OrCAD Capture: What's New
1
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
This chapter contains the following sections describing the OrCAD Capture 15.7 (henceforth
referred to as Capture) release.
■
New Features and Enhancements on page 6
■
Multimedia Demonstrations on page 10
■
List of PCRs Fixed on page 10
■
For More Information on page 11
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
New Features and Enhancements
Capture 15.7 release brings you the following new features and enhancements:
■
Controlled annotation of parts
■
PSpice ground zero symbol included in Capture library
■
Faster invocation of tool by configuring license feature string
■
Mouse wheel support in schematic page editor and property editor
■
New option to set the drag behavior for objects on a schematic page
■
Support for new unit values in the signal flow properties UI
■
Support for customizing your netlist formatter
■
Support for descending hierarchy using the mouse button double-click
Controlled annotation of parts
Important
This functionality works independently from the existing annotation behavior of
Capture.
The earlier releases of Capture allowed you to perform only incremental or unconditional
annotation on a design or a schematic page. Now, Capture 15.7 allows you to control the way
part references are assigned in your design or a schematic page. You can specify a range of
part reference values that Capture will use to annotate a schematic page or a hierarchical
block in your design.
The new enhancement allows you to perform:
■
Schematic page-wise annotation (recommended for flat design): set a part
reference range for each schematic page that exists in the root schematic folder of your
design.
■
Hierarchical block-wise annotation (recommended for hierarchical design): set a
part reference range for each hierarchical block that exists in the root schematic folder of
your design.
To perform schematic page-wise and hierarchical block-wise annotation, use the Refdes
control required check box in the Annotate dialog box. If you select the check box, then the
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
Scope options change to Schematic Pages or Hierarchical Blocks depending on whether your
design is a flat design or a hierarchical design (see figure below).
Grid displaying all the schematic pages in the root
schematic folder of the TUTOR2 sample design
Grid displaying all the hierarchical block pages in the
root schematic folder of the FULLADD sample design
Capture will flash error and warning messages, if it encounters any invalid operation while
using this functionality. For example, same part reference range for more than one schematic
pages or hierarchical blocks in your design, and so on.
For details on how to use this functionality, see section Customizing part references in a
design in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
PSpice ground zero symbol included in Capture library
Capture 15.7 now includes the PSpice ground (0) symbol in the CAPSYM.OLB, which is the
default library in Capture. The PSpice ground (0) symbol is required for running the PSpice
analog simulation. Also, a new PSpice project template, AnalogGNDSymbol.opj is
included, which by default has the PSpice ground 0 symbol needed for your analog designs.
For a description on how to place a PSpice ground (0) symbol in your design, see section
placing PSpice ground 0 symbols for PSpice simulations in the OrCAD Capture User’s
Guide.
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
Faster invocation of tool by configuring license feature string
You can configure the default license feature string on a computer for faster invocation of tools
in OrCAD Capture 15.7. The File menu now has the Change Product command (keyboard
shortcut ALT, F, C) that allows you to select a product suite from which to open Capture
without having to exit the tool. Also, you can set as default a product suite from which Capture
should check out a license each time you start the tool. Setting the default option will not
display the suite selection dialog box the next time you start the tool. However, if you want this
dialog box to be displayed again then clear the Use as default check box in the suite selection
dialog box.
Note: The Change Product command is not available if you have a project open in the
Capture.
Mouse wheel support in schematic page editor and property editor
In Capture 15.7 you can use the mouse wheel to scroll through vertically and horizontally in
the schematic page editor and property editor.
Also, you can
■
Click the mouse wheel button and drag the mouse wheel:
❑
To the right or left in the property editor and schematic page editor to scroll
horizontally.
❑
Up or down in the property editor and schematic page editor to scroll vertically.
■
Hold down the CTRL key and roll the mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out in the
schematic page editor and property editor.
■
Hold down the SHIFT key and roll the mouse wheel up and down to scroll through
horizontally in the property editor.
New option to set the drag behavior for objects on a schematic page
Currently, if you drag an object to another location and if that change affects connectivity,
Capture flags a warning with a changed cursor (
) and temporary markers ( ) on your
schematic and allows you to complete the operation. Visible and off-screen connectivity
changes are saved in the session log. Now in Capture 15.7 you can control the drag behavior
using the following UI options:
❑
July 2006
A check box named Allow component move with connectivity changes in the
Miscellaneous tab of the Preferences dialog box.
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OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
❑
A toolbar button
The following describes the usage of the UI options:
■
If the check box is selected or the toolbar button is in the
state, then Capture will
allow you to drag and place the selected part or wire on the schematic, even if it results
in connectivity changes. Also, Capture will flag a warning with a changed cursor and will
show the temporary markers.
■
If the check box is not selected or the toolbar button is in the
state, then the selected
part or wire attaches to the cursor and does not get placed on the schematic, if it results
in connectivity changes. Also, Capture flags only a warning with a changed cursor and
does not show the temporary markers.
Support for new unit values in the signal flow properties UI
Capture 15.7 has added support for the following PCB Editor unit values for Length in the
PROPAGATION_DELAY and RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY dialog boxes:
■
Micron (um)
■
Millimeter (mm)
■
Centimeter (cm)
■
Inches (in).
Support for customizing your netlist formatter
The Others tab (Create Netlist dialog box) in Capture 15.7 has a new text box named Config
File that allows you to specify a configuration file that contains the properties to be
transferred to the .ONL file. For information on how to write a configuration file and a sample
configuration file format, see the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
Support for descending hierarchy using the mouse button double-click
In earlier releases of Capture you could descend into a hierarchy by right-clicking on the
hierarchical block and then selecting the Descend Hierarchy pop up menu. However, now in
Capture 15.7, you can also double-click on the hierarchical block to descend into a hierarchy.
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 15.7
Multimedia Demonstrations
This release has the following new multimedia demonstration:
■
Customizing part references in a design
To access the multimedia demonstrations, point to the Help menu and choose the
Documentation command. The OrCAD Capture Help System - Documentation page opens.
Click the Learning Aids tab to view all the multimedia demonstrations.
These demonstrations run as stand-alone files from the browser window and require the onetime installation of a Flash plug-in.
List of PCRs Fixed
The PCRs fixed in this release are listed below.
PCR No.
Description
843018
Property Editor in Capture 10.3 and higher versions does not contain the
NO_SHAPE_CONNECT property in the Cadence - Allegro filter.
461322
Double-clicking the .OPJ file does not open the project in Capture.
804193
While saving the design twice, the Remove Pin Name and Number Movement
option appears again.
603716,
713886
Add mouse wheel button support in Capture.
489051
Capture crashes when Design Cache is out of sync.
750557
Backannotation does not work, if the backannotation file (.SWP) is specified
manually.
834737
The 16-bit SDT libraries do not translate in Capture 10.5 release.
875373
The error message flashed when a field in the New Part from Spreadsheet is
left blank while saving the new part is ambiguous.
717051
Discrepancy in sorting order in the Property Editor.
881275
While creating a Standard BOM Capture truncates the Combined Property
String after the apostrophe.
863577
Library Correction utility does not maks power pins visible for a part in the
Convert View.
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OrCAD Capture: What's New
2
What’s New in Service Pack 1 for OrCAD
Capture 10.5
This chapter contains the list of important Product Change Requests (PCRs) fixed in Service
Pack 1 for the OrCAD Capture 10.5 release and information about the new multimedia
demonstrations.
List of Important PCRs Fixed
The PCRs fixed in this release are listed below.
PCR No.
