3 Replies Latest reply on Aug 19, 2015 9:24 AM by Wayne

    PADs ascii output manipulation

    Wayne
    Wayne Aug 14, 2015 4:43 PM

      Hi all,

      I have a customer who wants to use the .asc file from PADs to program his pick and place machines.  No trouble, I provide this to my other CM's all the time.

      The difference is that he wants to add to the ascii file a specific (his own) part number to the file as well as the manufacturer's part number.

       

      So I would need to take the ascii file and be able to manipulate it to add in two columns from an excel spreadsheet.  (the BOM with the two numbers.)  The upside is that the two fields I'd like to add external information to are part of the file already - the PartName and the Description field.

       

      I don't see where I can access the files that produce the ascii file to be able to add in these two things.  I've done some looking in the forums here and don't see anything that looks relevant to this.

       

      I'm using Orcad for the schematic capture tool and PADs for the layout tool.

       

      Any help and pointing in the right direction would be really appreciated.

      Thanks,Wayne.

        • 1. Re: PADs ascii output manipulation
          Pete
          Pete Aug 17, 2015 7:09 AM (in response to Wayne)

          Don't bother with manipulating ASCII files for this.  In the Tools menu, Basic Scripts>Basic Scripts, launch the PADS Layout Script Wizard, and create a custom report.  Either add an attribute to your parts in PADS and add the attribute to your report,  or edit the resulting spreadsheet.

           

          Pete

          • 2. Re: PADs ascii output manipulation
            jim.granville
            jim.granville Aug 18, 2015 4:12 PM (in response to Wayne)

            The upside is that the two fields I'd like to add external information to are part of the file already - the PartName and the Description field.

             

            I don't see where I can access the files that produce the ascii file to be able to add in these two things.  I've done some looking in the forums here and don't see anything that looks relevant to this.

            As Pete mentioned above, there are easier pathways.

            Search for Attributes.Add in the help, and there is also a ECO pathway that uses *DEL_ATTRIBUTE* and *SET_ATTRIBUTE*.

             

            If you really want to work on the ASCII file, life is a little easier if those fields are already there.

            You need to find the RefDes, then scan ahead to the AttrName match, and insert the new value, doing this for every part.

             

            If the customer does not have PADS, and wants to control this information themselves, then the ECO pathway may be best.

            You send them a BOM, and they send back a ECO ASCII file that you apply to tag new numbers. You can repeat the BOM for them to verify.

            • 3. Re: PADs ascii output manipulation
              Wayne
              Wayne Aug 19, 2015 9:24 AM (in response to jim.granville)

              Thanks to you both.

              I have pursued using a script and my customer now appears to be happy with the results.

              Thanks for the feedback.

              Wayne.