Hidden designators or comments on PCB layout - Protel 99SE

R

Rob

Guest
I've laid out a board and have what I suspect is a hidden comment or
designator way outside the board layout. Clicking view all displays the PCB
in a small portion of the screen instead of filling the full field of view.
I've tried unhiding all and looking for whatever it is outside the board
area and also selecting all outside the board area (and then deleting
deletion) without any luck.

Any suggestions as to the problem. Thanks
rob
 
Rob,
there are several possibilities and it sounds like you have a
good idea what they could be but haven't had any luck yet.

For a comment (I assume that you are not displaying them) use
the global edit function combined with the position ("center") to
bring them all to the center of the components. Possibly make all
comments visible with a global edit first.

A designator could be done similarly but then you have to
re-arrange all your other designators afterward. Not so good but
if you have to, you have to. Also make sure that all designators
are visible with a global edit.

Another common one outside the board area is a polygon that
was moved without knowing it, like when it was not deselected and
you moved something else. This is doubly troubling when the
polygon may have the remove dead copper turned on. If it is
outside a valid net connection then the whole polygon disappears
after pouring.

Is there any possibility it is a component primitive? Did you
ever unlock component "primitives" (not the lock component)? That
can be tough as well because you may not know which component it
may belong to.

There are various selection problems with items outside your
board or in the negative quadrant areas. Not all selection
methods work, one that worked with one item may not work with
another item.

You seem to have tried using the select outside area, I have
typically not found it to work with your type of problem.
Try this, use select all (S,A) move the board and all other
items in a direction that should bring the errant item into view.
Watch the bounding box around your selection as you move it to
give you hints on which direction and how much to move. If you
bring the item into positive quadrant space then you can easily
deal with it.

If the previous methods don't prove useful try, select all
(S,A), the use deselect inside (E, E, I) and draw a bounding box
around your proper board area, be generous allow an inch or two
at least around your board or other desired items. Once the
proper board area is deselected then delete selected (Shift and
Delete).

Hopefully one of those works. As a last resort you could try
saving the file in ASCII format and edit it with some text editor
to try and find the offending object. Edit it's coordinates to
bring back to the positive quadrant at a known location.
--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander


"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:41a023f2$0$25760$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
I've laid out a board and have what I suspect is a hidden
comment or
designator way outside the board layout. Clicking view all
displays the PCB
in a small portion of the screen instead of filling the full
field of view.
I've tried unhiding all and looking for whatever it is outside
the board
area and also selecting all outside the board area (and then
deleting
deletion) without any luck.

Any suggestions as to the problem. Thanks
rob
Click to expand...
 
If its a designator or comment and in the negative space.. what your
suggesting has no effect. The best method is to select all and move the
entire design to say 10000 10000 (10 inches) from the zero zero reference
point. Then you should be able to see anything outside the area. You will,
of course, note that when you move everything, their is a box placed around
where Protel thinks its extent is.. take a good note.. one edge will have
the problem!


Simon

"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:41a023f2$0$25760$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
I've laid out a board and have what I suspect is a hidden comment or
designator way outside the board layout. Clicking view all displays the
PCB
in a small portion of the screen instead of filling the full field of
view.
I've tried unhiding all and looking for whatever it is outside the board
area and also selecting all outside the board area (and then deleting
deletion) without any luck.

Any suggestions as to the problem. Thanks
rob
Click to expand...
 
On Sun, 21 Nov 2004 13:13:50 -0800, "Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote:

I've laid out a board and have what I suspect is a hidden comment or
designator way outside the board layout. Clicking view all displays the PCB
in a small portion of the screen instead of filling the full field of view.
I've tried unhiding all and looking for whatever it is outside the board
area and also selecting all outside the board area (and then deleting
deletion) without any luck.

Any suggestions as to the problem. Thanks
rob
Click to expand...
By default, Protel 99SE creates "rooms" on th PCB for each schematic -
for a multi-sheet schematic, these rooms are laid out marching off to
the top right, and the room outline layer is turned off. This results
in a "zoom all" squeezing the PCB down to the bottom left, to leave
room for the hidden rooms.

There are a couple of check boxes at the bottom of the "Update PCB"
form that are checked by default - uncheck these to prevent rooms from
being generated, and delete the rooms in PCB.



--
Peter Bennett, VE7CEI
peterbb4 (at) interchange.ubc.ca
new newsgroup users info : http://vancouver-webpages.com/nnq
GPS and NMEA info: http://vancouver-webpages.com/peter
Vancouver Power Squadron: http://vancouver.powersquadron.ca
 
Many thanks for the reply & suggestions Brad (& Simon).

I ended up selecting the board area and pasting it into a new pcb document.
Whatever was causing the problem was left behind. My bet it was a poly that
was dragged off to the side when it was inadvertently selected. Either way I
learnt something new - your suggestion for centring the comments etc will
probably save me next time!

thanks
rob


"Brad Velander" <SpamThis@nowhere.com> wrote in message
news:06Wnd.292529$%k.196115@pd7tw2no...
Rob,
there are several possibilities and it sounds like you have a
good idea what they could be but haven't had any luck yet.

For a comment (I assume that you are not displaying them) use
the global edit function combined with the position ("center") to
bring them all to the center of the components. Possibly make all
comments visible with a global edit first.

A designator could be done similarly but then you have to
re-arrange all your other designators afterward. Not so good but
if you have to, you have to. Also make sure that all designators
are visible with a global edit.

Another common one outside the board area is a polygon that
was moved without knowing it, like when it was not deselected and
you moved something else. This is doubly troubling when the
polygon may have the remove dead copper turned on. If it is
outside a valid net connection then the whole polygon disappears
after pouring.

Is there any possibility it is a component primitive? Did you
ever unlock component "primitives" (not the lock component)? That
can be tough as well because you may not know which component it
may belong to.

There are various selection problems with items outside your
board or in the negative quadrant areas. Not all selection
methods work, one that worked with one item may not work with
another item.

You seem to have tried using the select outside area, I have
typically not found it to work with your type of problem.
Try this, use select all (S,A) move the board and all other
items in a direction that should bring the errant item into view.
Watch the bounding box around your selection as you move it to
give you hints on which direction and how much to move. If you
bring the item into positive quadrant space then you can easily
deal with it.

If the previous methods don't prove useful try, select all
(S,A), the use deselect inside (E, E, I) and draw a bounding box
around your proper board area, be generous allow an inch or two
at least around your board or other desired items. Once the
proper board area is deselected then delete selected (Shift and
Delete).

Hopefully one of those works. As a last resort you could try
saving the file in ASCII format and edit it with some text editor
to try and find the offending object. Edit it's coordinates to
bring back to the positive quadrant at a known location.
--
Sincerely,
Brad Velander


"Rob" <rdsfal@yahoo.com.au> wrote in message
news:41a023f2$0$25760$5a62ac22@per-qv1-newsreader-01.iinet.net.au...
I've laid out a board and have what I suspect is a hidden
comment or
designator way outside the board layout. Clicking view all
displays the PCB
in a small portion of the screen instead of filling the full
field of view.
I've tried unhiding all and looking for whatever it is outside
the board
area and also selecting all outside the board area (and then
deleting
deletion) without any luck.

Any suggestions as to the problem. Thanks
rob
Click to expand...
 
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