Label Generator

[christian friese]

This is a program, which helps to control the placement of labels. It can work with refs, parttypes and attribute controlled labels.
The program needs VB Runtime Libs V6.
I hope, the picture says enough.

christian

[christian friese]

..and now this program...
(I hope, there is somebody, who can tell me, how to attach more then one file ;-))

[randychase]

Nice!

(I don't think you can attach two files in one post)

[RLS]

Hi! Your program looks like a real time saver. .

Could you offer some hints about how it is installed and run? Does it run inside Power PCB or process an exported pads ascii out file? Under what version of Power PCB etc?

My Ctrl-E & Ctrl-R fingers are worn out!
Thanks.
RLS

[christian friese]

1. The program needs the Visual Basic Runtime Libs V 6

2. Copy the program to any directory and start it, when powerpcb is running.

3. PowerPCB Version
If you use an older version then the newest (5.01) :
- start the program and close again.
- edit the PCBLabels.ini file(same dir then the EXE) to set to correct version.

The program calculate the center of the labels and set it on the origin of the component. All labels get rotated to 2 directions.

[David Ricketts]

Christian,

Thanks for this utility, and all of the others you have created. They have been great help to me and other designers.

For this one though, my question is, what does it do that editing labels doesn't? As far as I can tell, by selecting these labels, then querying, I already have this functionality. I would set the text to be right reading, and set relative to origin as 0,0. What am I missing?

[christian friese]

David,

This scripts set the CENTER of the references to the origin of the component. If the origin is in the center of the comp, you get references, exactly centered to the outline of the component. The second point ist, all Refs looks into the same direction(component 90° or 270°).

christian

[David Ricketts]

Christian,

Please don't get me wrong, because I do use your scripts,and I am impressed by them. I'm just trying to understand what this one does that query/ label doesn't already do. So far, everything I've seen and what you have described is already covered. I have attached a bitmap, I think, that explains what I'm trying to say.

[RLS]

Hi,
Attached is a screen shot (Word 2000.doc) of before and after to show what Label Generator does. Note the variety of sizes, placement and orientation of the Ref Des name. Fixing this by hand for a hundred components takes a while. I'm using PPCB V5.00 (under Win2000). Label Generator runs fine and fixes all the Ref Des. (I had to set 50 in the ini file before it would run).

Our engineers like using the first two digits of ref des as page number in schematic. Helps with placement but makes for long names...so ....with your label generator I can quickly drop the size to fit within the component outline during placement. After routing, PPCB resequencing and back annotation will shorten the long ref des names. Running label generator again will quickly bump them up to a larger silk screen text size plus fix any orientation changes. Silk screen text is ready for placement.

Someone told me an old mil spec stated ref des should read left to right or bottom to top..... that is the same orientation label generator uses. Is he right?

Of course, I've been using left to right or top to bottom .... Since I read books left to right and top to bottom, it suited me!

Had any thoughts about making adding orientation options to the ini file so the user can choose?

As you see in the after shot, I get a "wrong version" error message. Doesn't seem to hurt anything. I just close windows and carry on. Guess I should get around to installing Ver 5.01 .

Thanks for your donation!
RLS