Trace lock and re-optimization

Am 06.09.2011 23:42, schrieb Andrew Sterian:

It would be nice to be able to lock traces the way components are

locked.

Yes, please! (see also my post from 2010-07-19)

Some additional wild thoughts on that subject:

  1. Locked/unlocked parts can easily be distinguished by their

     diagonal vertical handles. Other objects should stay as they

     are now if unlocked. If locked, I'm not really sure how to

     display that:

      - Vias COULD get a diagonal cross if locked.

      - Wires, polygons etc. COULD get diagonal crosses at each

        ent point if locked.

      - Or one just does NOT show the 'locked' status at all

        (because screen display could get quite messy)

  2. At the moment, grouping some area and moving it only a bit

     MIGHT result in DRC errors: If the user doesn't know that

     the group contains locked objects, everything else is moved,

     the locked objects aren't, and the resulting mess might not

     be so bad as to be seen immediately.

  3. Other programs don't show the lock status at all, BUT warn

     the user when changing the board: 'This group contains

     locked objects. Do you want to proceed with moving?' If the

     user selects YES, the board might be messed up due to some

     objects moving and others staying, but at least the user

     was warned that things might happen. Selecting NO aborts

     the moving.

  4. At least the following behaviour is possible when trying

     to move (or otherwise change) locked objects:

      - Notify the user ('You must first unlock the objects')

        and do nothing.

      - Notify the user ('Locked objects will not be processed')

        and proceed only with the unlocked objects.

      - Notify the user ('Even locked objects will be processed')

        and proceed with the action as if the objects were

        NOT locked.

      - Ask the user what to do ('Locked objects: Process them,

        Ignore them, Cancel').

I don't really care WHICH of the above would be implemented (they all

have advantages and disadvantages), but being able to lock ALL object

types and being notified if things might go wrong would be just spiffing...

Andreas Weidner

"Andrew Sterian" <a.sterian@emsyde.com> wrote in message

news:j4644n$dlo$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

It would be nice to be able to lock traces the way components are locked.

This would allow experimenting with routing on one part of the board,

issuing a global 'ripup' command, without worrying about ripping up

existing traces.

 

If this feature is implemented it would also allow for another feature

I've always wanted: re-optimization. Imagine running Autoroute but without

the routing pass. That is, only the optimization passes are run. This

would be very helpful to clean up a manual routing job.

 

In re-optimization, any trace that is not locked is fair game for the

autorouter to re-route according to existing costs (without changing the

connectivity). Of course, locked traces remain untouched.

 

Andrew.

+1

Andrew Sterian wrote on Tue, 06 September 2011 17:42

It would be nice to be able to lock traces the way components are

locked. This would allow experimenting with routing on one part of the

 

board, issuing a global 'ripup' command, without worrying about ripping

 

up existing traces.

 

If this feature is implemented it would also allow for another feature

 

I've always wanted: re-optimization. Imagine running Autoroute but

without the routing pass. That is, only the optimization passes are

run.

This would be very helpful to clean up a manual routing job.

 

In re-optimization, any trace that is not locked is fair game for the

autorouter to re-route according to existing costs (without changing

the

connectivity). Of course, locked traces remain untouched.

I agree Andrew, this could be useful.  Even if just to protect a highly

optimised section of the layout (like a power supply for instance).

Cheers,

James.

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