Automatically instantiate title block on new schematics

Hi mhowell67

Hope that the following script is what you need. : )


procedure( CCSaddSchTitleCell(args)
   let( (cv title)
      cv=geGetWindowCellView()
      unless( dbFindAnyInstByName(cv "titleBlock")
         title=dbOpenCellViewByType("yourLib" "yourTitleCell" "symbol")
         dbCreateInst(cv title "titleBlock" 0:0 "R0")
         ;schCheck(cv) ;Uncomment this to do schematic check
         ;dbSave(cv) ;Uncomment this to save schematic
         printf("Added title block to schematic cell %s\n" cv~>cellName)
      ) ;unless
   ) ;let
) ;procedure


deRegUserTriggers("schematic" nil nil 'CCSaddSchTitleCell)

when( rexMatchp("virtuoso" getVersion())
   deRegUserTriggers("schematicXL" nil nil 'CCSaddSchTitleCell)
) ;when


Best regards
Quek

Hello mhowell67, Quek,

I am trying to implement your solution.

However I would like to avoid editing the script file for every new library I create.
Is there a mean to automatically load the script file at the virtuoso launch and to pass the "yourLib" argument automatically to the script ?

Plus, how to map my existing titleBlock symbol pattern to the script which will replace the "cellName", the "libName" ... ?

Thanks a lot for your help !

P.

Please read the forum guidelines where you are asked not to post to the end of an old thread (3 years + in this case).  

Surely your title block comes from one (reference) library, so if you create new design libraries you do not need a new reference library containing a title block for each new design library? You can automate a certain amount, but how would Virtuoso "know" which library to point to?  If it is the same library as the current cellview comes from, then it is easy to obtain that information from the current cellview database object (e.g. cv~>libName).  The titleBlock cell has a fixed name and so this name needs to be put in the script somehow, whether it is the explicit name, or some rule for finding a title block cell based on cellview size (say) or some naming rules (e.g. use rexMatchp() or pcreMatchp() to find matching names to a name pattern).  Also, by the way, the solution uses geGetWindowCellView() - this is unnecessary since the cellview database ID can be obtained from the 'args' data structure that is passed in to the function (in this case it would be: args->viewId).

Regards,

Lawrence.

Hello,

I am succefully using the CCSaddSchTitleCell provided by Quek (thank you).

procedure( CCSaddSchTitleCell(args)
let( (cv title)
cv=geGetWindowCellView()
when(member(args->accessMode '("a" "w")) 
unless( dbFindAnyInstByName(cv "titleBlock")
title=dbOpenCellViewByType("myLib" "titleBlock" "symbol")
dbCreateInst(cv title "T0" 1:2 "R0" 1)
schCheck(cv)
dbSave(cv)
) ;unless
) ;when
) ;let

) ;procedure

To avoid netlisting of this titleBlock cell, I add a cdf param: "nlAction" with the value "ignore".

When I instantiate the titleBlock manually, it is not netlisted (expected behaviour).

Nevertheless when I instantiate the titleBlock automatically (with the previous procedure), it seems that the cdf is not took into account because the titleBlock remains netlisted. Then if I update manually (in the design) any property of the automatically inserted titleBlock, the block become not netlisted.

Do yopu know why ? any workaround ?

regards,

Fabrice

Hi Fabrice,

Rather than adding a CDF parameter, open the symbol for the titleBlock, and do Edit->Properties->CellView (or whatever the cellVIew properties menu is called) and add a string property to the cellVIew with name nlAction, value "ignore".

I suspect what you've done is add it as a CDF parameter with storeDefault=yes - and that will only be triggered to add an instance property nlAction=ignore when you explicitly place an instance with Create Instance. So rather than that, put the property on the placed master (the symbol view) and then it will always be picked up regardless of how the instance is placed.

Regards,

Andrew.

Thanks Andrew,

Indeed your analysis looks good. Nevertheless instade add the nlAction=ignore manually, can i automate it in the skill procedure ?

regards,

fabrice

Hi Fabrice,

Why would you need to add this automatically? You add it once to the title block cellView, and then provided the title block symbol is saved, it's valid for any user of the title block from then onwards.

Regards,

Andrew.