Tips & Tricks – Allegro PCB Editor-16.3

Table of Contents
Allegro Tips and Tricks - SPB 16.3........................................................................................................ 4
Reducing Mouse Clicks & Travel ......................................................................................................... 4
Snap a Rat T to a Pin/Via....................................................................................................................... 6
Alias commands to the Middle Mouse Wheel....................................................................................... 7
Replacing Padstacks by window selection ............................................................................................ 7
Changing Net Names on Vias................................................................................................................ 7
Polygon selection window..................................................................................................................... 7
Z-Copy – a powerful utility ................................................................................................................... 7
Fix/Unfix Elements in the Design ......................................................................................................... 8
Datatip Options .................................................................................................................................... 10
Status Form traffic lights ..................................................................................................................... 11
“Go to” X,Y Location.......................................................................................................................... 11
Disabling Custom Color Assignments................................................................................................. 12
Color Dialog – Open last folder used .................................................................................................. 12
Display a Layer .................................................................................................................................... 13
Invoking Allegro in No OpenGL mode............................................................................................... 13
Display of Properties in the Canvas..................................................................................................... 14
Suppress Pin-Pin Violations within the same symbol ......................................................................... 15
Creating a Command Shortcut with Scriptmode +e ............................................................................ 16
Scriptmode +i....................................................................................................................................... 17
DFA Dynamics – Controlling spacing bubble resistance.................................................................... 17
“Locked” property ............................................................................................................................... 17
Shape has “No Etch” Status – find it ................................................................................................... 17
Voiding of GND clines through GND Plane ....................................................................................... 18
How to convert non acute angles for shapes to round corners?........................................................... 18
HTML Reports..................................................................................................................................... 18
Control P “Print form”......................................................................................................................... 19
Adding Text (from a file)..................................................................................................................... 20
Method to renumber all ref des from a starting number ...................................................................... 20
Why does the system react slowly when moving a comp?.................................................................. 20
Why does DRC Update take hours to run?.......................................................................................... 21
Is my Database Optimized for Performance? ...................................................................................... 21
Read Only Variables............................................................................................................................ 21
BBVIA GAP DRC reporting too many DRCs .................................................................................... 23
Same Net DRCs not being generated?................................................................................................. 24
Working with Xnets............................................................................................................................. 24
Diff Pair Gathering .............................................................................................................................. 25
Route a Tandem Diff Pair .................................................................................................................... 26
Display Length Meter for non constrained nets................................................................................... 26
Constraint Manager.............................................................................................................................. 27
Constraint Resolution .......................................................................................................................... 29
Assign pins of dummy nets to Net Classes.......................................................................................... 30
Preventing Shorts................................................................................................................................. 30
Suppress SIGNOISE Warnings and Error messages........................................................................... 31
Write vs Save ....................................................................................................................................... 31
Autosave the Database......................................................................................................................... 31
Reopen command ................................................................................................................................ 32
Tips & Tricks – Allegro PCB Editor
June 2012 3 Product Revision 16.3
File Management (artwork, plots, log files, reports) ........................................................................... 32
Open File Manager from Allegro ........................................................................................................ 32
Looking for a particular pad stack based on holesize? ........................................................................ 32
Testability – Multiple Probe-Type Support ......................................................................................... 33
Drill Legend Support for INCHES and METRIC ............................................................................... 33
Uprev Symbols .................................................................................................................................... 34
Troubleshooting – Running Allegro in Safe Mode ............................................................................. 35
Tips from Allegro PCB Users.............................................................................................................. 35
Windows 7 – Graphic issues................................................................................................................ 36
Tips & Tricks
Allegro PCB Editor
April 2011

Ed Hickey
Product Engineer
Cadence Design Systems
 Tips & Tricks