Part Properties

Part properties are what turn “generic” Schematic Parts into specific Parts than can be purchased. Properties such as power rating, voltage, footprint, value, Manufacture (or Distributor) part number and so on distinguish between parts. For some applications, using a specific material, or construction, for a Part might be critical to the correct functioning of the design, and this would need to be specified in the Part properties. For passive components, restricting the Value property to a numerical value with a recognised multiplier can help with Signal Integrity analysis since the models for these devices can be automatically assigned.

Editing Properties

The Property Editor can be opened: with a double-click on a Part in the Schematic Page; by selecting one, or more, Parts and either pressing the control and E keys together, or a right-click>Edit Properties when hovering over a selected Part.

The default Property Editor organisation is to have the Property Names as column headers and the selected item, or items, in rows. It can be more convenient to “pivot” the Property Editor organisation so that the Property Names are in the first column and the Item, or items, are listed in subsequent columns.

Property filters can reduce the properties displayed in the Property Editor, or provide a “prompt” for properties that are available / should be added. Note that properties added to a schematic without a property value specified will be removed when the property editor is closed.

Searching

Edit>Find will invoke the search function which can be used to locate items in the Design, or Schematic Page, whichever is selected. There are options to restrict the search and highlight the selected items. Note that search for parts will be searching all of the parts properties, use the “Property Name = Value” option and set the “what to find” to “Reference=<required part reference>” to further restrict the search – for example, use “Reference=D*” to locate all of the parts with a “D” reference designator prefix.

Using Edit>Browse

Edit>Browse can be used to locate items in the design. Options are: Parts; Nets, Flat Netlist; Hierarchical Ports; Off-Page Connectors; Title Blocks; Bookmarks; DRC Markers; Power Pins. In each case, accept the preferred design mode to get a “summary sheet” of all of the items, then the items selected and edited, or a double-click on a selected item will open the Schematic Page with the item selected.

Update Properties Files

Update Properties files allow part properties to be “injected” from a text file, using the Part Value, for Parts, or the Net Name, for Nets, as a key to locate the entry in the “upd” file.

All content Copyright 2022 Parallel Systems Ltd.