File Menu
The File menu allows GPIF Designer projects to be loaded from and saved to disk. It also provides a simple mechanism for starting fresh, with a pristine, new project. Finally, some non-waveform-specific project properties are also accessed from this menu.

New

The File|New menu item erases all user-placed waveform action points and resets all block diagram settings to default values for the selected chip.
Selection of File|New will bring-up the Chip Selection dialog box. The selection of a chip is needed in order to determine default values for the new block diagram.
The File|New item severs any attachment to a GPIF Designer project file. So, the File|Save operation is temporarily disabled until the new project has been saved using the File|Save As . . . menu item.

Open

File|Open has the expected functionality of allowing the user to select a previously saved GPIF Designer project file.
When the program launches, the default directory for File|Open is set to the directory in which GPIF Designer exectable file is located. When a Designer project file (.gpf) has been opened, the starting directory for File|Open is set to the directory of the current project file.
One important side effect of File|Open is that, if GPIF Designer finds a file named "app_note.htm" in the directory from which the project file is loaded, that file will be accessible from the This Project item of the Help menu.
The name and path of the currently open (i.e. active) project file is displayed in the caption of the GPIF Designer main window.

Save

File|Save writes all the block diagram and waveform information to the currently active GPIF Designer project file. The waveforms of all enabled banks are saved.

Save As

File|Save As prompts for a name and location of the new GPIF Designer project file in which to save all the block diagram and waveform information. After saving the data, the new file becomes the currently open (i.e. active) project file.
GPIF Designer project files should have the suffix .gpf.

Properties

The File|Properties menu item brings-up the Properties dialog box shown below.

The Show vertical grid on waveform diagrams checkbox allows modification of the waveform appearance to show or hide the vertical grid lines. Below is an example of a waveform without the grid lines.

By default, the vertical grid lines are turned-on when File|New is invoked. This setting is saved along with all other parameters to the GPIF Designer project files (*.gpf) when the File|Save or File|Save As operations are performed.

Debug Output

The Enable GPIF Debug Output on PE[2:0] checkbox controls the value of the GSTATE bit (b2) of the IFCONFIG register. Check this box in order to read the values of GSTATE bits [2:0] on lines [2:0] of port E.

Waveform Banks Enabled

GPIF Designer is able to manage up to 8 sets (i.e. banks) of waveform descriptors. Each bank consists of 4 waveform descriptors, which are displayed on the 4 waveform editor tab pages. At any one time, only one bank of waveform descriptors is displayed. However, the displayed bank of descriptors can be switched via the Tools|Select Waveform Bank menu item.
The number of waveform banks available is configured using the Waveform Banks Enabled field of the File|Properties dialog box.

When the Tools|Export to GPIF.c file menu item is invoked, waveform descriptor data structures are exported for all enabled banks. If more than 1 bank is enabled, the resulting "*.c" file will be larger and more complex.
It is more common to use the multiple banks to store variations of similar waveforms, for training purposes, than to actually generate multiple waveform descriptor data structures in an exported .c file.
By default, only 1 waveform bank is enabled when File|New is invoked.