::selection_animate 
    [repeat]

Options

Switch Name	Description
repeat	indicate how many times the animation should repeat, default value is 0 repeats. If the value is 0, the animation will repeat indefinitely.

Highlight Net

To highlight a net:

gui::highlight_net 
    name
    [highlight_group]

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the net to highlight.
highlight_group	group to add the highlighted net to, defaults to 0, valid groups are 0 - 7.

Highlight Instance

To highlight an instance:

gui::highlight_inst 
    name
    [highlight_group]

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the instance to highlight.
highlight_group	group to add the highlighted instance to, defaults to 0, valid groups are 0 - 7.

Clear Highlight Groups

To clear the highlight groups:

gui::clear_highlights
    [highlight_group]

Options

Switch Name	Description
highlight_group	group to clear, defaults to 0, valid groups are -1 - 7. Use -1 to clear all groups.

Add Ruler to Layout

To add a ruler to the layout:

1. either press k and use the mouse to place it visually. To disable snapping for the ruler when adding, hold the Ctrl key, and to allow non-horizontal or vertical snapping when completing the ruler hold the Shift key.

2. or use the command:

Returns: name of the newly created ruler.

gui::add_ruler 
    x0 y0 x1 y1
    [label]
    [name]
    [euclidian]

Options

Switch Name	Description
x0, y0, x1, y1	first and second end point of the ruler in microns.
label	text label for the ruler.
name	name of the ruler.
euclidian	1 for euclidian ruler, and 0 for regular ruler.

Delete a single ruler

To remove a single ruler:

gui::delete_ruler 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	name of the ruler.

Clear All Rulers

To remove all the rulers:

gui::clear_rulers

Set Heatmap

To control the settings in the heat maps:

The currently availble heat maps are:

• Power
• Routing
• Placement
• IRDrop
• RUDY [^RUDY]

These options can also be modified in the GUI by double-clicking the underlined display control for the heat map.

gui::set_heatmap 
    name
    [option]
    [value]

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	is the name of the heatmap.
option	is the name of the option to modify. If option is rebuild the map will be destroyed and rebuilt.
value	is the new value for the specified option. This is not used when rebuilding map.

Dump Heatmap to file

To save the raw data from the heat maps ins a comma separated value (CSV) format:

gui::dump_heatmap 
    name 
    filename

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	is the name of the heatmap.
filename	path to the file to write the data to.

[^RUDY]: RUDY means Rectangular Uniform wire DensitY, which can predict the routing density very rough and quickly. You can see this notion in this paper

GUI Display Controls

Control the visible and selected elements in the layout:

gui::set_display_controls 
    name 
    [display_type] 
    [value]

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	is the name of the control. For example, for the power nets option this would be Signals/Power or could be Layers/* to set the option for all the layers.
display_type	is either visible or selectable
value	is either true or false

Check Display Controls

To check the visibility or selectability of elements in the layout:

gui::check_display_controls 
    name 
    display_type 

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	is the name of the control. For example, for the power nets option this would be Signals/Power or could be Layers/* to set the option for all the layers.
display_type	is either visible or selectable

Save Display Controls

When performing a batch operation changing the display controls settings, the following command can be used to save the current state of the display controls.

gui::save_display_controls

Restore Display Controls

This command restores display controls.

gui::restore_display_controls

Input Dialog

To request user input via the GUI: Returns: a string with the input, or empty string if canceled.

gui::input_dialog 
    title
    question

Options

Switch Name	Description
title	is the title of the input message box.
question	is the text for the message box.

Pause script execution

Pause the execution of the script:

gui::pause 
    [timeout]

Options

Switch Name	Description
timeout	is specified in milliseconds, if it is not provided the pause will last until the user presses the Continue button.

Show widget

To open a specific layout widget:

gui::show_widget 
       name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	of the widget. For example, the display controls would be "Display Control".

Hide widget

To close a specific layout widget:

gui::hide_widget 
    name

Options

Switch Name	Description
name	of the widget. For example, the display controls would be "Display Control".

License

BSD 3-Clause License. See LICENSE file.