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A rather unconventional schematic symbol question/issue

Composter

 Hi,

 I'm using Cadence 5.1 and am trying to make some schematic symbols that display context dependent information when instantiated. Onthe symbol itself, I have several ILLabels such as "ilInst~>myvar" and I have edited the cdf such that "myvar" contains some skill code that evaluates to the string of what I want displayed on the symbol. I'm accessing the data about the selected instance through expressions like "cdfgData->width->value". Much of this is based on code I've seen used elsewhere and I've just adapted it to suit my needs.

 

So I'm running aground because I don't know how to access the instance name (as opposed tthe cell name) within an expression. I've already tried cdsName() but that does not return the current instance name of the selected instance. Can anybody out there please provide me with the skill magic to do this. I figure it has to be available via cdfgData but I don't the access name. Many thanks in advance.

 

  • Hi,

    I think that all you need is the following:

    ilInst~>name


    Regards,
    Lawrence.

  •  Hi Lawrence,

     Wow - that was quick! However, it didn't work :-(. Perhaps a clarification is in order. On my symbol I have an ILLabel "ilInst~>iname". In the cdf for the cell I have declared the parameter iname, and the default value of iname is a somewhat lengthy skill code expression that contains the line:

    if( sameWidth&&sameLength cdfgData->iname->value=\"\" cdfgData->iname->value=ilInst~>name )

    i.e. based on the conditional 'sameWidth&&sameLength' iname will either evaluate to a null string or what I hope to be the instance's instance name. I implemented your suggestion of accessing the instance name via "ilInst~>name" in the line of code above, however the current instance name is NOT displayed. If I select the instance and do a query, I see that the instance name on the form and the instance name displayed as a result of the expression are not the same.

    Looking forward to your next answer!

    Thanks,

    Mick.

  • Make that "Looking forward to *anybody's* next answer"...

  • How about using an NLPLabel with a value like this: [@instanceName]

    The NLPLabel will display the value of attributes on the object. You could replace instanceName with any attribute that would be found in the instance.

    Derek

  •  Nice avatar :-).

    So using that NLPLabel is only good for a *persistent* display of the instance name. The label I'm trying to make *conditionally* displays the instance name. Hence I need access to a way to determine the instance name from within the expression previously cited so I can subsequently choose to display it or not. I was hoping access to the instance name would be available in cdfgData but I'm not sure. My experience level with skill isn't so good, but I'm great at modifying existing code when I can see the context.

  • Can you use an attribute on the instance to store your instance name conditionally? If I change the [@instanceName] to [@instanceName2], then nothing will display when I place the symbol. However, if I set a property on the instance with a name of instanceName2, then the value will display. Would this be sufficient, or are you hoping to dynamically display the names?

    For dynamic display, I tried the following, and it seemed to work:
    Set a global variable: _DISPLAY = nil
    Create an ilLabel: {_DISPLAY && ilInst~>name}
    Toggle the _DISPLAY variable to t and the instance name displays.

    Derek

  • Hi Derek,

    So that's an interesting idea. Perhaps if I go even one level deeper into what I'm trying to do it will help. I have a bunch of switch symbols. I find switched capacitor schematics rapidly get ugly/incomprehensible because the switches are big, have way too many labels showing, and have pin locations that promote lots of wires crossing each other. The symbols I'm making have the ability to set the widths and lengths of the internal transistors, and the labels I'm displaying on the symbol are context sensitive i.e. if the device sizes are for default minimum sized transistors then I don't even display W/L's on the switch symbol - only the instance name. Without getting too deep, i have some labels that either display W/L or the cell's instance name. In this case, if the label chooses to show W/L then another label elsewhere on the symbol will light up with the instance name. All of this is on a per-cell basis i.e. no global variables.

    An abbreviated example of what I'm doing is:

    On a symbol I have an ILLabel "ilInst~>size2"

    In the cell's cdf I have a parameter "size2" that contains the defValue:

    letseq( ( \
        (curWN1 cdfgData~>WN1->value) \
        (curLN1 cdfgData~>LN1->value) \
        (curWN2 cdfgData~>WN2->value) \
        (curLN2 cdfgData~>LN2->value) \
        (sameWidth cdfParseFloatString(curWN1)==cdfParseFloatString(curWN2) ) \
        (sameLength cdfParseFloatString(curLN1)==cdfParseFloatString(curLN2) ) \
      ) \
      if( sameWidth&&sameLength cdfgData->size1->value=cdsName() cdfgData->size1->value=sprintf(nil \"%s/%s\" curWN1 curLN1) ) \
    )"
        )

    The IF statement at the end evaluates an expression and decides returning the instance name ( currently cdsName() ) or a W/L ratio, and the ILLabel on the symbol correspondingly displays the right stuff. So my issue is that the cdsName() function in the IF statement does NOT return the instance name of the currently selected cell, and I'm after some other alternative I can stuff into that IF statement.

    Or maybe there's an even better way to do all this - although I'd prefer just the alternative function. I'm hopeful that the global information available via cdfgData when a cell is selected has this information. I just don't know how to get at it...

    Mick.

  •  The problem is finding ou tthe currently selected instance displayed in the editProps form. The variable cdfgData does not contain the dbId of the instance, only the master. ilInst is only valid inside the placement so it cannot be used in a cdf callback.

    For some reason, cdsName() does not work correctly all the time, I think it has to do with the CDS_NETLISTING_MODE value.

     

    Ted

  • How about this:

    Create an iLLabel with a value of "myLabel()"

    Then define this function:

    procedure(myLabel()
    letseq( (label
        (curWN1 ilInst~>WN1)
        (curLN1 ilInst~>LN1)
        (curWN2 ilInst~>WN2)
        (curLN2 ilInst~>LN2)
        (sameWidth cdfParseFloatString(curWN1)==cdfParseFloatString(curWN2) )
        (sameLength cdfParseFloatString(curLN1)==cdfParseFloatString(curLN2) )
      )
      if( sameWidth&&sameLength
        sprintf(label "%L" ilInst~>name)
        sprintf(label "%s/%s" curWN1 curLN1)
      )
      label
     )
    ) ;proc

    Derek

  • Thanks for the explanation Ted. I didn't appreciate until now that cdfgData pointed to the master and not the instance. I have certainly noticed that cdsName() works for some of my symbols and not others. I've never played with CDS_NETLISTING_MODE so it's weird that cdsName() isn't behaving consistently for me. 

     By the way - your last name wouldn't happen to start with "P" would it :-)

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