Description
Make the cells corresponding to the PROPAGATION_DELAY and
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY properties in the Property Editor
editable.
Capture 10.3 introduced the support for entering high-speed signal
properties, such as PROPAGATION_DELAY and
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY, on flat nets. However, there was a
limitation that you can specify values for these properties only using the
UI.
In Service Pack 1 for Capture 10.5, this limitation has been removed
and now you can manually enter or edit the cells corresponding to the
PROPAGATION_DELAY and RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY
properties in the Flat Nets tab of the Property Editor window. Moreover,
Capture will now flag any syntax errors encountered while applying the
high-speed signal properties in the Session Log.
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PCR No.
Description
You can also use the shortcut keys CTRL+C and CTRL+V to perform
standard copy/paste operations in the PROPAGATION_DELAY and
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY property cells.
From this release, you can open the Propagation Delay and Relative
Propagation Delay dialog boxes by using only the following methods:
■
Edit > Invoke UI menu command
■
CTRL+U shortcut keys
Select the cell corresponding to the PROPAGATION_DELAY property or the
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY property and choose Edit > Invoke UI
command or press the CTRL+U shortcut keys.
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PCR No.
Description
■
Popup menu (right-mouse button click)
Right-click the cell corresponding to the
PROPAGATION_DELAY property or the
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY
property and select the Invoke UI command
from the popup menu.
800926, 806284
Unable to add high-speed signal properties to a group of flat nets.
Capture now allows you to populate multiple consecutive or
nonconsecutive cells of PROPAGATION_DELAY or
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY properties at the same time. To do
this, select the cells you want to populate and press the CTRL+E
shortcut keys. The Edit Property Values dialog box appears. Specify the
value that you want to be populated across all the selected cells in the
dialog box.
834060
In a standalone Capture installation (without the CIS option), paste
operation fails in the Edit Properties and Part Editor dialog boxes.
834746
While opening a Capture 10.2 design containing high-speed signal
properties in Capture 10.3, the high-speed signal properties are lost.
835535
Allow selection of multiple pins in the Create Pin Pairs dialog box.
The Service Pack 1 release for Capture 10.5 allows you to use the
following methods to select multiple consecutive pins in the Create Pin
Pairs dialog box:
❑
Using SHIFT+Down Arrow keys
❑
Using SHIFT+Left mouse button click
❑
Dragging the mouse pointer diagonally across the pins
appearing in the combo box to select them
Similarly, you can use the CTRL+Left mouse button click to select
multiple nonconsecutive pins in the Create Pin Pairs dialog box.
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PCR No.
Description
843255
Creating a PSpice netlist flags an error, if the Auto Recovery checkbox
is checked.
326824
The error message for DSM0020 should be more descriptive. The
message should contain the names of the parts that are out of sync in
the library.
395506
Placing a part created in Capture 9.2 does not appear correctly.
434504
The Find command when run from the Project Manager does not report
the power and ground symbols in a design.
682264
Pressing F1 key launches the Capture online help in minimized mode.
709118
Wire placement does not terminate with a single click.
781860
Unable to search for a specific flat net in a design using the Flat Nets
option in the Find dialog box.
785053
Capture crashes while placing a hierarchical pin in a hierarchical block.
799555
Propagation delay property does not get backannotated.
787455
Design Rule Check does not flag warning messages for unconnected
off-page connectors in a design.
A new warning message: [DRC0040] The off-page connector at the
location “x.xx”, “y.yy” does not have any wire connected will
appear under the Checking Off-Page Connections section in the
Session Log. This warning message appears, if the Design Rule Check
encounters an unconnected off-page connector in the design.
726486
Problem editing a part in the part editor.
Multimedia Demonstrations
This release has the following new multimedia demonstrations:
■
Creating a Bills of Materials
■
Associating a PSpice model to a Capture Symbol
To access the multimedia demonstrations, point to the Help menu and choose the
Documentation command. The OrCAD Capture Help System - Documentation page opens.
Click the Learning Aids tab to view all the multimedia demonstrations.
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3
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
This chapter contains the following sections describing the OrCAD Capture 10.5 release.
■
New Features and Enhancements on page 20
■
List of PCRs Fixed on page 27
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
New Features and Enhancements
OrCAD Capture 10.5 release brings you the following new features and enhancements:
■
Split Part Symbol Generation Enhancement
■
Archiving Enhancement
■
Differential Pairs Between Flat Nets
■
New Part Creation from Spreadsheet
■
Assigning Signal Flow Properties to a Bus
■
New Check Box in Design Rules Check Dialog Box
■
New Check Box in Library Correction Utility Dialog Box
■
New Check Box in Preferences Dialog Box
■
OrCAD Product Documentation
■
Multimedia Demonstrations
Split Part Symbol Generation Enhancement
In today’s complex designs, you may have parts that have thousands of pins. Such largesized parts may not fit on a single schematic page. And also you may want to partition a large
part based on its functionality and work with individual sections separately. The earlier
release of Capture provided a limited capability of performing this functionality using the Split
Part Section Input Spreadsheet. In Capture 10.5, the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet is
significantly improved from the earlier release. Now, the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet
allows you to:
■
Specify the number of sections into which you want to split the part.
■
Choose the numbering format that should be used for numbering sections in the split
part. For example, you can split a part into multiple sections that are alphabetically
numbered.
■
Enter or select a section from a drop-down list you want to associate with a pin.
■
Add new pins to the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet.
■
Delete pins from the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet.
■
Save the selected part as a new part with a new name in the same library with changed
property values.
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To access the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet, select Tools - Split Part or use the
shortcut keys, Alt, T, L.
Enter the number of sections
you want to have in the split part
Hide/Unhide a property
column by right-clicking on it
Select a number
format for parts
Select a
section
you want
to
associate
with a pin
from the
drop-down
list
Select a row and drag and
drop it to the desired location
Select a property column and drag
and drop it to the desired location
Grid displaying
warning messages
For details, see section To split a part in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide
Archiving Enhancement
The archiving feature in Capture 10.5 allows you to create a zip archive of the design and all
the related files (library, output files, and referenced projects) for archival purposes. Also, you
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
can specify any additional files or directories that you may want to be archived along with your
project files.
The archiving feature in Capture 10.5 contains the following enhancements:
■
Ability to create a single zip archive of an entire project—You can use this feature to
create a zip archive of your project and all the related files, and distribute the zip archive
to a co-worker.
■
Using relative paths for all references (for example, "Implementation Path" property of a
hierarchical part) in the archived project—The pathnames of the external files and
directories in the archive file are relative to the archive directory. This implies that when
the archive file is unzipped on a different machine the files and directories retain the
original directory structure of the archive directory.
■
The details of the archive session, like archive file name and archive directory appears
in the Session Log—Provides you up-to-date information about the status of the
archiving process.
Use the Archive Project dialog box to archive your project. To access the Archive Project
dialog box, select File > Archive Project or use the shortcut keys, ALT, F, H.
To create a zip archive for you project, select the Create single archive file check box and
specify the zip archive name in the File name text box. For details, see section To create a
zip archive for the project in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
You can also add more files and directories to your archive by clicking the Add more files >>
button in the Archive Project dialog box. For details, see section To add external files and
directories to the archive in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
Differential Pairs Between Flat Nets
As high speed design practice is getting common phenomenon in all phases of PCB
designing, differential signal technology is used for complementary pair of nets to provide
noise immunity. The differential pair nets should be close in length and parallel with a specific
distance separation. These kind of rules puts lots of constraints and challenges in PCB
designing. Capture 10.5 provides a new interface that allows you to define these properties
in your design and transfer these properties to the PCB Editor. You can make changes to
these properties either in Capture or in PCB Editor and keep the properties up-to-date.
