Grab a 'ratnet' wire anywhere along the wire

[benoitstjean]

Hi all,

New to DipTrace coming from an old OrCAD version.

In OrCAD Layout, I can grab a 'ratnest' wire between two pins anywhere along that wire and route it. The routing will snap at the pin on the part it is tied to but I can grab it anywhere along that straight line.

For the life of me, I can't figure-out how to route a wire other than from the pin which is really annoying when I have hundreds of criss-crossing straight lines that looks like an opened box of uncooked spaghettis.

When I route in OrCAD, I zoom-in on a section and 'clean-up' the design by grabing some lines - any lines - then when I start routing, it routes from the component's pin it is attached to BUT I can grab a wire without knowing where it is connected on its ends.

Any way to do this in DipTrace?

Thanks!

Ben

[Tomg]

Not that I know of. You can add a node (hover the mouse over the trace and press the "n" key) and drag it from there, but you won't be able to snap it to a pin.

In DipTrace you will have to start routing (press the tilde "~" key), click on the pin and then click on the target point of the trace (or you can route from the trace to the pin). When routing over a ratline/net, all unrelated ratlines/nets should temporarily disappear.

As for dragging ratlines, I'm pretty sure there is no such feature in DipTrace.

In DipTrace you can create an additional ratline (enable the Place Ratline tool and click between the two desired pins). The new ratline will automatically adopt the name of the net to which you are connecting. If neither pin is connected to an existing net a new net name will be automatically assigned. (In these two cases it is assumed that there is no related schematic.)

[Licci99]

Yeah, I get the frustration! DipTrace can be annoying with routing only from the pin. Tom's trick of adding a node works, but it's not ideal. You can also try the "Auto-Router" to speed things up in dense areas.