[PROTEL EDA USERS]: routing to vias

["David Cary" <dcary@Brunswickoutdoor.com>]

Dear Tom Reineking,

I'm going to answer your easy question, and hope someone else can answer your
BGA question.

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Subject: [PROTEL EDA USERS]:  Autorouting questions
From: Tom Reineking <reineking@pasco.com> on 2000-09-25 11:18:58 AM


.....
In another test I placed some free vias in an array and of
course their net property was "no net".  I could not manually route to
those vias because of the no net attribute.  If I change the attribute
to the correct net name, then I could manually route to it.  Wouldn't it
seem reasonable to have the via automatically change to the proper net
name?  If this isn't reasonable, is there another way to do this?
----

This seems reasonable, but in the meantime you can do this:

(This is a FAQ)
Q. I just placed some vias and free pads. Why won't Protel let me route traces
to them ?

A. Protel normally won't allow you to make the mistake of shorting 2 different
nets together. Vias and free pads default to a net property of "No Net".
When I'm placing a track
  P T click, click, click, click
where each click of the mouse drops a new segment of track.
I *can* start routing from a via or track or existing item to a "No Net" via or
track by getting close and momentarily turning off "Avoid Obstacle"
  click, click, shift+R shift+R click, click, shift+R click, click, click ...
click Esc Esc.
(It takes at least 2 clicks to place a segment "into" and then "out of" the "No
Net" via).
Note that I do *not* have to escape out of place-track mode to switch to "Ignore
Obstacle" and re-start.

While placing track, the shift+R cycles through "Avoid Obstacle" (my favorite
default), "Push Obstacle", and "Ignore Obstacle" (current mode displayed in the
status bar). You might find "Push Obstacle" helpful in tightening up busses.

Later I do a "Design | Netlist Manager | Menu | Update Free Primitives From
Component Pads" which changes the net of those "No Net" pads and traces to the
net to which I just connected them, to make DRC happy. That update seems very
slow on large boards -- be patient.



--

David Cary