How to connect a verilog testbench to my design in Modelsim

[Altera_Forum]

I'm new to Altera and this whole design process. I have created a small counter design, compiled it successfully and now I want to do a functional simulation with ModelSim. When I start RTL Simulation I only get my counter design in Modelsim so there is no testbench. I have a testbench but can't figure out how to connect it in Modelsim. 

If I add the testbench file to my project in Quartus, then the design won't compile (does not like to compile a testbench). How am I supposed to do this?

[Altera_Forum]

Start Modelsim. 

 1) vlog my_counter.v  2) vlog my_counter_tb.v  3) vsim -t ps my_counter_tb  4) add wave *  5) run 1 us  Cheers, Dave  PS. I've attached a couple of SystemVerilog testbenches; use vlog -sv when compiling the .sv files.

[Altera_Forum]

Thanks, Dave. That works. Is there a way to have it automatically set up those things each time I run ModelSim from the Quartus II RTL Simulation command? Is there a macro or a dofile I need to set up? 

 -John

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---  Is there a way to have it automatically set up those things  --- Quote End ---    Altera and Modelsim sometimes call them .do files, and Modelsim will run them with the do command, eg., do setup_sim.do. However, they're just tcl files, and source setup_sim.tcl is the same thing.  Here's a Modelsim simulation example here:  http://www.alteraforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=32386  Look at the sim.tcl file.  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Dave, 

I followed your suggestions above exactly using the hex_display files. Vlog did compile both hex_display and hex_display_tb. Then the vsim command triggered this message: "WARNING: No extended dataflow license exists". Then I tried to enter a clock waveform manually which caused the little text box to say view -new wave, followed by (in red) "-new not supported in PE". Stuck again. Please advise.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   I followed your suggestions above exactly using the hex_display files. Vlog did compile both hex_display and hex_display_tb. Then the vsim command triggered this message: "WARNING: No extended dataflow license exists".   --- Quote End ---   I think I've only ever seen that message in Modelsim-ASE if I double clicked on a design ... perhaps you did? Either way, I think you can ignore that message (did a blank sub-window pop up?)    --- Quote Start ---   Then I tried to enter a clock waveform manually which caused the little text box to say view -new wave, followed by (in red) "-new not supported in PE". Stuck again. Please advise.  --- Quote End ---   You should just be able to type 'add wave *' to add the top-level signals, or view the signals in the design and drag them to the wave window.  Which version of Modelsim are you trying to use?  Cheers, Dave

[Altera_Forum]

Hi Dave, 

 I was running Quartus 14.0. I uninstalled that to upgrade to 14.1. Now, within Quartus, I find that hex_display_tb.sv does not compile. The error message is:  Error (10170): Verilog HDL syntax error at hex_display_tb.sv(81) near text ";"; expecting "endmodule"  I am unsure how to fix this.  Forging ahead anyway, I opened Modelsim (10.3C) and, again, followed the directions that you posted above. The first two vlog commands ran fine (so why don't they compile in Quartus?), then when I ran the vsim command the hex_display_tb.sv opened in Notepad++. I then fixed the file associations problem in Win7 so that .v and .sv is now associated with Modelsim. Now when I run the vsim command hex_display_tb.sv opens within a text editor that is part of Modelsim. I don't think this is the same problem that I described above, but I need help on this, too. Thanks.

[Altera_Forum]

--- Quote Start ---   why don't they compile in Quartus?   --- Quote End ---   Because Quartus is for synthesis, and _tb.sv is a testbench containing simulation-only constructs.  You should probably start with some basic tutorials on SystemVerilog under Modelsim and get them to compile first.  Cheers, Dave