Does PADS 2007 have real error checking??

[billcalley]

Hello All,

I am using PADS Logic 2007, and no matter where I look I cannot
find a way to run a real ERC to see if there are any unconnected nets
or open pins in the finished schematic (is the text-based "Reports"
function under File all there is??). And since I cannot find a way to
perform an ERC, I also obviously cannot find a way to have all errors
marked visually on the schematic, nor to jump to these errors on-
screen. I clearly remember being able to do all of this in earlier
PADS versions. (As a related question, I also cannot see where I can
assign unused pins with an "X" for a "Not Connected" so as to be
ignored during an ERC). How can I perform a real connectivity check
in this new PADS??

Many Thanks!!

-Bill

 

[Marra]

My PCB software cost £20 and it does clearance checks, continuity
checks and unconnected pin checks !

What did you pay for PADS?

 

[billcalley]

My PCB software cost £20 and it does clearance checks, continuity
checks and unconnected pin checks !

What did you pay for PADS?

Believe me Marra, I know what you mean: Every schematic capture
program I have ever used, no matter how low in cost, has the ERC
clearly visible -- but PADS for some reason has it well hidden (this
particular package costs the company I work for well over £9,000.00).
It is powerful capture and layout software, and a standard in the
industry over here, so that is why companies still use it extensively.

-Bill

 

[Joel Koltner]

"Every schematic capture
program I have ever used, no matter how low in cost, has the ERC
clearly visible -- but PADS for some reason has it well hidden"

As far as I can tell, the PADS design philosophy is to make many features
hidden! While PADS is quite powerful, the GUI design seems to come from a
different era.

 

[Paul E. Schoen]

"Every schematic capture
program I have ever used, no matter how low in cost, has the ERC
clearly visible -- but PADS for some reason has it well hidden"

As far as I can tell, the PADS design philosophy is to make many features
hidden! While PADS is quite powerful, the GUI design seems to come from
a different era.

This would be an excellent question for the PADS "talk" forum, where users
are constantly posting their problems and solutions. I use PADS2004sp2, and
there is a connectivity check in the same dialog as the clearance check.
The connectivity errors show up as special icons at the points where the
discontinuities appear to be.

I have heard that version 2007 fixed many of the bugs that were reported in
earlier versions, but I am unwilling to pay the huge expense of back
maintenence and a 40% penalty on top of that. If you are on maintenance, I
would file one or more SRs and demand a quick resolution to your problem.
And it is also helpful to post your problems to the forum, so others may
benefit from your experience.

Much of PADS Logic and PADS Layout was based on the old MSDOS version that
I started with in the early 90s, and they have mostly patched what they had
rather than rewrite it according to new Windows GUI standards. Their Blaze
Router had a more advanced GUI, but I have found it hard to use, and there
are still many things that it cannot do, so you must go back to Layout to
finish the design. They were going to merge the products, but now I think
they are planning to phase out all of the PADS products and have everyone
migrate up to their more pricey Expedition products.

Just for fun, try this application I wrote which puts a new spin on the
dreaded PADS error message that tells you it has crashed, and all you can
click on is "OK".

www.smart.net/~pstech/PADSerror.zip

Paul

 

[Brad Velander]

Paul,
The connectivity check you mention is in PADs PCB, not PADs Logic as
queried by the original poster. The original poster is looking for a PADs
Logic schematic ERC check. I don't have much experience with PADs Logic, I
never used it except to view schematics done by others in PADs logic.

 

[Paul E. Schoen]

Paul,
The connectivity check you mention is in PADs PCB, not PADs Logic as
queried by the original poster. The original poster is looking for a PADs
Logic schematic ERC check. I don't have much experience with PADs Logic,
I never used it except to view schematics done by others in PADs logic.

Right. I missed that.

I just checked my PADS2004sp2 Logic design that I am working on, and the
Net Statistics Report shows any possible problems based on the definitions
of component pins. It does not specifically give a warning for unconnected
pins, but it does show nets with only one connection if you use off-page
symbols.

I have never used this functionality. If this report is no longer in
PADS2007, it would probably not be too hard to write a script to generate a
report based on the electrical pin types in each net and verify that, for
instance, there is only one source and all other pins are loads or
otherwise suitable.

Paul

 

[billcalley]

Right. I missed that.

I just checked my PADS2004sp2 Logic design that I am working on, and the
Net Statistics Report shows any possible problems based on the definitions
of component pins. It does not specifically give a warning for unconnected
pins, but it does show nets with only one connection if you use off-page
symbols.

I have never used this functionality. If this report is no longer in
PADS2007, it would probably not be too hard to write a script to generate a
report based on the electrical pin types in each net and verify that, for
instance, there is only one source and all other pins are loads or
otherwise suitable.

Paul

Thanks Paul and Brad. Yes, PADS 2007 still has the primitive text-
based "Reports" function under the File menu, but I was hoping for
something a lot more sophisticated than that nowadays, especially
since there are economy schematic entry programs out there that do far
more than have a text list of open pins and dangling nets. I thought
I was missing something, but I guess I'm not! (Heck, I cannot even
seem to find a way to do a basic thing like assign unused pins with an
"X" for a "Not Connected" so that they can be
ignored during the PADS' text-based "ERC").


Best Regards,

-Bill

 

[Brad Velander]

Bill,
Do what I always did when I used PADs, use a real schematic tool. Ditch
the PADs Logic it really is crap. I can't believe that Mentor can sell the
stuff, either morally or actually.

I used OrCAD for years along with PADs and then switched to Protel when
they first came out with their Protel For Windows (PFW) schematic tool back
in approx. 1991/92. The schematic tool was better than OrCADS but the PFW
PCB tool sucked big time and continually corrupted databases. (Be warned
though, I don't know if the current Altium schematic tool will work
adequately with PADs any longer. They have dropped some things like netlist
formats over the years and I don't know if the required ones for working
with PADs still exist in the package.)

--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander.

Thanks Paul and Brad. Yes, PADS 2007 still has the primitive text-
based "Reports" function under the File menu, but I was hoping for
something a lot more sophisticated than that nowadays, especially
since there are economy schematic entry programs out there that do far
more than have a text list of open pins and dangling nets. I thought
I was missing something, but I guess I'm not! (Heck, I cannot even
seem to find a way to do a basic thing like assign unused pins with an
"X" for a "Not Connected" so that they can be
ignored during the PADS' text-based "ERC").


Best Regards,

-Bill