Recognizing and Changing the Component Type
Each component in design data must be recognized as a proper component type (passive component, IC part, or connector). In this topic you will set the component reference designator in order to determine the type of the connector.
- On the ribbon, click Home > Design Rules > Constraint Browser. The Constraint Browser is displayed
- Click the Components/Parts
button to check the content of the tree in the Components
tab. In this design data, "P" is used as the reference header
of a connector. However, an icon for
Other
Components (Other) is shown for components with reference header "P",
and the components are not recognized as connectors.
If a proper component type is recognized for each component in the design data, then the display icons for components in the tree are as shown below.
| Value | Description |
|---|---|
| Resistor |
|
| Inductor |
|
| Capacitor |
|
| Diode |
|
| IC |
|
| Connector |
|
| Others |
|
Changing the Component Type
Change the Component Type as follows.
- On the Start menu in Windows, click eCADSTAR > eCADSTAR [Version] > Library Editor [Version]. eCADSTAR Library Editor starts.
- In the File tab, click Open Library. Alternatively, click Open on the Home tab. The Select Folder dialog is displayed.
- Browse to the following library location and click Select Folder: “C:\Users\Public\eCADSTAR\eCADSTAR [Version]\Analysis\Library”.
- On the ribbon, click Home > Editors > E-Net Definition. The E-Net Prefix Definition dialog is displayed.
If the DIY training has been completed for eCADSTAR Signal Integrity, then the E-Net Prefix values may differ for Integrated Circuits.
- Add "P" to the text in the Connectors box in the Component Prefixes section. To define a combination of multiple component headers, as shown in the image below, specify multiple character strings by delimiting them using the "space" character.
- Click OK, and exit eCADSTAR Library Editor.
- In eCADSTAR PCB Editor, click Home > Design Rules > Constraint Browser on the ribbon. Constraint Browser is launched.
- On the Constraint Browser menu bar, click Utility > E-Net Prefix Definition. The E-Net Prefix Definition dialog is displayed.
- Click Update in the E-Net Prefix Definition dialog.
- Close the displayed message by clicking Yes. Note that “P” has been appended to “CN” in the Connectors box, in the E-Net Prefix Definition dialog.
- Close the E-Net Prefix Definition dialog.
- In Constraint Browser, select Utility
> Reconstruct E-Net
on
the menu bar to update the component categorization in the Constraint
Browser tree. - Click Yes in the message box to proceed.
- Check the contents of the tree in the Components
tab. Notice that the icon for each component with a Reference Designator
starting with “P” has changed to the
Connector
icon.
This task is demonstrated in the following video.