Capture 10.5 allows you to create differential pairs between two flat nets for the Capture - toAllegro PCB Editor flow. In Capture, you define a differential pair between two flat nets by:
■
Specifying the DIFFERENTIAL_PAIR property in the property editor.For more
information, see section Specifying the DIFFERENTIAL_PAIR property in OrCAD
Capture User’s Guide.
■
Using the Create Differential Pair dialog box.
To access the Create Differential Pair dialog box, select Tools > Create Differential Pair or
use the shortcut keys, ALT, T, F.
In the Create Differential Pair dialog box you can view all the nets defined in your design and
create a differential pair between those nets. For more information, see section Creating
differential pairs between flat nets in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
You can also create multiple differential pairs between multiple nets simultaneously using the
Differential Pair Automatic Setup dialog box. To access the Differential Pair Automatic Setup
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
dialog box, click Auto Setup. For more information, see section Creating differential pairs
between flat nets in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
New Part Creation from Spreadsheet
The existing New Part option is not suitable for creating parts that contain large number of
pins. Adding pins manually and setting properties for all the pins in a large pin count part is
time consuming and reduces productivity.
Capture 10.5 has simplified the process of creating a new part (single-section/multi-section)
in the active library. You can use the New Part Creation Spreadsheet to create new parts. The
New Part Creation Spreadsheet has a spreadsheet-like interface that allows you to paste
contents from a part data sheet to the spreadsheet.
To access the New Part Creation Spreadsheet, select Design > New Part from
Spreadsheet or use the shortcut keys, ALT, D, H.
For more information about how to use the New Part Creation Spreadsheet to create new
parts, see section Creating a new part from spreadsheet in the OrCAD Capture User’s
Guide.
Assigning Signal Flow Properties to a Bus
You can now use the User Properties dialog box to assign PROPAGATION_DELAY and
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY properties to all the bits of a bus at the same time.
Make sure that you use the correct syntax for specifying a value for these properties. If you
change the property at the bit level, then the bit level value will be given priority instead of
the value at the bus level.
Syntax for PROPAGATION_DELAY property is:
<Pin_pair>:<min_value>:<max_value>
Syntax for RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY property is:
■
For the target pin-pair:
<match_group>:<scope>:<pin-pair>::
where, <pin-pair> has the following syntax:
<pin1>:<pin2>
■
For non-target pin-pairs:
<match_group>:<scope>:<pin-pair>:<delta>:<tolerance>
The pin-pairs can only be:
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What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.5
❑
AD:AR
❑
L:S
❑
D:R
New Check Box in Design Rules Check Dialog Box
The Design Rules Check dialog box in Capture 10.5 has a new check box named Report
Misleading Tap Connections that checks for and reports those signals that are wrongly
connected through a Bus Tap to a bus.
New Check Box in Library Correction Utility Dialog Box
The Library Correction Utility dialog box in Capture 10.5 has a new check box named Make
All Power Pins Visible. When you select this check box, the Library Correction utility scans
through all the parts in the library and changes the Power pins settings for all the non-zero
length pins in the library to Visible. Additionally, you can also make all zero length Power pins
in the library visible. To do this, you need to check the Change Zero Length Pins to check box
and choose an appropriate pin shape option (Line/Short) from the list box.
At the end of the updating process this utility displays the following message: " Made all the
Power Pins visible. Please close the library and reopen to see the change."
New Check Box in Preferences Dialog Box
In Capture 10.5, the Miscellaneous tab under the Preferences dialog box has a new check
box named Preserve reference on copy. When you select this check box, the part
references will be preserved when you paste a part to a schematic page. When you copy a
part and paste it on a schematic page, the part will retain the same reference designator as
that of the copied part. But, if you place a new part on a schematic page, Capture will assign
the reference designator found in the library. For example: U?A or J?P. For more information,
see section Miscellaneous tab in the OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
OrCAD Product Documentation
OrCAD Products have changed the way you access product information. The Help menus
were simplified to access Documentation, Web Resources, and product information. When
you select Help – Documentation, a new Help page interface displays all product
documentation in tabbed categories of information so that you can quickly get the information
that best answers your information needs.
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■
The Documentation tab lists user guide and reference information for key concepts and
comprehensive point-of-need information. The Help page opens to this tab by default.
■
The Online Help tab lists the Help files that you can access from the OrCAD Capture
environment.
■
The Release Info tab lists release-specific information such as What's New and Known
Problems and Solutions.
■
The Learning Aids tab lists self-paced interactive tutorial that you can use to quickly get
started with OrCAD Capture and flash-based multimedia demonstrations so that you can
see an example of how to use certain features or processes.
Multimedia Demonstrations
In Capture 10.5, you can watch multimedia demonstrations for the following new features and
enhancements:
■
Creating a zip archive
■
Creating a differential pair between two flat nets
■
Creating differential pairs between multiple pairs of flat nets simultaneously
■
Creating a new part from spreadsheet
■
Using the Synchronization commands
■
Signal properties flow from OrCAD Capture to Allegro PCB Editor
To access the multimedia demonstrations, point to the Help menu and choose the
Documentation command. The OrCAD Capture Help System - Documentation page opens.
Click the Learning Aids tab to view all the multimedia demonstrations.
These demonstrations run as stand-alone files from the browser window and require the onetime installation of a Flash plug-in.
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List of PCRs Fixed
The PCRs fixed in this release are listed below.
PCR No.
Description
561740
Double the zoom level to 1008% in Library/Part editor. This will help in
designing graphic objects.
650279
PXL-Lite error message does not contain any explanation.
702252
Enhance the Update Cache option to preserve the Reference Designator and
Value properties.
706629
Design Rules Check does not report stray nets connected to a BUS.
755278
Export property should have a report PIN_NUMBER and netname.
761532
Unable to edit a part once it has been split.
761812
Pin Shape/Type option should be in Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet.
724163
Relative propagation delay constraints assigned to same pinpairs on different
nets.
791974
Capture crashes when importing from EDIF and also the PCB Footprint
Property is deleted.
791123
Unable to open design in Capture. The following error message appears
“Exception while opening OLE storage”.
788801
Unable to recover corrupt design.
787802
Capture CIS 10.3 crashes when using the Cleanup Cache command from the
Design Cache pop-up menu.
780846
The error message displayed during generating a Layout netlist has incorrect
text.
777753
Editing properties is slow for large designs in Capture.
766139
While archiving a PSpice project, the simulation output files are archived
automatically irrespective of whether the Output files check box is checked or
not in the Archive Project dialog box.
762802
The Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet should allow entering Pin Swapping
information.
761900
Unable to update the pin names in the Split Part, after the pin list has been
updated.
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PCR No.
Description
756925
If a part is pasted on a schematic page with the Auto reference placed part
check box checked in the Miscellaneous dialog box, the part references are
not preserved.
751138
Pin name not being imported correctly from EDIF to Capture.
750570
Exporting a Capture design to EDIF and then importing the design from EDIF
to Capture results in loss of graphics.
748382
The text in the design has squares like "[ ]" replacing spaces.
747491
Capture crashes when using a specific Value property.
746894
Avoid changing of implementation path for design reuse block.
742249
If a design is imported with EDIF, the Title Blocks cannot be printed.
739970
Any changes made to text objects on a schematic page does not get saved by
clicking the Save All button.
738529
Preserve Properties option in the Replace Cache pop-up menu should not
move properties.
