Re: New CAD design questions.

On Sun, 01 Jul 2007 12:36:07 -0400, Jamie
<jamie_ka1lpa_not_valid_after_ka1lpa_@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'm building a new Electrical/Electronic type Project CAD program
that will combine Drawings of several types, Board lay outs with foot
prints, cabinet lays and drilling templates etc.. a
This will all be in a single IDE tool with tab pages and properties
settings etc...
What I would like to know its this..
The Library database storage methods..

Create Symbol/Foot prints database as:

(1). Binary formats // Faster and more compact.

(2). Binary formats with optional Script generation.

(3). Script format all the way. // much slower to process but can be
manually edited if need be..

Would like to know what would be the best format ?

P.S.
the IDE will also include all the tools to create the symbol library.

Store it in whatever format works for you. However, being able to
convert to and from ASCII format is really nice as it allows one to
create their own library generator, perform scripted editing of the
libraries (you gotta love SED!), and create many-pin symbols with a
text editor. Xilinx is one company that supplies ASCII files of FPGA
pinouts. Allows one to make a 700-pin FPGA schematic symbol in less
than 20 minutes. GUI tools to generate symbols are fine for a few
pins, but when the pin count gets into the tens or hundreds, ASCII is
the way to go.

Look at the old DOS Orcad tools. Everything was editable in ASCII
form. Even the intermediate netlist format was ASCII which allows one
to create their own net list formatter. One guy just recently wrote a
program that generates thousands of IPC footprints to the old DOS
Orcad PCB program because Orcad PCB can import ASCII descriptions.

Your PCB and Schematic files should also be convertable to and from
ASCII format. I often find myself making changes via a text editor to
my schematics or creating multichannel schematics by editing ASCII
representations. It really saves time.

Don't forget about macros and user definable hot keys.

If your project is open source, you may be interested in joining up
with a new project that is looking into creating a schematic and PCB
program suite. The primary focus is productivity, unlike most of the
other programs out there. If you're interested, I can send you details
on joining the group.

---
Mark
.

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