[PROTEL EDA USERS]: PADS ASCII netlist reference designator bug - is there a workaround?

["Drew Lundsten" <drew@ccpu.com>]

I am using Protel 99SE for schematic capture and exporting netlists to PADS
for layout (at least for big digital boards). I've run into an error and I'm
hoping that bouncing it off the user group will result in confirmation and
workaround!

Here's a sample netlist exported (single sheet, nets/ports global, as
'Protel':

[
JP123456
test890
4 HEADER



]
(
NetJP123456_1
JP123456-1
)
(
NetJP123456_2
JP123456-2
)
(
NetJP123456_3
JP123456-3
)
(
NetJP123456_4
JP123456-4
)

and as 'PADS ASCII': .NET and .PRT files

*PADS-PCB*
*NET*
*SIGNAL* NetJP123456_1
 JP123456.1
*SIGNAL* NetJP123456_2
 JP123456.2
*SIGNAL* NetJP123456_3
 JP123456.3
*SIGNAL* NetJP123456_4
 JP123456.4
*END*

*PADS-PCB*
*PART*
JP123456test890
*END*

The long reference designator forces the part (JP123456) and footprint
(test890) to run together and PADS obviously won't import this correctly.

Any advice? Other than to shorten reference designators, of course (not an
option for some clients).

Thanks in advance,

Drew