728565
When creating an Allegro netlist, the Output Board File is set to
allegro\cisflow.brd in the Create Netlist dialog box.
728533
The Capture CIS splash screen should not obscure working with other
applications.
724120
When the ads_sdlog variable is set in Allegro, it breaks backannotation in
Capture.
722362
When creating a Allegro netlist, if the OK button is clicked in the error
message box, Capture goes into an endless loop.
695825
Multiple Bias voltages on a single net slows down Capture refresh.
684892
Reference designators not shown correctly, if the package is greater than 10.
680915
During the cut and paste operation, the annotation of parts does not work
properly.
663622
Problem with incremental annotation with heterogeneous parts in Capture.
659634
When running a design through the Allegro netlister some properties from
one net overwrite the properties of another.
658823
No error message appears when the Allegro netlist fails.
658049
Capture-to-Allegro Viewer Plus cross probing issue.
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PCR No.
Description
653515
In Capture 10.0, select all components and then going to property editor
window takes about 45 seconds for each operation, whereas in Capture 9.2.3
it just comes up.
650289
Parts with color body obscure pin names in Capture 10.0.
574235
Capture symbols over 10 parts per packages appearing incorrectly in the
cross reference report.
475945
Design file size increases upon rearranging of nets.
804439
Relative Propagation Delay not getting back annotated.
July 2006
29
Product Version 15.7
OrCAD Capture: What's New
1
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
This chapter contains the following sections describing the OrCAD Capture 10.3 release.
■
New Features and Enhancements on page 6
■
List of Important PCRs Fixed on page 10
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
New Features and Enhancements
OrCAD Capture 10.3 release brings you the following new features and enhancements:
■
Split Symbol Generation
■
Signal Property Flow
■
Page Navigation
■
Replace Cache with Preserve Reference Designator
■
Selection Filter
■
Support for Latest Xilinx and Altera File Format
Split Symbol Generation
Capture 10.3 provides a new user interface named Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet that
allows you to split a part into multiple sections. You may need to split a part into multiple
sections in following situations:
■
Using large pin-count designs—Your design may include parts that have thousands of
pins. Such large-sized part may not fit on a single schematic page. To handle such parts,
you can split them into multiple sections based on your specification and can place
different sections on different schematic pages. This will ease designing.
■
Partitioning a large part based on its functionality—You may like to partition a large part
based on its functionality and work with individual sections separately. For example, you
may like to create different sections for pins with same voltage rating.
To access the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet, select Tools - Split Part.
The Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet is divided into multiple rows and columns. Each row
in the Split Part Section Input Spreadsheet corresponds to a pin while each column
corresponds to properties associated with the pins. The property names are listed as the
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
column header. You can sort a property by double-clicking its column header. You can select
multiple Section number cells and assign new section number.
1. Sort on any property, for example Voltage
2. Assign
section
numbers
3. Click the Split button
Signal Property Flow
Modern designs often operate at sub-nanosecond edge rates. At such speed, it often
becomes important to resolve timing issues early in the design cycle. When coupled with the
need to reduce time-to-market, solving high-speed issues requires early identification,
analysis and specification often in the schematic design phase itself. Capture is now
enhanced to process high speed electrical constraints and take them through a complete
front-to-back flow.
You can now assign signal flow properties such as PROPAGATION_DELAY,
RELATIVE_PROPAGATION_DELAY, and RATSNEST_SCHEDULE from within the Property
Editor using new graphical user interface. Capture ensures that the syntax of signal
properties is correct and passes only valid signal properties to Allegro PCB Design Editor and
Constraint Manager. While importing properties from the property text file, Capture only
imports properties with proper syntax and flags error messages in the session log file for
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
properties having incorrect syntax. You can use the Property Editor to reassign properties
with incorrect syntax.
Note: For more information about assigning signal flow properties, see the Using Capture
with Allegro chapter of OrCAD Capture User Guide.
Page Navigation
You can now navigate between pages in a schematic folder by using the Previous Page and
Next Page options in the RMB menu at the page level. F11 and F12 are the keyboard
shortcuts for the Previous Page option and the Next Page option respectively.
Replace Cache with Preserve Reference Designator
You can now ensure that the reference designator remains the same when you perform the
replace cache operation on any part. A new check box Preserve Refdes is available in the
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
Replace Cache dialog box, which if selected, preserves the reference designator of parts that
you want to change.
Selection Filter
You can now control the selection of objects on a schematic page during a block select
operation by using the Selection Filter dialog box. It provides check box options that allow you
to include or exclude objects while performing a block-select operation. For example, if you
select the Parts, Nets, and Power/GND check boxes, only these objects will be selected when
you perform the block-select operation.
You can invoke the Selection Filter dialog box in three ways:
■
From the RMB menu at page level.
November 2004
9
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
■
From the View menu in the schematic page
RMB Menu at Page Level
Option in the View Menu
■
By using the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl + I
Support for Latest Xilinx and Altera File Format
Capture 10.3 now supports new FPGA vendor format in the Generate Part command. You
can use Xilinx 6.2i and Altera Quartus II, version 2 and 4 while creating Capture parts.
List of Important PCRs Fixed
Some of the important PCRs addressed in this release are listed below:
PCR No.
Description
729057
Capture support for Quartus output files.
Xilinx has released a new version of their P&R tool, 6.2i. The PAD file syntax
for this release is different from the earlier releases. Capture supports
following file formats for creating parts—Xilinx4.1I, 5.2i, and 6.2i PAD files.
Capture is also enhanced to support creating parts using Altera Quartus II,
version 2 and 4 files.
November 2004
10
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
PCR No.
Description
725852
Ctrl + C key in Capture does not works in the Enterprise suite.
If you are using the PCB Design Studio CIS license, then the Copy operation
using Ctrl-C did not work in the schematic editor. This bug is now fixed.
703444
The Generate Part option should allow creating multi-section part
Capture 10.3 allows you to section a part. For details, see Split Symbol
Generation.
410853
Support for Cadstar netlist V5.0
Capture 10.3 supports pin attribute while creating Cadstar netlist.
725591
Cannot open the OrCAD sample file demob.dsn in the
Layout\samples\demob as it is from an OLDER version.
724987
Selecting the Print all colors in Black option in the Print and Print Preview
dialog boxes in OrCAD Capture display all values and/or part references on
the schematic in black color on a color printer even if colors were used for
these values.
Capture now prints schematic values in color on color printers and in black
and white for black and white printers.
724660
Capture crashes while deleting a page when autobackup is in progress.
724352
Annotation is not similar in Capture Versions 9.2.3 and 10.0 SP1.1.
The Reference Designators values have different labels when the same
design is annotated in Version 9.2.3 as well as 10.0 SP1.1.
721849
The Define Custom Colors option in all Color boxes is not available.
721079
The Find macro commands, such as FindParts, FindNets,
FindOffpageConnectors, FindHeirarchicalPort, FindBookmarks,
FindDRCMarkers, FindText, when simultaneously used with the PlaceText
command do not function correctly. The text is not placed at absolute location
specified by these commands but at a relative position w.r.t. to the Find
command.
716739
Capture crashes when you select multiple objects on a schematic page and
perform a Cut and Paste operation.
716002
No error message is displayed when there are spaces in the NC property in
the Capture-PCB Editor netlist.
715065
File lock mechanism is not working on Windows-XP Pro.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.3
PCR No.
Description
714835
Problem in saving a design file on the network or in Read Only mode.
712220
Off Grid objects in Part Editor do not appear properly.
