Power Port

The Power Port dialog.

Summary

This dialog allows the designer to specify the properties of a Power Port object. A power port is an electrical design primitive. It is a special schematic object used to define a power or ground net. Power ports allow the designer to conveniently indicate a power net at any location in the design, which can then be connected to pins or wires.

Access

The Power Port dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the power port object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent power ports.

During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

• Double-clicking on the placed power port object.
• Placing the cursor over the power port object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
• Using the Edit » Change command and clicking once over the placed power port object.

Options/Controls

• Color - click the color sample to change the color of the power port's graphic and associated net text, using the standard Choose Color dialog.
• Style - this field specifies the graphical style of the power object. Available styles are: Circle, Arrow, Bar, Wave, Power Ground, Signal Ground, Earth, GOST Arrow, GOST Power Ground, GOST Earth, and GOST Bar.

• Location X/Y - the current X (horizontal) and Y (vertical) coordinates for the connection point of the power port (its electical hotspot). Edit these values to change the position of the power port in the horizontal and/or vertical planes respectively.
• Orientation - specify the orientation of the power port, counter-clockwise in relation to the horizontal. Options available are: 0 degrees, 90 degrees, 180 degrees, 270 degrees.

Properties

• Net - use this field to specify the name of the power net to which the power port is to connect.
• Show Net Name - use this option to control whether the name of the power net associated to the power port is displayed (enabled) or hidden (disabled).
• Locked - enable this option to protect the power port from being edited graphically.

• Font - this control serves two purposes. Firstly, it reflects the currently chosen font – applied to the text for the associated net name - in terms of Font Name, Font Size and Font Style. Secondly, when clicked it provides access to the standard Font dialog, from where to change the font as required.