Using DesignWorks Professional with WinBoard
Purpose of This Note
This note describes how to use DesignWorks Professional for Windows in conjunction with the WinBoard PCB layout system from Ivex Design.
| This note applies to: | Windows | Macintosh |
| DesignWorks Professional | 3.3+ | N/A |
| DesignWorks Lite | N/A | N/A |
| LogicWorks | N/A | N/A |
| Notes: N/A - not applicable to this version. "3.0 +" indicates version 3.0 and later. Since this note may apply to multiple versions and platforms, there may be some variation in exact configuration of menu commands and screen layouts from that shown in this note, but the same principles apply. | ||
WinBoard Design Kit
The first step in using DesignWorks to create designs for WinBoard is to download the WinBoard Design Kit so that you have the latest netlist generater and samples. Due to some changes in netlist formats, the netlist generator provided with DesignWorks Professional 3.3 will not work exactly as provided with the current version of WinBoard. To install the design kit, just unzip the files provided into any convenient location, such as the DesignWorks 3.3 program folder.
Files in the Design Kit
The design kit contains these files:
 | ReadMe.txt - brief documentation on using DesignWorks and WinBoard |
| WinBoard Example.cct - a sample circuit to export to WinBoard |
| WinBoard Template.cct - an empty circuit to use as a starting point |
| WB Error Check.rfm - a report script to check for probable errors |
| WB Netlist.rfm - a report script to generate the WinBoard netlist format |
Creating a Design for use with WinBoard
The best way to start creating a design for WinBoard is to open the file WinBoard Template.cct provided and then save it under your own name. This file predefines that attribute fields and other settings that are appropriate for this type of design.
IMPORTANT NOTES:
Hierarchy Mode - We do not recommend using hierarchical schematics in conjunction with WinBoard due to name length limitations and other complications. If you really want to create a hierarchical design, you will need use Physical Hierarchy mode in DesignWorks and modify the netlist script provided to generate a flattened netlist. Try a small sample first and make sure you get the results you expect!
Package codes - Netlists will transfer from DesignWorks to WinBoard much more easily if you specify the package code in the schematic.
WinBoard requires the package code (it calls it "module name") AND the name of the library the module can be found in. This information can be placed in the WB_Package attribute field of each device using the format packageCode,libName, as in this example:
RC05,RESISTOR.LIB
See the example file provided for other samples. To view the value of this field on any device, right-click on the symbol in the schematic, select the Attributes command, and click on the WB_Package field.
If the attribute WB_Package has not been specified in a device, then the Package field is checked. If it contains a value, it is assumed to be one of the codes used in the standard DesignWorks libraries and it is converted to a WinBoard package code using a table hardwired in the netlister.
Layer and Group Codes - You can optionally specify Layer (side) and Group codes in each device. These can be placed in the WB_Side and WB_Group attribute fields respectively. The default values are C and GR1.
Other Information
See the File | New Netlist command in the WinBoard documentation for more information
on importing netlists.
