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Hierarchical blocks and pin order

Posted: 26 Apr 2016, 02:06
by godzich
Hi All,

My first post here as a new user...

First - I'm very familiar and use some professional CAD packages - but a complete rookie with DipTrace so pleace be gentle and understanding if I ask something stupid. Since there's a reasonable user base I thought it would be prudent to ask the questions here not to burden the guys at DipTrace (let them do the more profitable development of this fantastic software).

I have created a schematic with a main sheet and two hieracrical sheets. Everything works ok. However, when I add pins at the hierarchical sheets during the design, I need to place them in a certain order in the hierarcical block as I wish. This is a requirement. How do I reorganize the block sympol pins? I cannot find a way to edit the hierarchical symbol?

Cheers,

Christian

Re: Hierarchical blocks and pin order

Posted: 26 Apr 2016, 22:57
by Tomg
godzich wrote:"...when I add pins at the hierarchical sheets during the design, I need to place them in a certain order in the hierarcical block as I wish. This is a requirement. How do I reorganize the block sympol pins?
Connectors of a hierarchical block displayed in the main schematic sheet will appear in the order they are placed on their related hierarchical sheet; left to right, top to bottom. The side of a hierarchical block on which a connector appears will be determined by its orientation in its related hierarchical sheet (see "Assigning Connector Side" below).

EDIT
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Currently, there is a hierarchy change bug that DipTrace is now aware of and will be working on (see http://www.diptrace.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=11053). In the meantime, here is a work-around for this bug that will show you how to make changes on a hierarchical sheet and have those changes appear on the main schematic...
***********

Changing Connector Location (work-around for hierarchy change bug mentioned above)
1) Open the related hierarchical sheet, right-click on the connector and select Copy in the pop-up menu.
2) Right-click twice in the new location (the first click deselects the connector) and select Paste in the pop-up menu to place the new connector.
3) Assign the connector to the one of the sides of the hierarchical block (see "Assigning Connector Side" below).
4) Right-click on the original connector and select Delete in the pop-up menu.
5) Connect the new connector to the appropriate Net.
6) Resave the schematic.

Assigning Connector Side
In the related hierarchical sheet, select/highlight the connector and press the space bar to rotate it in 90-degree intervals. The orientation of the connector will determine which side of the hierarchical block the connector will be on when viewed in the main schematic.

Connector Renaming
1) Open the related hierarchical sheet.
2) Right-click on the connector and then click on the connector name displayed at the top of the pop-up menu.
3) Type in the new name and select OK.

Connector Spacing
The spacing between connectors as displayed in the main schematic is fixed and cannot be changed.

Hierarchical Block Size
The proportions of the hierarchical block as displayed in the main schematic are automatically set to accommodate the maximum number of connectors for a given side/axis.

Alternate method for changing connector location (work-around for hierarchy change bug mentioned above)
1) Open the related hierarchical sheet and move the connector with the mouse.
2) Assign the connector to the one of the sides of the hierarchical block (see "Assigning Connector Side" above).
3) Return to the main schematic sheet, delete the hierarchical block and then place the hierarchical block again. This will automatically bring in the changes that were just made in the hierarchical sheet. The downside to doing it this way is that all of the Net connections will be lost when the old block is deleted, so you will have to reconnect the new hierarchical block manually.

Re: Hierarchical blocks and pin order

Posted: 28 Apr 2016, 04:25
by godzich
Hi Thomg,

Thanks for a thorough explanation. What caused my confucion was that I assumed that an alread placed hierarcical symbol would automatically reflect whatever changes or edidt I have done inside it. I have to re-place it to get the changes visible, clumsy but not a showstopper.

I would like to see an hierachical symbol editor so that you could arrange the hierarcical symbol pins freely as you can do ina a schematic symbol. Very often the logical and the schematic pin locations differ so much that this would be a good feature and help keeping the schematics clean.

Cheers,

Christian

Re: Hierarchical blocks and pin order

Posted: 28 Apr 2016, 05:22
by Tomg
godzich wrote:"...I assumed that an alread placed hierarcical symbol would automatically reflect whatever changes or edidt I have done inside it. I have to re-place it to get the changes visible, clumsy but not a showstopper..."
I assumed the same thing when I was exploring how to make changes to the hierarchy, which is why I had to edit my post so many times after seeing some unexpected program behavior. The way it should work supports our assumptions but, because of the newly-discovered bug, these inconvenient and cumbersome work-arounds will be necessary until this hierarchy change bug is fixed.
godzich wrote:"...I would like to see an hierachical symbol editor so that you could arrange the hierarcical symbol pins freely as you can do ina a schematic symbol..."
+1 ...so would I! Try suggesting that in the Feature requests forum. Maybe they will go for it.