ViewDraw problem (newbie)

[johnbaranick]

I am new to the whole "Dashboard" Viewdraw thing and am having some troubles. I needed to replace some components, so I went into the DX Databook, selected the new parts, placed them down next to the ones they were replacing, changed the REFDES to the one of the part that was being replaced, deleted the old part, and slid the new one into place. Also changed the DEVICE attribute to a different value. Did all the parts, saved the schematic, linked the schematic to the PCB file and tried to update. It never got out of the first "box", and gave me a big list of errors (PCB-6138) mentioning things about multiple instances of symbols and stuff like that. There was another error talking about disconnected pins. I can't seem to figure out what the problem really is. Any thoughts?

[Lameris]

I presume you are using PowerPCB 4.0 and EPD 2.0

I'm trying to do this from memory as I am on vacation this week.

First, go into the \wir directory and delete all files.
Second, do a Project Save and Check (Right click in the Project Navigator Tree)
Third, try forward annotating again.

Now some questions or hints on replacing your components.

If you have DxDatabook and the symbol doesn't change, You can right click on a component and "Load into DxDatabook". Then in the DxDatabook window, delete the search restrictions and find the correct device and annotate unique.

Also, why are you changing the device attribute? Is it not loaded or wrong in DxDatabook? Normally, the attribute would be in the DxDatabook database

[Lameris]

I finally downloaded the error file and one more thing you need to do. It looks like you only have a one page schematic which helps things.

You have symbol RESSMD and CAPSMD both with device R0402.

The device attributes have to be unique unless you have alternate symbols (.1, .2, .3, etc.) or hetero components.

In PowerPCB copy the part type R0402 to C0402 and then change each of the CAPSMD device attributes to C0402.

That should at least reduce the errors.

Looking at the error report tells you the instance name of each component. You can select the component using Select name in Viewdraw. and typing the name $1I3445 as an example of the first bad symbol in pcb.err

[johnbaranick]

I got ahold of our guru (he's in Calif, we're in Mpls), and got myself educated. I had left him a message on Friday, and he got back to me on Monday. All is well and things are moving along. Out of curiosity, is there a specific forum/listserver for the whole "dashboard/viewdraw" package?

[Lameris]

Sure, get a free Yahoo ID and subscribe to the innoveda_users group.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/innoveda_users/

You can simply post and read via the web or recieve emails or an email digest.

The group is monitored by myself, the owner, and several Mentor tech support personel also answer questions.

Look forward to a lot of activity there when ePD 3.0 is released.