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DE HDL - can I move a part from one cell to another?

EvanShultz
The problem
Over the years, we've realized we didn't structure our library in the best possible fashion. However, it's very troublesome to make sweeping changes to the library, as that will affect many users. Most of our problem lies in unnecessarily subdivided cells. So instead of going to one cell, I have to search in many cells to find the comp I want. Or I have to select many cells and filter. It would be better if I could take similar cells and combine all their parts into a single cell. Or, rather, take all the comps from one cell and move them to a different, already existing, cell. Does that make sense?

To experiment with my options using a project I can release for your experimenting pleasure, I used the example project from Solution ID: 11015438. I added a second cell in the classlib/mylib library called "resistor2". This cell contains unique comps. First, I placed a couple comps from the "resistor2" cell and packaged the schematic (no PCB updates). All was well.

Moving a cell to a different library: OK
I know that I can move the "resistor2" cell from the classlib/mylib library to the standard library without trouble. When I open the schematic after moving the cell, I see:
WARNING(SPCOCN-1343): Design Name: NS_TEST.SCH.1.1Component RESISTOR2.SYM.1.1 not found in library mylib, added from library standard.
in the Console. DE HDL is smart enough to look for a cell that has been completely moved to a different library. While the this warning is innocuous, I can update the paths by running File > Save Hierarchy; the warning goes away because DE HDL then remembers in what library to look for the "resistor2" cell.

So, as I'd discovered a few years ago, I can move cells from one library to another without causing packaging issues and frustration for the users. I can make my changes and the users may never notice (although it does slow down DE HDL invocation); but all that's required is running a simple menu command and everything is happy again.

Moving a comp to a different cell: Fail
However, that's not exactly what I want to do. I want to move comps from one cell to another cell. So if I open part.ptf in the "resistor2" cell, cut a comp, and paste it into the part.ptf in the "resistor" cell, I should get an error. Sure enough, I can open the schematic and see the comp that was moved (since the primitive cell info remains), but when I try to package I see the following error in pxl.log:
ERROR(SPCOPK-1053): Cannot find a ppt part that matches the instance properties.
Ppt Name: RESISTOR2
and the error continues in more detail.

And thus we know that I can't move comps from one cell to another and still package the design. It appears DE HDL, or rather PXL, doesn't search within other cells for a specific comp when it sees a missing comp. And this means major irritation and work for my users. Trying to clean up and improve our library isn't worth this pain.

Am I stuck?
But, is there a solution? Can the comps in one cell be moved to another, already existing cell without causing this trouble? I can't be the only person who found out far too late that there's a better way to structure the library. But perhaps everyone else in the same situation just lives with it??

I've attached the zipped (it was already archived) project with my changes. If you want to get it back to a working state, simply cut the following line from part.ptf in the "resistor" cell and paste it into part.ptf in the "resistor2" cell (part.ptf is at \part_table):
10.0K(10.0K) = 24707-008-74 | 10.0K | "1%" | SMDRES | .25 | "10.0K RESISTOR"

Thanks for any help or guidance on this issue!
netshort.zip
Parents
  • Jerry GenPart

    OK Evan – this helps.

    So, you’d have a single new part (3pinconn) that would contain all the PTF rows from the original 3 pin connectors.

    You will need to update the schematic and replace the 2 other named parts with the new 3pinconn part. There would be a single part.ptf file under the 3pinconn containing a single PART_NAME section (3PINCONN) and all the rows from the original 3 parts.

    Now – to update the schematic, you can use the Global Modify command. Or (but be VERY careful), you could write a small script to update the sch_1 page.csa files and replace the 2 other parts with the 3PINCONN part.

    Should work just fine – let me know.


    Jerry

Reply
  • Jerry GenPart

    OK Evan – this helps.

    So, you’d have a single new part (3pinconn) that would contain all the PTF rows from the original 3 pin connectors.

    You will need to update the schematic and replace the 2 other named parts with the new 3pinconn part. There would be a single part.ptf file under the 3pinconn containing a single PART_NAME section (3PINCONN) and all the rows from the original 3 parts.

    Now – to update the schematic, you can use the Global Modify command. Or (but be VERY careful), you could write a small script to update the sch_1 page.csa files and replace the 2 other parts with the 3PINCONN part.

    Should work just fine – let me know.


    Jerry

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