If you edit a part in the Part Editor and turn the grid snap option off and place
an object, such as ellipse, off the grid then the boundary of the object causes
the part boundary to increase. If you now turn the grid snap option on then
other objects will be snapped back to the grid on location and not to the
changed boundary caused by previous grid snap option settings.
693144
The warning “POWER_GROUP property is not allowed in chips.prt file” is
incorrectly generated.
Capture 10.3 generates the above warning when power pins are visible on the
symbol and the POWER_GROUP property is defined on the instance.
689072
Include an option to "Replace properties and preserve reference designators”
during the Replace Cache operation.
656309
The Browse Spreadsheet is not updated when you first delete, rotate, or
mirror an object and then undo the action.
651896
Back-annotation from PCB Editor to Capture produces wrong results when
multiple functions, respective pin swaps are performed on unsymmetrical
components.
460982
Design size increases after placing a part and then deleting it.
458453
Difference in the Mentor Nelist format between version 9.2.1 and 9.2.3 and
later versions. Capture 9.2.3 Netlister incorrectly adds quotes around the
node name.
406477
No warning is displayed when you delete an open page from a Schematic
folder in Project Manager.
323672
Provide a confirm box for users who want to delete a page from Project
Manager.
If you are trying to delete an open page, Capture will not delete it and provide
a warning that user is deleting an open page. If you try to delete any other
schematic page, Capture will seek a confirmation before deleting the page as
the action cannot be undone.
Capture 10.3 includes detailed warnings and displays confirm dialogs each
time you delete a schematic page or folder.
November 2004
12
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
2
What’s New in Service Pack 2 for OrCAD
Capture 10.0
This chapter contains the following section describing Service Pack 2 for the OrCAD Capture
10.0 release.
■
List of Important PCRs Fixed on page 13
List of Important PCRs Fixed
Some of the important PCRs addressed in this Service Pack are listed below:
PCR No.
Description
480101
The first invocation of the Place Part dialog box takes very long
488336
The bias display is not updated when a net alias is moved from one pin to
another
492724
Incorrect bias point result from PSpice on the schematic
555279
Critical PSpice bias point display problem
656434
Capture crashes while placing a Part from swit_reg.olb
658053,
657761
A blank error message is displayed when a blank PSpice project is created
660736
Error creating netlist file in remote client installation
662005
Capture gives a PSpice Explorer error on opening the Place Part dialog box
and then crashes
668671
Capture crashes while descending to a schematic page
681086
Capture crashes while deleting a group of components
682004,
704963
Unexpected error in library
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in Service Pack 2 for OrCAD Capture 10.0
PCR No.
Description
684496
Faulty Bias Point Display in Capture 10.0
688841
Occurrence properties lost on deleting a page from Project Manager
694218
Capture crashes on copy paste of a rectangle
696442
Right hand side boundary of a generated part is off-grid
697483
Reference designators do not get wrapped up when BOM is exported to MS
Excel and include file is merged
697504
Memory exhaustion error on a design
703008
Deleting a DRC marker resets the reference designators
705290
Creation of Integra netlist not possible after editing a pin and using the
Update All option
705354
DRC after replacing cache causes a system error
706549
Memory exhaustion error when opening designs in Capture
706630
The state of the View Output option in BOM generation is not retained
711864
An autobackup with two design files open causes random errors in Capture
711883
The Bill Of Materials opens in the Excel worksheet even when the Open in
Excel option is not selected
715065
The file locking mechanism in Capture is not working on the Windows XP Pro
operating system
715386
The Bill Of Materials opens in the Excel spreadsheet on alternate invocations
November 2004
14
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
3
What’s New in Service Pack 1 for OrCAD
Capture 10.0
This chapter contains the following sections describing Service Pack 1 for the OrCAD
Capture 10.0 release.
■
New Features and Enhancements on page 16
■
List of Important PCRs Fixed on page 17
November 2004
15
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in Service Pack 1 for OrCAD Capture 10.0
New Features and Enhancements
Service Pack 1 for the OrCAD Capture 10.0 release brings you the following new features and
enhancements.
■
Importing Bill of Materials in Microsoft Excel
Importing Bill of Materials in Microsoft Excel
You can now view the bill of materials for a design in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. There
is a new check box Open in Excel in the Bill of Materials dialog box. You can select this check
box to open the Bill of Materials in Microsoft Excel.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in Service Pack 1 for OrCAD Capture 10.0
To import the bill of materials in Microsoft Excel
1. Select the Open in Excel check box.
2. Click OK.
The bill of materials is displayed in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.
List of Important PCRs Fixed
Some of the important PCRs addressed in this Service Pack are listed below:
PCR No.
Description
553374
Properties set as “Do Not display” in the schematic are visible in the DXF
output.
For example, if you turn off the display of a property in the schematic and run
DXF Export, the property continues to be displayed in the DXF output.
Service Pack 1 fixes this issue.
Note: If you do not want a property to be visible in the DXF output, turn off the
display of the property in the schematic before running DXF Export.
388979
Edit a Capture design and generate the Verilog or VHDL netlist. The
database is not updated and a few connectivity errors are reported. You need
to close the design and open again to update the database.
389770
Capture generates an incorrect PADS2K netlist when one or more buses in
the design are shorted.
584493
For zero length pins, pin names and pin numbers are not visible in the DXF
output.
In the Capture 10.0 release, while placing an orthogonal wire, the last
segment was not displayed while you were dragging it. It appeared only when
you clicked the schematic. In the Capture 10.0 Service Pack 1, the last
segment of the wire appears as you drag the wire to place it on the
schematic.
587900
When you drag connected components, the aliases for nets connecting them
disappear.
589321
Consecutive cleanup operations on the cache of a design increase the size of
the design file.
653539
Duplicate component IDs for components in a schematic.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
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What’s New in Service Pack 1 for OrCAD Capture 10.0
PCR No.
Description
661433
Netlisting in Capture Allegro flow is very slow.
668424
The DRC check for “report visible unconnected power pins” is reported for
GND pins only when all the GND pins in the design are connected to a GND
symbol.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
New Features and Enhancements
OrCAD Capture 10.0 brings you the following new features and enhancements.
■
Design Level Property Management
■
Unlimited Undo/Redo
■
Label States for What-if Scenarios
■
Enhancements in the Support for Simulation Profiles
■
New directory structure for analog projects that makes it easier to manage files for the
project
■
Annotation Improvements
■
Soft Save
■
Automatic Backup of Designs
■
Dynamic Port/Pin Updates on Hierarchical Blocks
■
File Locking for Team Design
■
Ability to Run Multiple Versions of Capture
■
Printing and plotting enhancements
■
Support for Design Reuse in Layout
■
Significant Improvements in Capture-Allegro flow
■
Push Occurrence Properties into Instance Utility
■
Support for Xilinx Design Manager version 4.1 and 4.2 Output Files
■
Improved EDIF 2 0 0 Import/Export Functionality
■
Auto-tiling of Online Help
■
Updated Capture Tutorial
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Design Level Property Management
In previous versions of Capture, you could use the property editor to edit properties on
individual objects in a design, or on a single schematic page.
Capture 10.0 combines various property editing techniques into a single unified property
editor that allows you to edit properties at all levels of the design. You can now also edit
properties across an entire design or across all pages in a schematic folder. For example,
select the .DSN file in the Capture project manager and from the Edit menu, choose Object
Properties. All the properties on all the objects in the design are displayed under various tabs
in the property editor.
Unlimited Undo/Redo
The Undo and Redo features in Capture 10.0 allow you to easily correct mistakes, as well as
free you to experiment with your design. You can undo/redo commands in the following two
ways:
■
Sequentially, exactly one command at a time
■
By using label states
Label states act as bookmarks for various stages of design development. You can set
label states and use the labels to undo/redo multiple commands at one go. For more
information, see Label States for What-if Scenarios.
