Re: [PROTEL EDA USERS]: Finding a part in the libraries

[Dave.E.Lewis@HughesED.com]

I have come up with a brute force method of generating a parts catalog of
all my schematic library parts in excel format.    Here we use nothing but
our own controled lib files and finding out exactly what is in those files
could make your left index finger pretty sore.     Some time ago someone on
this list recommended a utility called Macro Express.   I got a copy  and
used it to make a giant macro.   BTW Macro Express is a great value for 40
bucks, there is so much you can do with this program.   My macro works by
opening each of my lib files, one by one, and extracting all the infomation
contained in every field.   The information is put into a csv formatted
text file so I can use MS Excel later to assemble and sort my catalog.
The macro is a bit tricky but I managed to get it working.   It takes about
90 minutes to complete so I let it run when I quit work for the day.
Afterwards I assemble three csv text files into a single Excel file and
distribute to the troops.   In case you were wondering, three text files
were needed because of line trucncation problems I had when I tried it with
just one file.

Sorry that this is no help whatsoever for your immediate need but it might
be worth thinking about.

Good luck
Dave Lewis



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Is there some easy way, or a utility, that I can use to find a part in the
many libraries?  It seems like I spend a large chunk of time whenever I
start a new project (or even changing an existing project) looking for
existing (or maybe non-existing) parts in both the schematic and pcb
libraries.  I'm sure I've made my own parts when they actually existed in a
library already but I just couldn't find them.

It would seem that at a minimum, Protel would have a global list function
which could at least list all the parts in all the libraries.  Am I missing
something?

Jeff Nelson
JJM Systems, Inc.