Hello,
I am a runner in college and I am currently involved in an engineering internship on days that I do not have classes; I am not a stranger to the site. Since I am an intern, my company email does not work when I try to register for engineering forums so I am trying my luck here. Please no trolls, if you can't answer my question just let my thread be swallowed up into the mass of jamin threads.
Thank you.
Task 1
I am currently trying to teach myself about hierarchical schematics on DxDesigner so that I can show my supervisor how to utilize the abilities in important schematics. His intent with using hierarchical schematics are to expand and independently work on large schematic files. I have a few questions regarding the capabilities of the 'Block' tool.
My first task was to research and learn how to take a schematic and divide them into sub-files so that we could create a hierarchical schematic that would allow us to work on each part of the assembly without affecting the rest of the part.
What I did to accomplish this was that I opened a new schematic and drew a box (not a part, no intelligence behind it) and 2 other boxes next to it. I then connected the boxes to each other using nets. I used the 'Block' tool (F) and drew a square encompassing the 2 boxes adjacent to each other that I wanted in a sub-file. I clicked the grey pop-up window 'Extract schematic' and got the separate file that I intended. From that new sub-file, I used the 'Block' tool once again to separate one of the boxes from the other. The result was the hierarchical schematic that I was asked for. I tried the tool using actual parts and resistors and the intelligence behind the symbols remained after I had extracted them. My supervisor was pleased with my work.
This worked out fine, but if anyone has any alternative ways to accomplish creating a hierarchical schematic, please instruct me how.
Task 2 (current)
After my supervisor saw the success with the 'Block' tool and 'extract schematic' option, he wanted to take it a step further so that we would be able to work on the parts backwards. I'll elaborate.
We drew two resistors parallel to each other (let's refer to them as R1 and R2, respectively.) connected by a single net, and each resistor was grounded. We used the 'Block' tool to draw a box around R1, then extracted that. After that, we extracted R2 from the schematic. Finally, we extracted the middle portion of the net so that a segment of the net was also in a sub-file. The file originally looked like this:
R1--------R2 (hyphens represent a single net connection)
|..................| (periods put in after previewing to avoid format glitch when using spaces; neglect)
0//..............0// (let 0// represent ground [used 0 to represent zero potential reference]) (neglect periods)
to this:
Original Schematic
____ --____-- ____ (neglect the hyphens in this row of text, used to avoid underscores from being displaced)
|___|--|___|--|___| (boxes represent the area on the original schematic where the resistors and net were extracted)
Schematic 2 (R1)
R1---
|
0//
Schematic 3 (portion of net)
----
Schematic 4 (R2)
---R2
.......| (neglect periods)
.....0// (neglect periods)
My supervisor after extracting the schematic wanted to be able to work in Schematic 4 so that the Original Schematic is affected. He drew a resistor (R3) with 2 nets connected to nothing beneath the R2 and its ground. His intent was to have R3 connect back to the original schematic, after the schematic was already extracted. Schematic 4 now looks like this:
---R2
.......| (neglect periods)
.... 0// (neglect periods)
------|
........R3 (neglect periods)
------|
He essentially wants me to work backwards and find a way for me to have the nets connected to R3 connect back to the original schematic. Obviously a solution would be to draw the R3 in the parent file and then extract R2 with R3, but that would defeat the point since the goal was to be able to work on the parts of the schematic independently.
Does anybody know how I can make the nets attached to R3 connect back to the original schematic?
I have never used this program prior to obtaining the internship, and was only shown the bare essentials to use the site, so please bare with me if I do not completely grasp your explanation at first. I know the format which I typed my question is a bit confusing, and I just previewed my thread before posting so the symbols are even more messed up. I am in my cubicle right now and the company network blocks me from going on most sites. If you think you may have a solution please feel free to tell me, I am currently playing with the program trying to find a solution on my own. If you have experience using DxDesigner but are having trouble understanding my question because of the weird format I typed the symbols in, I can create an email (not posting my actual one on LetsRun) that you can reach out to and we can exchange: screenshots, links, etc.
Thank you again for helping me out.