The Undo and Redo functionality is available in the schematic editor, the part editor and the
property editor spreadsheet.
Label States for What-if Scenarios
Capture 10.0 allows you to set markers at specific stages of design development. This makes
it possible for a designer to traverse back-and-forth between different stages of design
development. This ability to tag a schematic is especially useful when experimenting with
what-if scenarios.
Enhancements in the Support for Simulation Profiles
Capture 10.0 brings you the following enhancements in the support for simulation profiles:
■
Increased reusability of simulation profiles on page 22
■
Support for profile level configuration on page 22
November 2004
21
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
■
Changes in Simulation Settings dialog box on page 22
Increased reusability of simulation profiles
Previous versions of Capture allowed you to import settings only from a simulation profile that
exists in the same project. You can now create a new simulation profile by importing settings
from a simulation profile that exists in another project also. This increases the reusability of
simulation profiles. For more information, see the OrCAD Capture Online Help.
Support for profile level configuration
Previous versions of Capture allowed you to configure model libraries, stimulus files and
include files only at the global level (applicable to all designs) or at the design level (applicable
to all the profiles in a design). You can now configure model libraries, stimulus files and
include files at a particular profile level also. For more information, see the PSpice Online
Help.
Changes in Simulation Settings dialog box
The Simulation Settings dialog box in Capture 9.2.3 had three tabs-Include Files, Libraries
and Stimulus. In Capture 10.0, the functionality of the three tabs has been merged into the
Configuration Files tab. The Configuration Files tab allows you to quickly configure model
libraries, stimulus files and include files for the simulation profile from a single UI.
New directory structure for analog projects that makes it easier to manage
files for the project
All files related to analog projects created using Capture version 9.2.3 or older versions were
maintained in a single directory.
Capture 10.0 introduces a new directory structure for analog projects in which the design
level, schematic level and simulation profile level PSpice files are organized in their respective
directories. This makes it easier to manage the files for the project. All PSpice related files will
be placed under the folder <Projectname>_pspicefiles. For more information, see
“New directory structure for analog projects” in Chapter 1, “Things you need to know”,
in the OrCAD Capture Online Help.
Note: If you open an analog project that was created using Capture version 9.2.3 or older
versions in Capture 10.0, you will be prompted to convert the project to the Capture 10.0
format. For more information, see “Conversion of old analog projects to new project
format” in the OrCAD Capture Online Help.
November 2004
22
Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Annotation Improvements
While annotating and auto referencing the design, Capture now takes care of the following:
■
Groups multi-section parts with common power connections
■
Includes unused references of a package while doing incremental annotation
■
Supports sequencing of the annotation process in the order of:
❑
pages/folders in the Project Manager window, or
❑
sheet numbers specified in the title blocks of schematic pages.
■
Displays a warning that the schematic and board may go out of sync if the design is
reannotated in Capture. If the board exists, you should update the reference designators
in the board and run back annotation.
■
With Auto Referencing turned on, when you copy and paste a part instance Capture
assigns the next available reference designator value to the pasted part.
■
Supports auto referencing when packaging homogenous multi-section parts
Soft Save
In the unlikely event that Capture crashes when you are working on a design, you will be
prompted to save the design before exiting Capture. This serves as a safeguard against
design corruption and ensures that you do not have to redo your work because of the crash.
Automatic Backup of Designs
You can now configure Capture to automatically backup your design at specified time
intervals. You can maintain up to ten backups of the design. This feature allows you to
continue working on your design without worrying about saving it explicitly and serves as a
safeguard in the unlikely event that your design gets corrupted.
Dynamic Port/Pin Updates on Hierarchical Blocks
In a design that uses hierarchical blocks, a block and its underlying schematic can go out sync
if:
■
new ports are added or changes made to the existing ports in the underlying schematic
■
new pins are added or changes made to the existing pins in the block
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
In previous versions of Capture, it was not possible to automatically synchronize the
hierarchical blocks with their underlying schematics. The Synchronize menu items in the View
menu in Capture 10.0 allow you to automatically synchronize the hierarchical blocks in a
design with their underlying schematic implementations.
It is now possible to do the following:
■
Synchronize the selected hierarchical block from the underlying schematic
■
Synchronize the underlying schematic from the selected hierarchical block
■
For complex hierarchical designs, propagate the pin changes of the selected hierarchical
block to all the other sibling hierarchical blocks instantiated in the design at any level
which have the same underlying schematic.
For more information, see “Synchronizing Hierarchical Blocks Across and with
Underlying Schematic” in the Capture Online Help.
Part Editor Enhancements
The following enhancements are available in the Part Editor:
■
Pin Movement Improvements on page 24
■
Ability to Move Pin Name and Number Separately on page 24
■
Possibility to do Part per Package Manipulation for Heterogeneous Parts on page 25
Pin Movement Improvements
Earlier releases of Capture had the following issues while moving a group of pins:
■
It was difficult to move a group of pins upwards using the mouse.
■
If a group of pins were unevenly placed, and they were cut and pasted to a new location,
the spacing would get distorted and the pasted pins would be one grid apart.
These problems have been fixed in the Capture 10.0 release.
Ability to Move Pin Name and Number Separately
Earlier releases of Capture treated a pin, its name and number as a single unit. This meant
that whenever you moved a pin, the name and number would also move with it. This
sometimes resulted in a symbol or schematic getting cluttered when a lot of pins were placed
closely.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Capture 10.0 allows you to move a pin, its name, and number separately, if you are editing a
part instance on a schematic page.
Note: You cannot move a pin, its name, and number separately if you are editing a part in a
library.
Possibility to do Part per Package Manipulation for Heterogeneous Parts
In the earlier releases of Capture, it was not possible to delete a specific logical part in a
heterogeneous part. With the 10.0 release of Capture, it is now possible to delete a part in a
package of a heterogeneous part.
File Locking for Team Design
Previously, the same Capture design could be opened and modified by multiple users
simultaneously. This led to design integrity issues as there was no mechanism to let a
designer know that the design was opened by others too.
Capture 10.0 ensures that a design can be opened in read-write mode by only one user at a
time. If other users try to open the same design, Capture displays an error message that the
design can be opened only in read-only mode and that a copy of the design should be made
if the user wants to modify the design.
Ability to Run Multiple Versions of Capture
In earlier releases of Capture, it was not possible to install and run multiple versions of
Capture from the same machine. The 10.0 release, with its unique self-registering
mechanism, makes it possible to run multiple versions of Capture from the same machine.
Printing and plotting enhancements
An option to print instances or occurrences of a page in a schematic design is now available
in the Print and Print Preview dialog boxes. You can specify one of the following modes in
which to print a page:
❑
Inst. Mode (Instance mode) - Enables you to print only the instances of a page in a
schematic.
❑
Occ. Mode (Occurrence mode) - Enables you to print multiple occurrences of a page
in a schematic. This option is selected by default.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Support for Design Reuse in Layout
When placing and routing a board file, it is common for parts of a board to be identical to
previous existing designs. The new design reuse functionality in OrCAD Layout allows you to
create reuse modules for circuit replication. Reuse circuits along with the corresponding
schematic data may be saved to a directory that acts as a library of reuse elements. The
reuse data can then be imported into a design saving valuable time versus placing and
routing circuits from scratch.
For example, a power supply from a previous board might be identical to a current board file.
