What's Good About Capture OLE Object Placing? You Can Easily Do This in SPB16.3!

Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) support in SPB16.3 Allegro Design Entry CIS (or Capture) allows you to embed or link an object on your schematic page. The object types that you are allowed to embed or link are defined by the applications and files available on your computer. This feature allows you to annotate your schematic pages with any external data (information) that you need to enhance the usability and readability of your design.

You can place objects of other applications on your schematic page using the Place OLE Object. This allows to you embed or link an external application file into your schematic page. This provides the ability to package other files (or links to files) along with your schematic. For example, you may want to embed a PDF document on a schematic page. Or you may want to place and link an Excel document on a page. Allegro Design Entry CIS allows you to add an existing external file to your schematic as an OLE object.

Read on for more information …

Place a new OLE object on a page

1. From the Place menu, choose OLE Object. The Insert Object dialog box displays:

    
2. From the Object Type list, choose the new object type to embed on the schematic page.
3. Click OK. The cursor changes into the cross-hair cursor indicating that Capture is now in the Place OLE Object mode.
4. Click the mouse button at the point where you want to start the object and drag the cursor to draw a rectangular area to contain the object. As soon as you release the mouse button, the Capture toolbar now includes the toolbar for the application associated with the OLE object type. For example, if you select Bitmap Image type, the Capture toolbar will include the Microsoft Paint toolbars:

 
5. When you are done making changes to the new object, click anywhere on the schematic page outside the object. Notice now that the toolbars for the associated application are not available in Capture. Capture is now in the schematic page editor mode. The OLE object is now embedded in your schematic page and the contents will be saved along with your schematic page.

Place an existing OLE object on a page

1. From the Place menu choose OLE Object. The Insert Object dialog box displays The Create New radio button is selected by default.
2. Choose the Create From File radio option. You can either enter the name of the file or you can browse for the file on the file system. Choose the Link option to embed a reference of the file, otherwise the file itself is embedded on your page. Choose the Display as Icon option to display the icon for the application associated with the file:

 
3. Click OK. The cursor changes into the cross-hair cursor indicating that Capture is now in the Place OLE Object mode.
4. Click the mouse button at the point where you want to start the object and drag the cursor to draw a rectangular area to contain the object.
5. When you are done making changes to the new object, click anywhere on the schematic page outside the object.

Please share your experiences with this new SPB16.3 capability.

Jerry "GenPart" Grzenia