06 - Working with Schematic Folders

Creating a Schematic Folder

When you create a project in Capture, a design is created within the project and a schematic folder, named SCHEMATIC1, is created within the design. You can also create more schematic folders in the current design.

To create a schematic folder, do the following:

1. In project manager, select the design.
2. From the Design menu, choose New Schematic.
3. In the New Schematic dialog box, enter a name for the schematic folder.
4. Click OK.

Deleting a Schematic Folder

You can delete a schematic folder from a design even if the folder contains pages. However, this operation cannot be undone.

To delete a schematic folder, do the following:

1. Close all the open schematic pages in the folder before you delete the folder.
   You cannot delete a folder if any of the schematic pages within the folder are currently open.
2. Choose the Design – Delete menu command.
   You are prompted with a warning that the delete operation cannot be undone.
3. Click OK to delete the schematic folder.

Renaming a Schematic Folder

In Capture, the titles of the windows in which you work are based on the names of the open documents. When you create a new part, a symbol, a schematic folder, a schematic page, a project, or a library, you can specify a name or accept the unique name assigned by Capture.

To rename a schematic folder, do the following:

1. In project manager, select the schematic folder to rename.
2. Choose Design – Rename.
3. In the dialog box that appears, enter the new name and click OK.

The folder is renamed immediately.

Moving Schematic Folders

You can use schematic folders to organize a design by grouping schematic pages in ways that serve your purpose.

If you are working in one project and you want to use one or more schematic folders in another project, you can transfer schematic folders from one project to another, or you can create a copy for use in multiple projects. You cannot, however, move or copy a schematic folder into the design cache of any other design.

To move a schematic folder from one project to another, do the following:

1. Verify that no document is open in the schematic folder.
2. In project manager, select the schematic folder(s) to move.
3. Choose Edit – Cut. To create a copy of the schematic folder in both the projects, choose Copy instead of Cut.
4. Open the project in which you want to paste the schematic folder(s).
5. Select the filename.DSN folder, and choose Edit – Paste.
6. Choose File – Save All. Do this for both the projects.

or

1. Verify that no document is open in the schematic folder.
2. Open both the projects in their respective project manager windows.
3. Drag and resize the two project manager windows so that both are visible.
4. Select the schematic folder(s) to move, and drag the schematic folder(s) to the filename.DSN folder in the second project manager window. To keep a copy of the schematic folder in both the projects, press and hold CTRL while you drag the folder.
5. Choose File – Save All. Do this for both the projects.

Attaching a Schematic Folder

You attach a schematic folder to extend net connections between schematic folders. The attached schematic folder is the child schematic folder in a hierarchy. A schematic folder can be attached to a non-primitive library part, a non-primitive part instance on a schematic page, or a hierarchical block.

Attaching Schematic Folder to New Hierarchical Block

To attach a schematic folder to a new hierarchical block, do the following:

1. Open the schematic page editor on the parent page.
2. Choose Place – Hierarchical Block.
3. Specify a name in the Reference field.
4. In the Implementation Type drop-down list, select Schematic View.
5. In the Implementation name text box, enter the name of the child schematic folder.
6. If the child schematic folder is not in the current design, specify the path and library where the schematic folder is located.
7. Click OK.

Attaching Schematic Folder to New Part

To attach a schematic folder to a new part, do the following:

1. Create a new part.
2. Click the Attach Implementation button.
   The Attach Implementation dialog box appears.
3. In the Schematic text box, select Schematic View from the Type list.
4. Specify the name of the child schematic folder in the Name text box.
5. If the child schematic folder is not in the current design, specify the path and library where the schematic folder is located.
6. Click OK twice.

Attaching Schematic Folder to Existing Hierarchical Block

To attach a schematic folder to an existing hierarchical block or part, do the following:

1. Select the hierarchical block or part on the parent schematic page, and choose Edit – Properties.
   The Property Editor window opens.
2. Click the Implementation Type property cell, and choose Schematic View from the drop-down list.
3. Click the Primitive property cell, and select No from the drop-down list. Using this setting you can ascend and descend in the hierarchy.
4. Enter a name in the Implementation property cell.
5. If the child schematic folder is not in the current design, specify the path and library where the schematic folder is located using the Browse button in the Implementation Path property cell.
6. Click Yes on the Undo Warning message box.
7. Click Apply and close the Property Editor window.

Recommendations to Attach Schematic Folder

• It is recommended that, rather than editing parts in OrCAD X libraries, you copy the part and make changes in a custom library. If you edit an OrCAD X library, you need to assign a new library name (choose File – Save As) so that your changes are not overwritten when you update or upgrade your software.
• Ensure that you do not create recursion in your design. Capture cannot prevent a recursion, and the Design Rules Check command does not report it.
• If you attach external schematic folders or other files to hierarchical blocks in a design or parts in a library, ensure that you include the attachments when you pass the design or library to a board fabrication house or to another engineer. Attached schematic folder and other files are not carried along automatically when you copy or move a part, a schematic folder, or a schematic page to another library, design, or schematic folder. Only the pointers to the attached schematic folders and files— their names and the names of the designs or libraries that contain them— are carried along.
• Attached files work like email attachments as they do not provide an alternative definition of the part unlike the attached schematic folders. If you attach a schematic folder to a homogeneous part, it is attached to each part in the package and not to the package itself. You cannot attach a schematic folder to a heterogeneous part.
• When you attach a schematic to a part or a hierarchical block, you can specify a full path and filename in the Library text box. So, although you can specify a library that has not been saved, you should not try to descend into the attached schematic folder until the library that contains the schematic folder has been saved.
• If you do not specify a full path and filename in the Library text box, Capture expects to find the attached schematic folder in the same design as the part of the hierarchical block to which it is attached. If the specific schematic folder does not exist in either the design or the library, Capture creates the schematic folder when you descend hierarchy on the part or the hierarchical block.
• Capture preserves the case of the paths and filenames as you specify them in the Library text box for compatibility with future versions of Windows.