Digital Design Studio 1.0.89: a tidier workspace and local projects that pick up where you left off
Digital Design Studio 1.0.89 has been released. It brings navigation, settings and shortcuts under one design, and in the Windows app, signed-in users on any plan can now use Git, SystemVerilog and RTL features in projects on their PC. Returning to your edits after closing the app or starting offline is smoother, and the New Analysis and ALcad screens have been refined.
Digital Design Studio 1.0.89 has been released. This update brings the navigation, settings and shortcuts of the everyday workspace under one consistent design, and expands what you can do in projects on your PC in the Windows app. It also refines how unsaved edits are kept and restored, so you can get back to your work after closing the app or starting without a network connection.
The same approach now applies to the New Analysis screen, the Problems panel, ALcad's circuit and SI/PI screens and the AI screens. Names and sentences no longer get cut off or mixed with another language in narrow windows or after you change the display language.
A workspace that makes room and keeps tools close
You can drag the edge of the Cloud project navigation to any width. As it narrows, secondary details step aside first, and at its narrowest it folds into a rail of product icons. The folded rail keeps project switching, the window list, new windows, your account and usage, with usage shown as a simple percentage. Hover over an icon or move keyboard focus to it to see its full name. The QUOTA balance appears at the bottom left, just above your account, on every plan.
In the DDS editor, the View menu and the command palette show or hide the left and right rails individually, and bring them back even after both are hidden. The + menu on each side panel moves the view you want into that panel. The product menu now lists DDS work areas such as Project Manager, RTL Analysis, Simulation, Synthesis and Implementation with their steps, so you can go straight to the task you need from DDS or ALcad.
The Explorer header buttons are more compact, and the toggle between folder and hierarchy views now slides its selection. Long task names in the Flow Navigator wrap onto two lines, and a name that is still cut off appears in full when you hover over it or move focus to it.
Settings and shortcuts with one look
Sliders, number fields, toggles and dropdowns in Settings now share one design. Sliders and number fields show −/+ buttons with the current value, and a Default button returns a value to its original setting. Long dropdowns such as font lists can be searched inside the list, and ALcad's settings use the same controls.
You can import TTF, OTF, WOFF and WOFF2 font files for the editor and terminal. Imported fonts are kept on this device; on another device that uses the same settings but does not have the font file, the default monospace font is shown.
Each command can now have two shortcuts, a primary and a secondary one. In the shortcut table you add, change or remove each binding separately, and a binding reserved by the browser or the operating system, or one already in use, is flagged right in its row. Your shortcuts appear as you set them in menus, context menus, the command palette and ALcad tooltips. The Edit menu now includes Undo, Redo, Cut, Copy, Paste and Select All.
Account, data and QUOTA settings are now in one place, with usage and QUOTA shown in a single flow. Data control exports or deletes only the AI conversations stored on this device, as a JSON file, and leaves your other settings and recovery copies untouched. Engine and Flow settings of a Cloud project are saved to the project without starting its runtime.
Easier to read, in your language
The default light and dark palettes have been refined: brightness steps between areas are more even, the dark navigation is lifted off pure black, and borders and shadows are softer. On the default surfaces, body text keeps a contrast ratio of at least 10:1 and secondary text at least 5:1. Windows app windows open in the startup screen colour with your saved theme already applied, so there is no white flash or theme flicker.
Menus, sentences, settings and the status bar follow the language you select. Korean screens no longer mix in English phrases, and Korean text breaks between words in every product window. The Git panels, the change review dialog, the New Analysis screen and the Japanese and Traditional Chinese settings windows also appear in the selected language.
More for projects on your PC
In the Windows app, projects on your PC open straight from a folder, without WSL. Starting with 1.0.89, signed-in users on any plan, including Free, can use local features such as Git, SystemVerilog assistance, RTL lint and the module tree without a device licence. Here is the flow from creating a project to choosing its Technology.
A project on your PC, step by step
Each step assumes you are signed in to the Windows app. Git features require Git for Windows.
New project
Choose New project in the Local panel, then pick a name and location. The app previews the folder it will create and opens the project in the same window. Names that cannot be used are explained, and project paths are shown as readable Windows paths.
Messages for a project that could not be opened or restored appear in your language and no longer ask you to check WSL.
Git repository
Create Git repository in Source Control sets up a repository in the project folder, with main as the first branch. The commit author comes from the repository settings first, then from the name and email in your global Git settings. If neither is set, a form prefilled from your account asks for them and saves them to that repository.
In Git history, the branch, author, date and path filters are icons that summarize the values you chose. Git and tool checks run without opening console windows.
Write SystemVerilog
HintsBox suggests SystemVerilog keywords, system tasks and compiler directives alongside your project's symbols. Typing $ or a backtick (`) brings up system tasks and directives right away.
Parameter hints appear for ANSI-style functions and tasks declared in the same file or module, and for standard system calls such as $fatal. They also work in testbenches that use `timescale or procedural if and repeat statements.
