No ERC

Modified by Jason Howie on Feb 23, 2015
Contents

Parent page: Schematic Objects

Use No ERC markers to suppress error/warning messages about a specific node in the circuit.

Summary

The No ERC object is a design directive. It is placed on a node in the circuit to suppress all reported Electrical Rule Check warnings and/or error violation conditions, that are detected when the schematic project is compiled. Use this to deliberately limit error checking at a certain point in the circuit that you know will generate a warning (such as an unconnected pin), while still performing a comprehensive check of the rest of the circuit.

The No ERC directive supports a number of different styles, and can be displayed in any color. Use this ability to reflect the design intent for this point in the circuit.

Choose a No ERC style that best reflects its function at that point in the circuit.

The No ERC directive has two  modes of operation, which can be switched between:

  1. Suppress All Violations – in this mode all possible warning and/or error conditions are suppressed.
  2. Suppress Specific Violations – in this mode only the selected warning or error conditions are suppressed, any other warning or error will be detected and reported.

Availability

No ERC design directives are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only. To place a No ERC directive:

  • Click Home | Circuit Elements |  » No ERC, from the main menus, to place a No ERC marker that is pre-configured to target all violations. This is sometimes referred to as a Generic No ERC directive.
  • Click Home | Circuit Elements |  » Specific No ERC, from the main menus, to place a No ERC marker that can be configured to target specific violations.

Placement - Generic No ERC Directive

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter placement mode:

  1. Position the cursor over a wire or other net object and click or press Enter to place a directive at that point in the circuit.
  2. Continue placing further No ERC directives or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.
  3. To rotate the No ERC directive while in placement mode, press the Spacebar to rotate anti-clockwise in 90° steps, Shift+Spacebar to rotate clockwise in 90° steps.

Additional actions that can be performed during placement are:

  • Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the No ERC directive can be changed on-the-fly.
While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up associated properties dialog), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement.

Placement - Specific No ERC Directive

A Specific No ERC directive targets a specific violation, so it must be configured to do this. To simplify this process, PCBWorks launches an interactive tool to automatically configure the directive to target the appropriate violation, during placement.

Choose a violation to suppress, then click OK to place a tailored, Specific No ERC directive on that point in the circuit.

To use this interactive tool:

  1. After launching the command, the Place Specific NoERC dialog will open. The dialog will automatically load a list of all violations present across all source schematic documents of the active design project - grouped by net.
  2. To be confident that it accurately reflects the violations that currently exist, click the Recompile project button.
  3. If there are multiple violations detected for a net, the Automatically recompile option should also be enabled, to ensure the list remains accurate as you place directives.
  4. Expand the entry for a particular net, and click on a violation in the sub-list, the source schematic sheet will be made active, and the view changed to highlight the violating object.
  5. Click the Suppress checkbox for the error of interest.
  6. Click OK to close the dialog, a No ERC marker will appear on the cursor, ready for placement on the point in the circuit that is creating the violation.
  7. Place the directive on the point of violation in the circuit. After clicking to place, the Place Specific NoERC dialog will automatically re-appear, ready to resolve the next specific violation.
  8. Continue to place directives to resolve all violations on design schematics. The big advantage of this guided automatic process is that each Directive is automatically configured to only suppress specific errors/warnings.

Right-Click Placement

An alternative approach to working through the Place Specific NoERC dialog is to selectively place a Specific No ERC directive on a point in the circuit that is already showing a violation, highlighted by a wavy colored line.

To place a specific No ERC marker targeted to that violation, right-click on the violating object (not the wavy colored line) and select the Place NoERC to Suppress command. The No ERC directive will appear on the cursor, pre-configured to suppress this violation. Press Tab to edit the look of the directive before placement.

PCBWorks's default settings do not highlight Warnings with a wavy line. This is enabled on the Schematic - Compiler page of the Preferences dialog.
You can also right-click on a warning/error in the Messages panel, select the Place Specific NoERC for this violation option, then jump straight to that point in the schematic and place a No ERC directive configured to suppress that warning/error.

Graphical Editing

The No ERC marker cannot be modified graphically, other than changing its location. To move a No ERC marker, click and hold while dragging it to a new location. While dragging, the No ERC marker can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar).

An object that has its Locked property enabled cannot be selected or graphically edited. Double click on the locked object directly and disable the Locked property, to graphically edit the object.

Non-Graphical Editing

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:

Via an Associated Properties Dialog

Dialog page: No ERC

This method of editing uses the No ERC dialog to modify the properties of a No ERC object.

The No ERC dialog.

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

  • Double-clicking on the placed No ERC object.
  • Placing the cursor over the No ERC object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.

Via the SCH Inspector Panel

Panel page: SCH Inspector

The SCH Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with the Find Similar Objects dialog, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

Controlling the Printing of No ERC Directives

By default, No ERC markers are included during printing. To control this - either disabling their inclusion entirely, or excluding only specific symbols - use the Schematic Print Properties dialog, as shown below.

Control the printing of No ERC markers in the Schematic Print Properties dialog.

This dialog can be accessed by clicking Outputs | Documentation |  and choosing one of the following commands from the associated drop-down menu:

  • Print Preview - from the Preview Schematic Prints dialog, right-click and choose Configuration.
  • Page Setup - from the initial Schematic Print Properties dialog, click the Advanced button.
  • Default Prints - from the Default Prints tab of the Options for Project dialog, select Schematic Prints in the list, then click Configure.

 

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