Orcad to PCB123 conversion:

[Bryan]

Using the PCB123 wizard is easy. But how do I format the Orcad netlist? What orcad property will correlate to the PCB123 part? What orcad property will correlate to the PCB123 footprint? The foot print selection is based on the part property "PCB footprint" in Orcad Capture. If the PCB footprint is found (exact match) in the library, that part is just added to the layout automatically, and will not appear in the selector. If the PCB footprint is not found, the part selector uses the PCB foot print as the "search string". Orcad setup: Select the project. Tools/create netlist/Other/tango.dll seems to work OK. Netlist output path: C:/Documents and Settings/All Users/Application Data/Pcb123/designs (default import path for PCB123) The netlist will have two parts. The first part will be a listing of components, separated by brackets [] . The second part will have the netlist information, separated by parentheses ().

For more information and support for PCB123 please visit our Printed Circuit Layout Tutorials

[Sal Hernandez]

The top section of your netlist will have a format similar to the entry shown below.

[
u1 /reference designator
SFH6916 /This shows up in search field for footprint selection
ANALOG_RU-16_TSSOP_16 /Symbol (Part Type)
]

Since the part number in my netlist is not available in our library I can change the search criteria to select another part. If the part numberis found the selection is made automatically and you proceedto the next entry in the netlist.

I did a little searching and was able to locate a document showing the Property Editor for Orcad Symbols. The property that PCB123 will use to locate a footprint is the PCB Footprint property. The Orcad property that correlates to the PCB123 part is not as easily identified from the document that I found. It looks like it is the Soure Package or Source Partproperty.