Nets

The number of nets in your design are noted next to the "Net" heading, in parentheses. To see a list of all nets in your design, click on the plus box next to the Nets heading. The Nets area expands to show all nets, by number.

Tip: To save processing time when you generate a netlist, the Nets list in the Navigator is not populated until you first attempt to access it.

To generate a netlist

1. Right-click on the Nets heading, and a shortcut menu appears.

2. Select the Generate command. The Netlist Generation dialog box appears.

3. Select the desired options and click OK to generate the netlist. After the netlist is generated, all nets are listed under the Nets heading.

To clear an existing netlist

1. Right-click on the Nets heading, and a shortcut menu appears.

2. Select the Clear Existing Netlist command. You are asked to confirm if you want to clear the netlist; doing so can not be undone by selecting the Undo command afterwards.

To query net information

• Double-click on a net name. The Query Net dialog box appears, with detailed information about the selected net.

To highlight a net in the workspace

• Right-click on a net name, and select Highlight from the shortcut menu.

To view/highlight end points in a net

1. Click on the plus box next to the desired net name. A detailed list appears, with the layer number, X and Y coordinates, and User Data for each point. If you have non-contiguous lines in your net, the same coordinates may be listed several times. If you do not have User Data assigned to the net, two successive quotation marks appear next to the X:Y coordinates.

2. To highlight an end point, right-click on the desired coordinates, and select the Highlight command from the shortcut menu. The workspace zooms to the desired coordinates, and the end point is highlighted.

To highlight items not part of a net

In the Navigator, net "None" is a collection of database items that are not part of any net.

1. Right-click on the Nets heading, and a shortcut menu appears.

2. Select the Highlight Net <None> command.

-or-

• Under the Nets heading, all the existing nets are listed alphanumerically by name. The item in the list, however, is "<None>". Right-click on <None>, and select the Highlight command from the shortcut menu.

To change a net name

1. Right-click on a net name, and a shortcut menu appears.

2. Select the Rename command. A box appears around the text, indicating it can be edited.

3. Type in the new name, and press the Enter key.

To apply external net names

After you have performed a Netlist Comparison, and have corrected any errors, you can use the Apply External Net Names command to apply the net names from the IPC-D-356 netlist to the GerbTool netlist information. The most important purpose for this is that, when you view the net information in the Navigator or query a net, you will see the net name rather than the arbitrary GerbTool net number. If you save your data as a .gtd file, the netlist information is saved as well, so you will no longer need to refer to the external netlist file when viewing your data.

1. Right-click on the Nets heading, and a shortcut menu appears.

2. Select the Apply External Net Names command. The external net names are immediately applied to the nets.

To change the User Data for a net

1. Click on the plus box next to the desired net coordinates. If there is no User Data assigned to a net, "UD<blank>" appears.

2. Right-click on the User Data, and a shortcut menu appears.

3. Select the Edit command. A box appears around the text, indicating it can be edited.

4. Type in the new User Data, and press the Enter key. The user data now also appears next to the net coordinates.