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What is the simplest way of verifying components pinout in OrCAD?

mbmsv
Hello,
I am relatively new to OrCAD. Most of my experience is with PCAD where I could open three views of the component (pinout spreadsheet, schematic symbol, and footprint) simultaneously and then if stepped through the lines in the spreadsheet the corresponding pin would highlight in both the schematic symbol and the footprint. Can I do something like that in OrCAD/Allegro or if not, then how do I quickly verify that the pin numbering is correct?
Thanks.
  • 0

    There is not any method in the Allegro /Orcad Capture flow of the same caliber as in PCAD V2006 Windows version. The main reason is that in the Allegro flow the schematic symbols and pcb footprints live in their own individual spaces as opposed to PCAD which has integrated PCB Footprints and Symbols and a dedicated Library manager called library executive. PCAD is light years ahead of Allegro for library management.

    Allegro/Orcad is more similar to the original PCAD Dos which did not have integrated Pcb and schematic symbols. As a long time PCAD user when PCAD was migrated from Dos to Windows one of the pet peeves about the dos version was the lack of integrated libraries, The windows version fixed this and introduced a dedicated one stop shop for library management. No third party tools or hacks required !

    In Orcad/Allegro the best you can do is very carefully create matching symbols and pcb footprints visually. When you create the symbols and footprints you can do a dummy schematic and pcb board to see if they package correctly similar to the old PCAD Dos.

    Best Regards.

  • +1

    Once the PCB Footprint is specified as a property (and your capture.ini file is configured to where these are stored) you can select a symbol and right click - Show Footprint. If you then select a pin on the symbol it will highlight in the footprint view. If you have the OrCAD CIP tool there is a compare option that will compare the footprint pinout with the symbol pinout and show you any discrepancies.

  • 0 in reply to steve

    This is almost as good as in PCAD-2006 :) Well, it was until I tried looking at a 1500-pin FPGA package... Thanks.

  • 0 in reply to steve
    steve said:
    If you have the OrCAD CIP tool there is a compare option that will compare the footprint pinout with the symbol pinout and show you any discrepancies.

    I have just tried that. It opens and closes Allegro in the background for every check and it gives a simple "All Pin Numbers Matched" message in the end with no visual, so it is not very reaffirming...

  • 0 in reply to excellon1

    Thank you for your reply. I thought you confirmed my fears but the Steve's answer below made my life a little easier. It is not as good as PCAD-2006 but a lot better than nothing!

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