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Text block changes on export libs

Allan M

Hello Folks,

I have OrCAD PCB Designer, Version 16.3.

I have a board file consisting of a catalog of footprints translated from an OrCAD Layout Library catalog file.  All of the text in this file is Text Block 5 but I want it all to be Text Block 2.  I can change it in the board file but when I export libs, the resulting .dra files all have Text Block 5 again!

Does anybody know what's going on here?  I don't want to have to edit each and every exported part symbol just to fix the text block number.

I've attached an example of this which includes: a .llb containing a single footprint, a catalog (.max) file derived from this, a .brd file translated from the .max file and the resulting exported symbol files.

Thanks in advance.

Cheers,

Allan

 

dummy.zip
  • oldmouldy

    What is going on is that, initially the design view you see is the same as the library view of the parts. You change the text size and the design properties of the parts changes. When you export the libraries, you get the original library data exported, hence the text size is the same as the original translation. You could try changing the original Layout source data to use a smaller text size and see if that gets you anywhere, otherwise, you would need to change the text size for each component DRA file, or change the text size in the design each time.

  • Allan M

    Hi oldmouldy,

    Just to make my problem clearer:

    1. I want to translate an OrCAD Layout library (*.llb ).

    2. I would open the library I want to translate in OrCAD Layout Library Manager (V16.2) and edit the refdes text sizes to be the same as the size of text block 2 which I have defined in the text size parameter file I will be importing later.

    3. I then catalog the library.  When I open the .max file in Layout, the text sizes are still  the same as in the previous step.  All seems OK.

    4. I then translate the layout into allegro format.

    5. When I open the .brd file, all the refdes text is  suddenly text block 5 which is not the same size as text block 2 and the text is now a different size from that defined in the Layout libary and catalog files.

    6. I then import my parameters file and change all the refdes text in the board file to text block 2.  Now all the refdes texts are the desired size.

    7. When I export the libs, all the refdes text in the exported symbols end up as text block 5 again!  (I think you sufficiently explained the reason for that.)

    I found a way to work around this by making text block 5 the desired size in my parameter file so that after I import the parameter file, when I export the libraries, the text block size remains what I want (which means, in this case, I no longer have a choice of defining any text block number to any size I want ).

    I wonder if my problem is in the translator itself?  I wonder if, during the translation, the translator uses some pre-defined set of text block sizes and the closest text block to the size I want ends up being 5 (even though it isn't exactly the same)?  Is there a way to somehow change the text block parameters that the layout-to-allegro translator uses?  Is there a global default location for text block sizes that I can save that happens before a design file is ever loaded or the parameter file is imported?

    Thanks Oldmouldy for all your help so far.

    Cheers,

    Allan

     

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