Stats

More Content

How to turn off online drc within a tcl script

gvellet

Hi,

I wrote a script to change properties on all the symbols of my schematic. It works well except when the online drc is ON. With online drc active, the script becomes very slow. 

I have to turn off the online drc manually to avoid the problem. 

I tried recording the mouse commands in a log file but it look like the drc menu is special because it does not save tcl command in the CAPTURELOG folder.

I wonder if there is an easy command that I could call in  tcl to turn off the online drc.

Thank you

  • 0

    HI Gvellet,

    Please use below tcl command to make on and off online DRC:

    #Make Online DRC on

     writeProfileString {DRCSettings} {RUN_Online_Rules} {TRUE} 

    #Make online DRC off

     writeProfileString {DRCSettings} {RUN_Online_Rules} {FALSE}

    Hope this helps!

  • 0 in reply to CadAP

    Hi CadAP,

    I have tried your suggestion on the command line and also in my tcl script. Unfortunately it does not work in either case. I see no change in the online DRC behavior. The only change that I have noted is that "WriteProfileString" adds an entry into capture.ini, which is not used by Orcad apparently. BTW I am using Orcad Capture 17.4-2019 S038.

    I am curious to know where you found the command "WriteProfileString"; It could be useful for other application. There must be a Cadence manual somewhere detailing those useful commands?

    Thank you for your time 

  • +1 in reply to gvellet

    Hi Gvellet,

    Please check in the Extended Preference below setting is enable.

     

    If not please enabled the setting and try the below tcl command to on/off the Online_DRC:

    #Make Online DRC on

     writeProfileString {DRCSettings} {RUN_Online_Rules} {TRUE} 

    #Make online DRC off

     writeProfileString {DRCSettings} {RUN_Online_Rules} {FALSE}

    Also you can use capIsOnlineDrcEnabled tcl command to get the status of the online DRC.

    I got this command internally.

  • 0 in reply to CadAP

    Hi CadAP,

    Thanks for the new explanations about the Global DRC settings, it was able to fix my script.

    I made some exploration along the way before finalizing the solution. First I tried to set the Global DRC setting using the command writeProfileString inside my tcl script. However I found that it could not work because the global DRC setting is not just a toggle switch, it seems to change bigger things in the background that must be done outside tcl using the capture menu to work correctly. But it was bothering me to having the script  always asking the user to check if the Global DRC setting was set properly.  Then I trhought of using the other command that you gave me "capIsOnlineDrcEnabled". In my script first, i turn off online with "writeProfileString {DRCSettings} {RUN_Online_Rules} {FALSE}", then I check if it worked using "capIsOnlineDrcEnabled". If online DRC was still enabled, only then I will ask user to verify the state of the Global DRC settings.

    It was a pleasure exchanging secret Orcad commands with you.

    Best regards,

Cadence Guidelines

Community Guidelines

The Cadence Design Communities support Cadence users and technologists interacting to exchange ideas, news, technical information, and best practices to solve problems and get the most from Cadence technology. The community is open to everyone, and to provide the most value, we require participants to follow our Community Guidelines that facilitate a quality exchange of ideas and information. By accessing, contributing, using or downloading any materials from the site, you agree to be bound by the full Community Guidelines.