Documentation

Swap Gates

3 min read

Use this to swap all connections between two equivalent gates.

Two gates are equivalent if they are in components that have the same part and are in the same swap group in the part data.

The gate swap is recorded in the Back Annotation data used for updating the corresponding schematics design.

The Back Annotation data can be viewed using the Back Annotation Report.

Shortcuts

Default Keys: None

Default Menu: Utilities

Command: Swap Gates

Locating this option

Available from: Tools menu > Technology option > Drill tab

How To Swap Gates

First select the Swap Gates option on the Utilities menu, or use one of the above mentioned shortcuts.

  1. Use the shortcut menu Swap Routed Pins option to enable or disable the swapping of gates that contain routed pins. If enabled, the track segment attached to any pad on a chosen gate will be unrouted before a swap is performed.

  2. Use the shortcut menu Attributes Must Match option to enable or disable the swapping of gates between components that have different attributes.

  3. Choose the first gate.

    Use the mouse to move the cursor over the component pads in the design. Notice that if a pad is part of a gate that can be swapped, all pins on that gate are drawn in the select colour whilst the cursor is over them. The name of the selected gate is reported on the status bar. Click on the selected gate that you wish to swap.

  4. After the first gate has been selected, all equivalent gates that can be swapped will have their pads drawn in the highlight colour.

  5. Choose the second gate.

    Move the cursor over the highlighted pads in the design. Notice that the highlighted pads on a gate are drawn in the select colour whilst the cursor is over them. The name of the selected gate to swap with is reported on the status bar. Click on the selected pad to choose the second gate for the swap.

  6. As soon as two gates are selected the connections are swapped between the corresponding pads on them and the swap is recorded in the design’s back annotation data. All gates are then de-highlighted and deselected ready for repeating step 1.

Swap Rules

The following rules restrict the swapping of component gates:

  • A gate can only be swapped if all pins have no routes attached or the Swap Routed Pins option is enabled.
  • The two gates must be on components of the same part.
  • The two gates must be in the same swap group in the part data.
  • The two gates must be on components that have the same attributes, or the Attributes Must Match option is disabled.
  • The two gates must be on components that have their corresponding ungated pins on the same nets.

If no swaps can be performed because the part’s swap data is not set up, use the Part Editor to add swap data to the part in the library, and then use Reload From Library to update the components in the design.

Swap Pins | Back Annotation | Part Edit | Reload From Library

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