Mix-in that lets an Annotation serialize itself to a file separate from the output annotation file.
This can be used as a mechanism to serialize an Unserializable annotation or to write ancillary collateral used by downstream tooling, e.g., a TCL script or an FPGA constraints file. Any annotations using this mix-in will be serialized by the firrtl.options.phases.WriteOutputAnnotations WriteOutputAnnotations phase. This is one of the last phases common to all Stages and should not have to be called/included manually.
Note: from the perspective of transforms generating annotations that mix-in this trait, the serialized files are not expected to be available to downstream transforms. Communication of information between transforms must occur through the annotations that will eventually be serialized to files.
Attributes
Deprecated
[Since version Chisel 7.0.0] All APIs in package firrtl are deprecated.
Output filename where serialized content will be written
Output filename where serialized content will be written
The full annotation sequence is a parameter to allow for the location where this annotation will be serialized to be a function of other annotations, e.g., if the location where information is written is controlled by a separate file location annotation.
Optionally, a sequence of annotations that will replace this annotation in the output annotation file.
Optionally, a sequence of annotations that will replace this annotation in the output annotation file.
A non-empty implementation of this method is a mechanism for telling a downstream Stage how to deserialize the information that was serialized to a separate file. For example, if a FIRRTL circuit is serialized to a separate file, this method could include an input file annotation that a later stage can use to read the serialized FIRRTL circuit back in.