Edit Object Class

Modified by Jason Howie on Mar 4, 2015
Contents
Other Related Resources
Object Class Explorer (Dialog)
Component Class Generator (Dialog)

Parent page: PCB Dialogs

Two incarnations of the Edit Object Class dialog.

Summary

This dialog allows the designer to manage the name and primitive membership when creating a new, or editing an existing, component class, net class, or polygon class. Classes are a way of gathering design primitives in a logical manner, and are often priceless when used to target their member objects through specific design rule scoping.

While the controls of the dialog largely remain the same, the actual use of the dialog, and its banner text, will vary depending on the type of class being created/edited.

Access

The dialog is accessed and used from within the PCB Editor in the following ways:

  • From the PCB panel (configured in Components mode), right click in the Component Classes region and use the Add Class or Properties command - depending on whether you are creating a new class, or editing an existing one.
  • From the PCB panel (configured in Nets mode), right click in the Net Classes region and use the Add Class or Properties command - depending on whether you are creating a new class, or editing an existing one.
  • From the PCB panel (configured in Polygons mode), right click in the Polygon Classes region and use the Add Class or Properties command - depending on whether you are creating a new class, or editing an existing one.
For an existing user-defined class of any of these types, the dialog can be accessed simply by double-clicking the entry for the class in the panel. This method of access cannot be used for the default classes - which are system classes - as they cannot be edited.

Options/Controls

  • Name - the current name for the class. Change this as required.
  • Non-Members - this region of the dialog lists all primitives of the applicable type, that are currently not members of the class. Use the mask field above the list to quickly filter the latter's content.
  • Members - this region of the dialog lists all primitives of the applicable type, that are currently members of the class. Use the mask field above the list to quickly filter the latter's content.
As you type within one of the mask fields above a list, the list is filtered to only show strings that match the mask string. You can use the ? (any single character) and * (any characters) wildcards in the mask string -for example, "*" to display all primitives, or "D?" to display all primitives that start with the letter D.
  • Class Generator - this button is only available when creating/editing a component class. Click it to access the Component Class Generator dialog, which can be used to quickly generate the membership for the component class, based on defined search criteria.

Membership Management Buttons

The dialog provides the following buttons to cater for moving primitives quickly between the two lists:

  •  Add All - click this button to quickly transfer all primitives from the Non-Members list, over to the Members list.
  •  Add Selected (in dialog) - click this button to quickly transfer those primitives currently selected in the Non-Members list, over to the Members list.
  •  Remove Selected (in dialog) - click this button to quickly transfer those primitives currently selected in the Members list, over to the Non-Members list.
  •  Remove All - click this button to quickly transfer all primitives from the Members list, over to the Non-Members list.
  •  Add Selected (in workspace) - click this button to quickly transfer those primitives currently selected in the design workspace, from the Non-Members list over to the Members list.
  •  Remove Selected (in workspace) - click this button to quickly transfer those primitives currently selected in the design workspace, from the Members list over to the Non-Members list.
When selecting primitives in the dialog, standard multi-select techniques are supported (Ctrl+click, Shift+click, and Click&Drag).

 

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