If the previous and current boards share a common Capture schematic, and if that schematic
is properly annotated, it is possible to apply design reuse and extract placement and routing
information from the previous MAX file. This type of design reuse is called external design
reuse. Design reuse can also be applied to reuse a part of the current board. This type of
reuse is called internal design reuse. An example of internal design reuse could be a multichannel amplifier, where the placement and routing for each channel is easily reused.
Capture 10.0 provides the Layout Reuse interface through its Annotation mechanism which
enables you to do design reuse in Layout through Capture. For more information, see the
Design Reuse chapter of the OrCAD Layout User’s Guide.
Significant Improvements in Capture-Allegro flow
This release contains the following improvements in the Capture-Allegro flow. For more
information on these improvements, see Chapter 14, “Using Capture with Allegro”, in the
OrCAD Capture User’s Guide.
■
Support for pin level property transfer between Capture and Allegro
■
Support for using “Combined property string” to pass user-defined property as PCB
Footprint property between Capture and Allegro
■
Inconsistency checks on Allegro netlist immediately after generating Allegro netlist
■
New Library Correction Utility for correcting missing pin numbers and duplicate pin
names in Capture part libraries
■
Support for pin swapping across gates of heterogeneous parts
■
No need to assign arbitrary footprint value to Mechanical parts
■
Support for creating pxlBA.txt file in forward mode
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Support for pin level property transfer between Capture and Allegro
Earlier versions of Capture did not support transfer of pin level properties between Capture
and Allegro. Pin level properties had to be manually assigned in both Capture and Allegro.
Capture 10.0 allows the transfer of pin level properties between Capture and Allegro using
the Allegro configuration file (Allegro.cfg). For example, suppose that you have specified a
property say, NO_SHAPE_CONNECT on a schematic pin. When you annotate the schematic
to Allegro, the property is transferred to Allegro. Allegro ensures that no connection is created
between the pin (that passes through a shape with the same net) and a shape.
Support for using “Combined property string” to pass user-defined property as PCB
Footprint property between Capture and Allegro
Like other PCB flows, the Capture-Allegro flow now allows you to use the “Combined property
string” to pass a user-defined property as the PCB Footprint property for PCB netlist
generation. This enhancement gives you the flexibility of defining a user-defined PCB
Footprint property specifically for the Capture-Allegro flow. As a result, you can define
different PCB Footprint property names for different PCB flows.
Inconsistency checks on Allegro netlist immediately after generating Allegro netlist
This enhancement ensures that a semantically and syntactically correct netlist is passed to
Allegro. This helps you detect and correct design related problems at the netlist creation
stage. This is a major enhancement from previous versions, where problems were detected
only at later stages in the Capture-Allegro flow.
New Library Correction Utility for correcting missing pin numbers and duplicate pin
names in Capture part libraries
Previously, you had to manually check for and correct missing pin numbers and duplicate pin
names in Capture part libraries.
Capture 10.0 provides a Library correction utility that allows you to automatically verify
whether parts in a library have missing pin numbers or duplicate pin names, and
automatically correct the missing pin numbers and duplicate pin names.
For more information on the Library Correction Utility, see the OrCAD Capture User’s
Guide.
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Support for pin swapping across gates of heterogeneous parts
To enable pin swaps across sections of split (heterogeneous) parts in Allegro, a SWAP_INFO
property has been introduced in Allegro 15.0.
You can use the SWAP_INFO property in Capture 10.0 to define a logical group of parts of a
package in a heterogeneous (split) part. This allows two pins having the same PIN_GROUP
property to be swapped within a logical group, regardless of the physical availability of the pin
in the given part of the package.
For more information on the SWAP_INFO property, see the OrCAD Capture Online Help.
No need to assign arbitrary footprint value to Mechanical parts
With Capture version 10.0, you no longer require to assign arbitrary footprint value to
mechanical parts.
Support for creating pxlBA.txt file in forward mode
Capture 10.0 generates the pxlBA.txt file in the forward mode.
If Allegro is not installed on the same system as Capture, you can use the Export Logic
command of Allegro on the system where Allegro is installed to create the back annotation
files for Capture. During Export Logic, Allegro reads the pxlBA.txt file from the location where
the board file resides. If the pxlBA.txt file does not exist at the board file location, Allegro reads
the standard pxlBA.txt file located at <install_dir>/share/pcb/text/views. However, this
pxlBA.txt file may not have all the properties that you want to back annotate to Capture and
some of the properties may get annotated as deleted or with a null value. To avoid this
problem, you can copy over the pxlBA.txt file generated by Capture to the board file location,
before running the Export Logic command from Allegro.
Push Occurrence Properties into Instance Utility
Suppose that you copied a circuit or part of a circuit from design A and pasted it in design B.
You might see occurrence and instance level properties with different values on the pasted
parts in design B. For example, the reference designators of the occurrences and instances
may be different. To avoid confusion in the future you have to ensure that each part has only
one reference designator by replacing the instance value of the part reference property with
the occurrence value of the part reference property for each part.
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
In previous releases of Capture, you had to invoke the property editor on each part, edit the
instance and occurrence property values as required, and remove occurrence properties that
are not needed.
Capture 10.0 provides a utility that automatically:
■
transfers occurrence property values of the part reference and PCB footprint properties
as instance level property values
■
transfers all occurrence properties as instance properties, removes all occurrence
properties from the design, and sets Capture to update instance properties when the
design is back annotated.
To run this utility, from the Accessories menu in Capture, choose Transfer Occ. Prop. to
Instance, then choose Push Occ. Prop into Instance.
Support for Xilinx Design Manager version 4.1 and 4.2 Output Files
You can use the output files of Xilinx Design Manager version 4.1 or 4.2 to create parts in
Capture 10.0. This enables FPGA designers to use Capture and Xilinx tools seamlessly in
their flows.
Improved EDIF 2 0 0 Import/Export Functionality
Capture 10.0 is integrated with Electronics Tools Company (e-tools) EDIF 2 0 0 programs.
The e-tools EDIF 2 0 0 programs support import and export of schematic or netlist view data.
The e-tools EDIF 2 0 0 programs are integrated with tools from Cadence and other leading
EDA vendors and hence provide a more robust and seamless EDIF 2 0 0 import/export
functionality in Capture.
Note: In Capture 9.2.3 and earlier versions, the EDIF 2 0 0 import/export functionality was
provided by Engineering DataXpress's EDIF 2 0 0 programs. From Capture 10.0, the e-tools
EDIF 2 0 0 programs replace Engineering DataXpress's EDIF 2 0 0 programs.
For more information on using the e-tools EDIF 2 0 0 programs with Capture, see the e-tools
EDIF2CAP (EDIF 200 to OrCAD Capture Schematic Translator) and CAP2EDIF (OrCAD
Capture Schematic to EDIF 200 Translator) User’s and Reference Manual
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
Auto-tiling of Online Help
If you enable auto-tiling of help, the online help window vertically tiles with the Capture
application window. This allows you to view the online help without having to switch between
Capture and the online help window.
Use the
toolbar button to enable auto-tiling of online help and the
disable auto-tiling of online help.
toolbar icon to
Updated Capture Tutorial
The Capture tutorial has been updated to include information about the Capture-Allegro flow
and Capture Allegro design reuse. The following lessons have been added to the tutorial:
■
Capture to Allegro design flow: This lessons covers the information that you need to
successfully use the Capture Allegro flow.
■
Capture Allegro design reuse: This lesson covers the information that you need to
successfully create reuse modules in Capture and Allegro.
List of important PCRs fixed in OrCAD Capture 10.0
PCR No.
