Protel DXP PCB drag selection Question

[Johann Glaser]

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

 

[Simon Peacock]

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

 

[Johann Glaser]

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

 

[Brad Velander]

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.

 

[Simon Peacock]

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