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

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

My problem is not with the PADS limitation of 16 characters for ref des,
it's with the Protel limitation of 7 characters. A reference designator of 8
characters will not export correctly to a PADS ASCII netlist.

Protel exports the Protel netlist correctly because it adds a newline after
the reference designator. The reason we have an 8 character ref des to worry
about is that the ref des reflects the schematic sheet number (3 digits) as
well as subassembly module (3 digits) for identification on the BOM and in
DVT. Our only workaround so far is to convert the Protel netlist to a PADS
ASCII format, but that means maintaining another piece of scriptware.

I can accept that Protel may not be concerned with exporting PADS ASCII
netlists beyond 7-character reference designators, or at all - after all,
why should we perform schematic capture in Protel and switch to PADS for PCB
(other than the $20k investment in PADS). I was curious, however, to see if
anyone else has run into this and found a workaround.

Thanks,

Drew

-----Original Message-----
From: TSListServer [mailto:owner-proteledausers@techservinc.com]On
Behalf Of Michael Reagan
Sent: Saturday, September 09, 2000 4:30 AM
To: Multiple recipients of list proteledausers
Subject: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: PADS ASCII netlist reference designator bug
- is there a workaround?


You must have a heck of allot of parts using 16 characters for reference
designators.   If you start at 1 you probably wont get past 4 or 5
characters. This might be a simpleton solution to chasing a loose goose
problem of finding out why a program doesn't accept 16 characters for a ref
desig.  I wouldn't blast Protel for their limitation of not accommodating a
zillion virtual parts

Mike Reagan
EDSI




----- Original Message -----
From: Drew Lundsten <drew@ccpu.com>
To: Multiple recipients of list proteledausers
<proteledausers@techservinc.com>
Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 9:12 PM
Subject: RE: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: PADS ASCII netlist reference designator
bug - is there a workaround?


> It's very clear that the Protel "PADS ASCII" netlist output, as it stands,
> is flawed - when the reference designator is 8 characters long Protel cuts
> the delimiter (the space between the ref des and the footprint/library
> name).
>
> Our current version of PADS cuts off reference designators at the 16th
> character, not the 8th. We are okay with having ref des lengths less than
16
> characters but not 8.
>
> We have run into no problems whatsoever with long net names. This seems to
> be limited to the reference designator itself.
>
> Drew
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TSListServer [mailto:owner-proteledausers@techservinc.com]On
> Behalf Of Michael Reagan
> Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 6:01 PM
> To: Multiple recipients of list proteledausers
> Subject: Re: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: PADS ASCII netlist reference designator
> bug - is there a workaround?
>
>
> Drew,
> I would look at a couple things
> 1.  Does Pads allow net names longer than 8 characters
> 2. Does Pads allow reference designator as long as you have them.
>
> 3. I was told by PADS support that they no longer will support their old
> netlist format.  The last two versions of PADS used a new format to
support
> Viewlogic attributes.
>
> The problems you are experiencing probably come from PADs not supporting
> their old netlist format .  Personally, I would start taking some of those
> PADS files and importing them into Protel and convert them.  You will also
> find the same problems with Orcad schematic to PADS now.   PADs is trying
to
> redirect customers away from ORCAD and outside program created netlist and
> attempting to tie in closer with Viewlogic.
>
>
> Mike Reagan
> EDSI
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Drew Lundsten <drew@ccpu.com>
> To: Multiple recipients of list proteledausers
> <proteledausers@techservinc.com>
> Sent: Friday, September 08, 2000 4:45 PM
> Subject: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: PADS ASCII netlist reference designator bug -

> is there a workaround?
>
>
> >
> > 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
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
>
>
>