Description
364974
Provide a utility to transfer the occurrence level values of the part reference
and PCB footprint properties as instance level values.
491263
Display warning when a user tries to annotate again after creating Allegro or
Layout netlist.
437716
435683
Capture should prompt for saving any recovered files, and then clean up the
autosave directory, if user opts to save the recovered files.
425629
Remove restriction to update the design with changes done as a result of
Capture-Allegro back-annotation, which allows user to do pin swap across
pins in heterogeneous part.
467247
The pxlBA.txt file should always get generated from an Allegro.cfg file as part
of the back annotation process, whether or not the feedback files are being
generated by Capture
437045
Raise limit for number of characters node names in SciCard netlist format to
16 characters.
381749
Ability to pass custom pin properties from Capture to Allegro.
November 2004
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OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 10.0
PCR No.
Description
323878
Provide the ability to change pin shapes for multiple pins.
324440
Provide the ability to remove part sections from heterogeneous parts.
475933
Reduce loading time of configured libraries in Capture.
383616
Provide ability to move pin name and numbers in part editor
346995
Capture should issue warnings when a user tries to open a file which is
already in use.
348023
Provide auto-incrementing of reference designators feature to ensure no
duplicate references in a design.
422022
Capture has to check for carriage returns in property values
November 2004
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Product Version 10.3
OrCAD Capture: What's New
2
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 9.2.3 Web
Update 1
OrCAD Capture version 9.2.3 Web Update 1 includes the following enhancements:
■
Grid spacing on page 19
■
Auto increment reference designator for pasted parts on page 19
■
Part selection filter on page 19
■
Pin swapping across gates of heterogeneous parts on page 20
■
Miscellaneous improvements on page 20
Grid spacing
Capture currently uses the pin-to-pin spacing as the grid spacing for the schematic page
editor. Capture now allows you to specify the grid spacing as a fraction of the pin-to-pin
spacing.
Auto increment reference designator for pasted parts
Capture now allows auto increment referencing when you copy and paste a part in the
schematic editor. That is, when you copy a part that has a reference designator assigned to
it, and then paste that part onto the schematic page, Capture assigns the next available
reference designator value to the pasted part.
Part selection filter
Capture now includes a part selection filter that allows you to restrict part searches in part
libraries based on specific criteria. So, for example, if you are a PSpice user, you can restrict
your part library search such that only parts with associated PSpice simulation models will be
listed.
June 2003
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Product Version 10.0
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 9.2.3 Web Update 1
Pin swapping across gates of heterogeneous parts
There is improved functionality that allows for backannotation of Allegro pin swapping
information to Capture. Specifically, information for pin swapping across gates of
heterogeneous parts can now be backannotated to Capture from Allegro. This solution
addresses the GAT0028 restriction.
Miscellaneous improvements
■
Improvements to the DXF export capability. This includes prevention of text shifting, and
correct exportation of hierarchical pin information.
■
Improvements to the Design Rule Check reporting.
■
Improvements have been made to power pin name assignment, such that power pins,
with both unique and duplicate names, can be backannotated to Capture from Allegro
without problems.
June 2003
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Product Version 10.0
OrCAD Capture: What's New
3
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 9.2.3
OrCAD Capture version 9.2.3 includes the following enhancements:
■
Tight integration with simulation, synthesis, and place-and-route tools
■
Improved Capture-Allegro interface
■
Enhanced Verilog editing and netlist capability
■
Simulation capability for multiple chips (or board-level simulation)
Tight integration with simulation, synthesis, and place-and-route tools
OrCAD Capture Version 9.2.3 provides support for programmable logic design by enhancing
the accessibility to synthesis and simulation tools, and by providing libraries for the most
popular FPGA/CPLD vendors.
In order to provide an easy interface for programmable logic design in Capture, this version
includes “open door” access to Synplicity’s Synplify synthesis tool, vendor place-and-route
tools, and the Cadence simulation tool suite, NC Desktop.
Programmable logic enhancements to the project manager
Capture’s project manager provides increased integration and new part libraries for creating
a vendor-specific programmable logic project for Actel, Altera, and Xilinx. Other vendors will
be supported in future updates and releases.
The increased integration provides easy access to NC VHDL Desktop for simulation,
Synplicity’s Synplify for synthesis, and the appropriate vendor tool sets for place-and-route.
Compatibility with Synplicity’s Synplify tool
You can invoke Synplify from within the Capture user interface. If you have installed Synplify
on your system, Capture will create a Synplify project and invoke the tool on your
programmable logic design.
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Product Version 10.0
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 9.2.3
Compatibility with vendor place-and-route tools
Capture will now launch the place-and-route tool set appropriate for the target vendor
(provided that the tool set in installed on your computer).
Finding hierarchical pins and power/ground symbols in Capture
You can now locate hierarchical pins and power/ground symbols in Capture by using the Find
command from the Edit menu. This makes it very easy to locate these objects in your design.
You can also update names for hierarchical pins.
Improved connection checking for bus maps
You can now check to insure that buses are mapped correctly with hierarchical pins by using
the Design Rules Check (DRC) tool. In previous releases, the DRC tool would not locate
discrepancies between bus widths and hierarchical pins. The new version of Capture now
provides for checking this.
Integration with Specctraquest and Advanced Packages Designer (APD)
OrCAD Capture 14.2 is tightly integrated with SpecctraQuest and Advanced Package
Designer which are used for High Speed Circuit Analysis and MCMS/SCMs (MultiChip
Modules/Single Chip Modules), respectively.
NC Desktop simulation
Capture provides easy access to the Cadence NC VHDL Desktop simulation tool suite.
Further, Capture includes functionality for generating simulation testbenches and provides
numerous coding samples that you can use when developing your designs and testbenches.
Improved Capture-Allegro interface
The interface between OrCAD Capture and Allegro has been improved, allowing for easier
migration of designs between the two tools. Enhancements include:
■
Inclusion of a new part property, POWER_GROUP, which provides a method for avoiding
the use of visible power pins and for connecting power pins to specified power nets in the
design.
June 2003
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Product Version 10.0
OrCAD Capture: What's New
What’s New in OrCAD Capture 9.2.3
■
Inclusion of a new property, SPLIT, which provides a method for pin swapping across
heterogeneous parts. This is especially useful for large pin-count devices.
■
Enhanced design rule check capabilities which detects any/all errors when generating
an Allegro netlist from Capture.
■
Support for duplicate power pin names.
■
Support for mechanical parts.
■
Support for POWER_PINS values of more than 1024 character length by allowing the
values to be split in the PSTCHIP.DAT file.
■
Support for back-annotation of asymmetrical (or heterogeneous) section swapping.
■
Support for back-annotation of pin swaps between pins that have net names (connected
pins) and pins that are not connected (associated with the NC netname.)
Enhanced Verilog editing and netlist capability
OrCAD Capture 9.2.3 includes a Verilog editor that provides highlighting for Verilog keywords
and syntax checking, similar to the VHDL editor and syntax checking tool provided with earlier
Capture releases.
Further, there have been significant improvements to the Verilog netlister. Capture allows for
creating hierarchical blocks from Verilog entities, and vice-versa, which allows for designing
in Verilog using block diagrams in the same manner by which you can use Capture to design
with VHDL.
Simulation capability for multiple chips (or board-level simulation)
Capture also includes functionality, similar to that in the former OrCAD product, Express, that
allows you to simulate multiple programmable logic devices in a manner that represents the
interaction of devices on a printed circuit board. You can use either VHDL or Verilog as the
hardware development language to represent the devices.
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Product Version 10.0