After running a Verilog simulation, you can read the dump file into Electric and display it in a waveform window. This is done with the Plot Verilog VCD Dump... command (in menu Tool / Simulation (Verilog). You can also use the Plot Verilog for This Cell command if the cell name and file name are the same.

When the Verilog output is read, a waveform appears in a new window. A sample waveform window is shown below. Note also that there is a Cell Explorer in the window, just like in all windows, but it has a "SIGNALS" section that lists the signals found in the Verilog output.

### Wave Panels

The waveform window contains a list of panels, each with a signal name and signal waveform. In the waveform window, signal names are shown on the left, and their waveform on the right. Between the name and the waveform are 3 control buttons:

- Close (an "X") to remove that signal from the waveform.
- Hide to stop displaying the signal, but keep it available (it can be restored by selecting its name from the popup at the top of the waveform window).
- Bus to toggle the viewing of individual members of a bus. If the bus members are not shown, they are added to the waveform window. If some bus members are being shown, they are removed.

You can select a signal by selecting either its name or the actual waveform. Note that when you click on a signal, the equivalent network in the associated schematic or layout window is also highlighted.

You can rearrange the order of the signals by dragging their names to their desired location.

You can add a signal to the list by double-clicking on its name in the "SIGNALS" area (or by dragging that name to the waveform part on the right). If the layout or schematics cell that produced the verilog is being displayed in another window, and the currently selected network in that window is found in the Verilog output, then that output can be added to the waveform window with the Add to Waveform in New Panel command (in menu Edit / Selection).

The order of signals in the waveform window is saved in the original cell so that subsequent simulations will show the same signals.

### Time Control

Two vertical cursors appear in the window, called "main" and "extension" (the extension cursor is yellow). Their time values and their difference are shown at the top of the window. You can click over the cursors and drag them to different time locations.

The time axis of the simulation window can be controlled with the appropriate Window menu commands. Use Zoom Out and Zoom In to scale the time axis by a factor of two. Use Focus on Highlighted to display the range between the main and extension cursors.

| Besides controlling time with menu commands, you can also use the Pan and Zoom tools of the toolbar to change the view. |

The pan tool lets you smoothly shift time when you click and drag. In the zoom tool, you zoom into an area by clicking and dragout out that area. To zoom out, hold the shift key and click in the center of the desired area.

The different panels in the waveform window are locked in time: they all show the same range of time, as shown at the top of the waveform window. If you click on the "time lock" button at the top of the waveform window (a lock with the time on it) then time is unlocked, and each panel has its own time scale. Now individual panels can be show a different range of time than the rest.

Electric does powerful crossprobing between the waveform window and an editing window with the original circuit. If the original cell is being displayed, selection in the waveform window is mirrored in that cell. Also, whenever the main time cursor changes, the electrical state of the circuit is drawn in over it. The color red is high, and black is low. If you connect Simulation Probe nodes to any part of the circuit, these nodes light up red/black instead, which allows better visualization of activity patterns.

For best visualization of the simulation activity, there are a set of VCR buttons to control an animation of the main time cursor. The Play rate can be controlled by the "F" and "S" buttons which make it go faster or slower. As the time cursor sweeps across the waveform window, the original circuit can be seen to change levels.

These window functions apply to the digital simulation windows:

- Window / Fill Window make all data fit in window.
- Window / Zoom Out show twice as much tim.e
- Window / Zoom In show half as much time.
- Window / Special Zoom / Focus on Highlighted show from main to extension cursors.
- Window / Pan Left show earlier time.
- Window / Pan Right show later time.
- "Pan" tool in tool bar freehand drag of time.
- "Zoom" tool in tool bar drag area to zoom in, hold shift to zoom out.
- "Measure" tool in tool bar for measuring time.

### Other Controls

At the top of the waveform window, above the signal names, are many useful controls. Those relating to time have already been discussed. Here are the remaining buttons:

- "Refresh" Rereads the simultion output file and updates the display. If the simulator is re-run, and the output file is different, then this button shows the new date.
- The Panel popup This is a list of all panels, including the hidden ones. Selecting a panel from this list toggles its "hidden" state, making a visible one disappear, and making a hidden one reappear.
- "Grow" and "Shrink" These buttons, which show a waveform being stretched or squeezed, cause the minimum panel size to change. By shrinking the panel size, more of them can fit in the window without having to use a slider to access them.