The Idea

Wikipedia reports that...

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Value change dump (VCD) is an ASCII-based format for dumpfiles generated by EDA logic simulation tools. The standard, four-value VCD format was defined along with the Verilog hardware description language by the IEEE Standard 1364-1995 in 1995. An Extended VCD format defined six years later in the IEEE Standard 1364-2001 supports the logging of signal strength and directionality.

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This tool is a simple VCD file viewer.

Main Components

• ST Visual Develop release 4.0.1

Tool setup

Working with 8-bits MCU from STMicroelectronics I found that its proprietary and free IDE - ST Visual Develop (STVD) - provides an integrated VCD viewer for its simulation environment. ST calls it the Plotter Window. Moreover I discovered that the Plotter is a COM object, so it is possible to use it as a standalone application. Follow this steps to use the Plotter as a standalone application:

1. Install STVD. You can download the installer from the above link or from this direct link.
2. Donwload the Plot5.zip archive from the link at the bottom of this page.
3. Expand the archive and copy the Plot5.exe file in the STVD folder as shown in the below picture.
   
4. That is all.

Now you can launch the Plot5.exe application. It is an helper program I coded to start the Plotter without open STVD.

The Plot5 has only two useful button. Press the Start Plotter  button to open the Plotter window, and press the Close Plotter  to close the Plotter window. The following picture shows the Plotter window.


Please refer to the STVD help file for more information on how to use the Plotter window, with regard to the Exporting and importing plotted items section.