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Protel DXP PCB drag selection Question

Hi!

I'm currently drawing a little PCB with Altium's Design Explorer DXP (7.2.85). After drawing the schematic I got it converted to a PCB. Currently I'm doing the PCB layout.

I'm now desperately searching how to drag a group of components and wires. I've put some components together, routed many tracks between them and now I want to move some of them including their tracks and have all tracks going to other components stay connected and behave like rubber lines.

Could you please give me a hint how to do this?

Thanks Hansi

Reply to
Johann Glaser
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rubber banding isn't that good in Protel sorry... The simplest is to move by selecting and just moving the bits.. then use the manual re-route function to connect it back up.. sorry there no simple other way around. But its not that slow to repair either

Simon

Reply to
Simon Peacock

Hi Simon!

Thats really bad news. Do you know if the newest Altium Designer is better in this`

I still can't believe that this simple and important feature is not available in Protel. Is it possible that the "little Eagle" which doesn't have any problem with this, is superior to Protel in this case? I can't believe!

Bye Hansi

Reply to
Johann Glaser

Johann/Hansi, It is not a question of superior, as Simon stated it is no problem to reroute the disconnected traces. It is every bit as fast and usually faster than trying to untangle a mess of tracks left over from a drag operation. You do know all the methods that you can use to select al the desired objects for the move, to get all the objects you want moved. Then just move them and reconnect (route with loop removal option on) as desired. What is any easier about doing a drag and then trying to cleaning up all the traces left atop one another and crossing each other? Usually you will spend more time on the tangled mess because it just not so clean to see the desired routing through the mess and adjust or reroute them through that same mess. Have never found it to be a feature that I miss or want in a CAD package, not in 17 years. I have used a few packages that did allow drags, tried it several times, won't ever waste my time again.

--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander

"Johann Glaser"  wrote in message
news:pan.2005.09.20.20.51.15.321278@gmx.at...
> Hi Simon!
>
> > rubber banding isn\'t that good in Protel sorry... The
simplest is to move by
> > selecting and just moving the bits.. then use the manual
re-route function
> > to connect it back up.. sorry there no simple other way
around.  But its not
> > that slow to repair either
>
> Thats really bad news. Do you know if the newest Altium
Designer is better
> in this`
>
> I still can\'t believe that this simple and important feature is
not
> available in Protel. Is it possible that the "little Eagle"
which doesn\'t
> have any problem with this, is superior to Protel in this case?
I can\'t
> believe!
>
> Bye
>   Hansi
>
Reply to
Brad Velander

Actually I once saw a drag that most cad designers go ga-ga over... it was on 1/4 million dollars of software and hardware and you could drag the chip.. it would group the buses and match the length and impedance of the traces while doing it. very nice.. but the designer spent a month setting up before placing a single track... He could afford the time as he designed a lot of similar boards and had a common set of rules for various types. Over all there had been a year of work in the rules that would allow the board to autoroute and drag correctly....

so a "simple" drag may not necessarily be simple once you factor everything into the equation. I, like Brad, have found that just grab the bits I want, move them and use the manual route + loop-removal to be fantastic. Occasionally I've tried the autoroute... but if I've ever used it ... it has been for mitring (when it could do that) but even that is very quick if you use the push and shove once the design is mostly finished.

Simon

Reply to
Simon Peacock

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