RTL structure and lint
The RTL module tree in the Explorer is built from your saved .sv and .v files. With the same rules as Cloud, it separates the top-level design, testbenches and other modules. It handles up to 500 files and 16 MiB of source in total, and shows a notice instead of the tree beyond that.
The RTL compiler included in the app checks lint and diagnostics right away.
Choose Technology
Preview, switch and revert a project's Technology (PDK) without WSL. Previewing does not change the project, and the selected Technology stays in place after the app restarts.
What you can use, by sign-in state
The Windows app header now shows your current access state instead of a fixed “Free” label.
Signed in
On any plan, including Free, you can use the local features for projects on your PC without a device licence.
Create a Git repository, review history and changes, and commit
SystemVerilog completion and parameter hints
RTL lint, compiler diagnostics and the RTL module tree
Report import, the KLayout view and external editor settings
The separate settings window, and detaching editor tabs into new windows
Offline start
If you start with a saved account and the account service cannot be reached, the workspace opens and you can keep editing and saving files. Features that need sign-in pause, then turn on automatically once the connection returns and your account is confirmed.
If confirming your account takes more than three seconds, the workspace opens first instead of waiting. Edits you make in the meantime carry on once the same account is confirmed.
Not signed in
Without signing in, you can still edit and save files in projects on your PC. Sign in from the header to turn on the features that need it.
Edits that carry on after you close and reopen
When you close the Windows app, it now tells you what happens to unsaved edits and what comes back when you reopen it. Select each step to see how it works.
From closing the app to getting your edits back
Unsaved file edits are kept on this PC and come back when you reopen the project with the same account.
Close the app
When you close the window, open editors immediately write recovery copies of their unsaved edits to this PC.
Keep a copy
Recovery copies are kept for up to 1 MiB per file, and up to 128 files and 4 MiB in total per project window. If some edits go beyond these limits or cannot be written to storage, the exit prompt says so.
Exit prompt
The exit prompt explains that kept edits are restored when you reopen the project with the same account, and that edits in editors opened in a new window and input such as commit messages are lost.
If some edits could not be kept, it warns you to save first, even if you selected Do not ask again.
Start again
When the app starts again, files you had detached into new windows return once as main tabs, and the bottom panel layout saved for each project is restored.
Verify account
Edits made after starting offline or on a slow connection, while your account is being confirmed, are kept too. Once the same account and organization are confirmed they carry on; they are never handed to another account.
Restore edits
Kept edits reappear in their file tabs when you open the project with the same account. Restoring does not save the file, so review the changes and then save.
A clearer New Analysis screen
New Analysis now has its own view list inside the editor area. Pick views such as Analysis setup, Analysis tools, Saved RTL, UVM, FDTD2D and Import report from the list; inputs, running jobs and results stay in place when you switch views. Settings and results read as row-based tables, and the Start button sits in the header at the top.
A view that the current environment does not provide is marked Unavailable in the list, and only that view shows “Not available in this environment”. If one editor tab runs into a problem, Try again and Close tab appear inside that tab, while the title bar, panels and other tabs keep working.
When a Cloud analysis request is refused, the screen explains the cause, such as signing in again, project owner access or QUOTA, and shows the error code on a separate line. Cloud server analysis is not offered in this version, and the screen says so if you request it.
The Problems panel uses the shared search field and shows its column headings and severities in your language. In the plugin catalog you choose a category from a dropdown, and selecting a plugin opens its details in a tab in the editor area, next to your open files. In ISA design, a CX width mismatch is now reported as a diagnostic before the design is carried into RTL.
ALcad circuit and SI/PI screens
ALcad uses the same header, menus, settings controls and loading screen as DDS. The circuit start screen switches between My circuits saved in the project and the official Circuit samples, and SI/PI navigation now lives in one place. Component properties, including the reference name, model, parameter values and units, are shown and edited in a compact table, and SI/PI results and project documents appear in your language.
In digital schematics, net names, pin labels and wiring are laid out so they no longer overlap. Long net names generated by the compiler are shortened, with the full name available in the hint and in Properties. Each net gets its own routing track, branch points and crossings with other nets are drawn distinctly, and Fit places the schematic so that open panels do not cover it.
Other changes
Tab drag and drop: when you drag an editor tab onto another tab row, the dragged tab stays legible and the other tabs no longer jump when you drop it. ISA tab rows also preview where the tab will land.
Project settings tab: the project settings tab in DDS and ALcad is more compact, with the Save and reset-to-defaults buttons pinned at the top.
Cloud project list: the Cloud project list in the Windows app sidebar now uses the shared dropdown, which reads clearly in the dark theme. Selected items in shared dropdowns keep a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1 in both light and dark themes.
Terminal notice: in projects without a terminal, a notice in your language explains why and what to do; for projects on your PC, it points you to your PC's terminal app.
Along with new features, 1.0.89 refines how you find and move between the tools you already use, and how you get back to work in progress.