Component Instantiation

Used In

• Architecture

Reference Manual

VHDL-93:

• Section 9.6

Syntax

instance_label: [component] component_name
    generic map (generic_association_list)
    port map (port_association_list);

instance_label: entity entity_name
    generic map (generic_association_list)
    port map (port_association_list);

Rules and Examples

The instance label is compulsory. The component name must match the relevant component declaration.

architecture STRUCT of INC is

    signal X,Y,S,C : bit;

    component HALFADD
        port (
            A,B : in bit;
            SUM, CARRY : out bit
        );
    end component;

begin

    U1: HALFADD port map (X, Y, S, C);

    -- other statements

end STRUCT;

The association list defines which local signals connect to which component ports. The association list above is positional, i.e. the signals are connected up in the order in which the ports were declared.

The alternative is named association, where ports are explicitly referenced and order is not important:

ADDER1: HALFADD
    port map (  
        B => Y,     
        A => X,
        SUM => S,
        CARRY => C
    );

Ports may be left unconnected using the keyword open:

ADDER1: HALFADD
    port map (  
        B => Y,     
        A => X,
        SUM => S,
        CARRY => open
    );

An instance of a component with generics, has a generic map declared before the port map:

U1 : PARITY
    generic map (
        N => 8
    )
    port map (
        A => DATA_BYTE,
        ODD => PARITY_BYTE
    );

An entity-architecture pair may be directly instantiated (a component doesn’t need to be declared). This is more compact, but does not allow the flexibility of configuration:

DIRECT: entity HA_ENTITY(HA_ARCH)
    port map ( A, B, S, C);

Synthesis Issues

Component instantiation is supported for synthesis, although generic map is usually ignored. Whether a logic synthesis tool will “flatten through” a component, treat it as a “black box”, or recognize it as a primitive is usually under the user’s control.

See Also

• Component
• Generic