Page Comparison

This section discusses some of the CSETS that Affect the Design Comparison

KEY_PROP_LIST/KEY_PROP_IGNORE_LIST

When Reading the Input Design Files, NetBom automatically builds a list of ALL the part and net properties it finds attached to any part or net in the design.

It stores the properties in the KEY_PROP_LIST 

When comparing the design parts and nets, it will flag any net or part where any of the Properties in the KEY_PROP_LIST is different between the 2 designs.

If the user would like to Ignore certain properties, they may remove the Property from the KEY_PROP_LIST OR

add the property to ignore to the KEY_PROP_IGNORE_LIST.

It is usually easier and more portable to use the 2nd method and add the Property Name to the KEY_PROP_IGNORE_LIST

ORCAD

CAPTURE PROPERTIES

When comparing ORCAD DSN files, PartBuilder actually compiles both DSN files into a netList. 

As a default, Capture does not transfer many COMPONENT or NET properties to the NetList which is unfortunate, because it limits the information you can compare in the NetLists

NetBom makes it easy for you to configure what Properties you do want to transfer

The NetBom CSETS:

1. ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_COMPDEF_LIST  
2. ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_COMPINST_LIST
3. ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_NETPROP_LIST 
4. ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_FUNCPROP_LIST
5. ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_PINPROP_LIST

and the exist to help you with that

You can see these CSETS by using the Search Config Settings Button on the Main Gui

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and typing Orcad in the search box

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Any Property you add to these lists will get stored in a local copy of the ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_FILE which you should set to point to your allegro.cfg file

To show the Set of Properties that are attached to a part in Capture, you can right-click on a part and select 'Edit Properties...' from the context menu that pops up

Make sure the Filter by: is set to <Current properties> to see all the properties that you can transfer across

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Notes for Capture Property Names that Contain Spaces 

It is important to remember that a translation from Orcad DSN Property Names may occur if the Orcad Property Name contains a space. In that case, the Space should be replaced by an underscore '_'

If you do add a Property Name that has a space in it, The spaces will be converted to "_" in the netlist. 

The  CSETS like KEY_PROP_LIST,KEY_PROP_IGNORE_LIST described above and the BOM_HEADER_PROPERTIES and PART_NUMBER_PROPS CSETS described below 

will need to use the Property Name with the Underscore

For instance if you add 'PCB FootPrint' to the ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_COMPDEF_LIST  CSET, the resulting property in the NETLIST will be PCB_FootPrint and you would need to use that if you want to include it in the

BOM_HEADER_PROPERTIES CSET.

WARNING Do Not Add Capture Properties if their Values could contain spaces

Unfortunately at the current moment, you cannot transfer any properties that could contain spaces in their values across to  the NETLIST...

This is a CAPTURE issue since the tool  generates an invalid Allegro Netlist if a property value does contain a space.

For example many customers will include spaces in their Description properties. If so, they cannot add the Description property to the ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_COMPDEF_LIST. 

If you do get an error, you will need to interactively remove the offending property from the ORCAD_D2N_ACFG_COMPDEF_LIST.

PartList/Bill Of Material (BOM)  Specific CSETS

BOM_HEADER_PROPERTIES

This is a comma separated list of the Properties the user wants to capture in the conversion to the Bill Of Materials or PartList.

Existing Part Properties will be added to the Reports in the order they appear in this CSET.

Only Properties that can be found in the KEY_PROP_LIST are valid, If no value is found for a part property, it will be listed as "Unknown" in the Report

PART_NUMBER_PROPS

The PART_NUMBER_PROPS provides the user a means to specify several properties to serve as the "PART_NUMBER" for a specific part. This is useful for parts which will appear in the BOM, but  might not warrant a true internal part_number like a mounting hole or test_point. NetBom will search for the first valid non empty Property in this list to find the "PART_NUMBER" property for each part. So the user would add the name of their Company PartNumber property first, and then add other property names to use as a substitute for parts that won't have that property.

DO_NOT_INSTALL_PROP/DNI_TRUE_VALS

These 2 CSETS Are companions, they Tell NetBom what property to use to mark a part as Do Not Install (DNI), and what the "True" Value of that property should be.... The user may provide multiple Property Names for the DO_NOT_INSTALL_PROP and multiple values for the DNI_TRUE_VALS 

BOM_NO_POP_PROP/BOM_NO_PROP_TRUE_VALS

These 2 CSETS Are companions, they tell NetBom what property to use to mark a part as Do Not Populate, and what the "True" Value of that property should be.... The user may provide multiple Property Names for the DO_NOT_POP_PROP and multiple values for the True Value of the BOM_NO_POP_PROP prop