FPGA ide, currently using quartis 2

[prophoss]

I am currently using quartis 2 ver. 13 to program my cyclone 4 chip. It took a bit of doing to learn how to do all that.

Having said that, I was wondering if there was a way to use another text editor other than the one provided? I could use VS Code and then copy and paste and if I could synthesis the code in VS Code I would pretty happy with that, but that doesn't seem quite so easy.

I tried to find a way to change the quartis text editor to a darker background but there doesn't seem to be a way to do that. There is just a lot about VS Code that I like and that I wish I could use in quartis. That made wonder what other IDEs work with ALTERA chips or at least synthesis code from the IDE instead of having to copy paste then synthesis?  I am not hung up on any one way but would prefer not to have to re-learn yet another tool-chain.

[rstofer]

Edit with Visual Studio Code.
What does Quartus do when a file is edited outside the IDE.  Many IDEs will detect that and offer to load the revised copy.  Otherwise, close the project, do your edit and then just reopen the project.  Some combination will work...

[BrianHG]

You do not need to use Quartus's text editor to edit HDL code.  The source code files are in your project directory and they are normal ascii text just like a .txt file.  If you other editor doesn't generate any funny characters or save in a binary .doc, .docx, .odt, .rtf, then you can use it directly on the files.  And then you just need to compile in Quartus.

There exist other HDL ascii text editors which will also properly colorize the mnemonic.  Google Verilog VHDL text editors.

You do not need to exit Quartus when externally editing.  After you make a 'save', Quartus will automatically detect the change when you re-compile your project.

[prophoss]

I had not thought of that. I will start the file in quartis then edit it in VS Code. That doesn't sound to bad at all, thanks y'all!

[prophoss]

I finally hit the right wording on google and found how to use notepad ++ as the default text editor for quartis 2!
Thought I'd post the link just in case someone else needs it.
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/programmable/support/support-resources/knowledge-base/solutions/rd06122006_699.html#:~:text=To%20direct%20the%20Quartus%C2%AE,editor%20you%20want%20to%20use.