Recall previous layout layer visibility sets

Hi Brian

The simplest solution (which does not answer exactly what you ask for) is to create sets of layers : 

For instance :

'(CO POLY M1 V1 M2)

'(CO M1 V1)

'(M1 V1 M2)

etc.

And to write a function that cycle through the defined presets to make them visible while hiding the other layers.

You could also make a function to toggle all the layers from a preset visible or hidden

If you are not satisfied with this solution (which I can understand) I can provide you with one closer to what you expect.

But it is quite tricky and I would advise to avoid using it.

Cheers

Aurélien 

Thanks Aurélien, it would be much appreciated if you could share a workable solution when time permits. I have not yet formally trained on skill, something which I intend to soon do. Could I ask why would you not recommend using such a function? I am interested, as code robustness and reliability are a priority regarding my use case.

Thank you, kind regards, B

Hi,

Something like that should do the job

You will just have to replace the list of predefined layers sets by valid names in your techno

(inScheme
(let ((sets '( ("poly"   "contact" "metal1")
               ("metal1" "v1"      "metal2")
               ("metal2" "v2"      "metal3")
               ;; All metals
               ("metal1" "v1" "metal2" "v2" "metal3")
             ))
      )

  ;; Build an infinite loop of sets
  (nconc sets sets)

  (defglobalfun cycle_through_layer_sets ( @key  (cv (geGetEditCellView))
                                                 (tf (techGetTechFile cv))
                                           @rest _args )
    "Cycle through defined sets and display only one predefined group of layer"
    (let ((layer_names (pop sets)))
      ;; Set first set layer as entry one
      (leSetEntryLayer (list (car layer_names) "drawing") tf)
      ;; Disable all other layers
      (foreach lp tf->lps
        (let ((lpp (list lp->name lp->purpose)))
        (unless (equal lpp (list (car layer_names) "drawing"))
          (leSetLayerVisible lpp nil)
          )))
      ;; Enable only sets layers
      (foreach layer_name layer_names
        (leSetLayerVisible (list layer_name "drawing") t)
        )
      ));let ;def

  ));closure

Cheers,

Aurélien

Thanks Aurélien, I have been OOO the past few weeks. Appreciate the help here. Yes this is very helpful, however I think it would be something more along the lines of actually saving previously viewed sets of layers, and then recalling them, is what I would be looking for. 

Just thinking out loud, would there be the possibility in Skill, of coding a solution that would automatically and continuously monitor the layers that are set visible, and store in a variable/table, and anytime there was a change to any layer visibility, that change would automatically get stored into that variable/table as a new layer set? So that essentially, each change in layer visibility would be captured as a new layer set in the variable/table, up to a certain pre-set number of sets.

And then a procedure that recalls each layer set incrementally from that variable/table?

Thanks and kind regards,

Brian.

blankman said:

I think it would be something more along the lines of actually saving previously viewed sets of layers, and then recalling them

Ok, so this is the tricky solution I was talking about before

You can achieve this with namespaces and overload pteSetVisible but it is clearly not stable and advised not to be used 

In the following discussion Cadence Community - Custom IC SKILL - SKILL namespaces, Andrew said namespaces were not ready at the time and I don't believe it changed during those 9 years...

I managed to completely crash a few sessions with my recent trials (using 6.18.xx - 23.10.xx)

Another solution which is quite dirty and inefficient would be to have a child process triggering regular recordings of the layer set every x seconds

Anyway, I don't really get how recalling every change done to the layer set is convenient (at least how it is more convenient than re-selecting or re-deselecting the layers you want)

I believe you will spend more time recalling previous sets than selecting directly the layers you need.

But you might have a completely different usage than mine. If you can explain to me the use case and why you think it would be user-friendly, I would be very glad to understand.

Cheers

Aurélien

Aurélien, thank you, the main use case (along side it being a handy additional feature for the smaller geometry processes by being able to recall complex layer vis combos that are frequently required) is to be able to visually compare certain layers within a layout. For instance, using 9 or so metals, being able to visually compare the corresponding 9 DMEXCL layers for those metals using one button is extremely handy. ie by loading each layer into the “history” of layers that were visible, and then recalling those layers sequentially with the button added to a form, to cycle back sequentially through the visibility of those layers. However, by the sounds of it, this is not really possible, and the effort would not be worthwhile, as the above-described function can of course can be accomplished by other means. Thanks again, with kind regards, B

Aurélien, thank you, the main use case (along side it being a handy additional feature for the smaller geometry processes by being able to recall complex layer vis combos that are frequently required) is to be able to visually compare certain layers within a layout. For instance, using 9 or so metals, being able to visually compare the corresponding 9 DMEXCL layers for those metals using one button is extremely handy. ie by loading each layer into the “history” of layers that were visible, and then recalling those layers sequentially with the button added to a form, to cycle back sequentially through the visibility of those layers. However, by the sounds of it, this is not really possible, and the effort would not be worthwhile, as the above-described function can of course can be accomplished by other means. Thanks again, with kind regards, B

Ok I see,

I believe working with a full history is hard to achieve

But we can imagine different solutions :

You could have a bindkey to save the current layer set and another to pop and apply lastly saved layer set

You could have several bindkeys (one per metal for instance) to display only the associated layer sets.

You could also use modifiers (shift/ctrl) to toggle on or off the associated set instead of displaying only it.

Cheers

Aurélien

Hi Aurélien, very helpful, yes I am using some of these functions existingly, which have indeed been extremely useful. I will consider implementing the above function using one of these approaches I think. I appreciate your support here with this, thanks, kind regards, B