Confirm Channel Format Copy

Created: November 15, 2018 | Updated: May 04, 2021 | Applies to versions: 19.0, 19.1, 20.0, 20.1 and 20.2

Now reading version 19. For the latest, read: Confirm Channel Format Copy for version 21

The Confirm Channel Format Copy dialog
The Confirm Channel Format Copy dialog

Summary

The Confirm Channel Format Copy dialog allows the designer to configure options when copying a Room format. Format copying can be applied from the chosen Source Room to the chosen Destination Room, or from the Source Room to each of the rooms in the detected Channel Class.

► Learn more about the Room Definition design rule

► Learn more about multi-channel design

To copy a room format and apply it to other rooms, the applicable Room Definition design rules must be enabled. If you get component matching or channel offset errors when you run the Copy Room Formats command then you might have one or more of the required Room Definition design rules disabled in the PCB Rules and Constraints Editor.

Access

The Confirm Channel Format Copy dialog can be accessed from the PCB editor by performing the following steps:

Choose Design » Rooms » Copy Room Formats from the main menus.
Select the source room.
Select the destination room.

The Status bar displays information about the current step.

Options/Controls

Rooms

Source Room - This field contains the name of the source room (representing the channel from the schematic), whose component placement and routing will be copied.
Destination Room - This field contains the name of the destination room (representing the channel from the schematic), that the copied placement and routing will be applied to.

If the project is a multi-channel design and the source and destination channels are members of the same Channel Class, then format copying will be applied to the channels enabled in the Channel Class region of the dialog.

Options

Copy Component Placement - Enable this option to copy the component placement of the source room to the designated room.
Copy Component Text Formats - Enable this option to copy the designator and comment format of the source room to the designated room.
Copy Routed Nets - Enable this option to copy the routing layout (routed nets) of the source room to the designated room.
Copy Room Size/Shape - Enable this option to copy the source room shape and apply this shape to the designated room.
Copy Selected Objects Only - Enable this option to copy the formatting of selected objects of the source room to the designated room.

The source channel (room) and the designated channel (room) must belong to the same channel class if you want to copy the formatting of a source channel (room) to other channels (rooms).

Touching Objects Options

Copy All Objects Touching the Room - Check this option to copy objects touching the room.
Exclude NoNet Objects - Check this option and objects without nets will not be copied.

Fully Enclosed Only/Enclosed & Touching

Fully Enclosed Objects Only - Check this option to copy fully enclosed objects only.
Enclosed & Touching Objects - Check this option to copy both enclosed and touching objects.

Channel to Channel Component Matching

Choose one of the following options to determine how the same component is identified within each channel:

Match Components by Channel Offsets - each component in a repeated channel is assigned a channel offset during design transfer to the PCB editor, use this to identify the same component in each channel.
Match Components by Source Designator - use the designator to identify the matching components in each channel.

Each channel (room) has a number of components and they each have a unique offset value within that channel.

Remove Affected Connections

Choose one of the following three options to remove affected connections after the channel format copy has been processed:

Whole connections - The affected connections within and outside the room are removed.
Touching parts of connections only - The affected connections touching the room are removed.
Contained parts of connections only - The affected connections within the room are removed.

Channel Class

When a multi-channel design is transferred from schematic to PCB, the repeated circuitry (channels) are identified as a Channel Class in the PCB editor's Object Class Explorer dialog. It is this Channel Class that is then used to identify which channels the format copying is to be applied to - in the image at the start of this page it will be all channels in the OutputChannel Channel Class (as shown at the top right of the dialog).

Channel Class - Displays the name of the Channel Class that the channel members belong to. This field is not editable.
Channel Members - This list contains the channels, each identified by its room name. If the source room is part of a defined channel class, the class and all of its members will be listed. The layer (side of board that the room has been placed on), and number of components in each channel, is displayed. Each channel includes a checkbox used to control if format copying is to be applied to that channel, the checkbox becomes accessible if the Apply To Specified Channel option is enabled.
Apply To Specified Channel - The default behavior is to copy the format from the Source Room to all channels in the Channel Class that the source room (channel) is a member of. When this option is enabled the Copy checkbox for each channel becomes available, giving selective control over which channels in the class will be targetted by the format copy action.

If the Channel Class region of the dialog is empty, check that the Channel Class is correctly defined in the Object Class Explorer dialog (Design » Classes). If there is no Channel Class identified, the copy command is only applied from the Source Room to the Designation Room.

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