What's New in CADSTAR 9.0
Major
Enhancements...
Enhanced
Back Annotation
Back annotation has been enhanced to work directly with a PCB design.
Plated and Non-Plated
Through-Hole Identification
Differentiate between plated & non-plated drill holes in drill drawings.
Report Generator
- For Each Part
Allow "For Each Part" loops in report generator.
GUI
Enhancements...
Part
Information in Item Properties
Component/Symbol Item Properties now displays additional Part information,
if available.
Assist Diagrams
Assist diagrams are displayed on various dialogs to assist new users.
Route Widths
Dialog
Changes have been made to the route widths dialog to improve its ease of
use.
Shapes Toolbar
A combo box has been added to the Shapes Toolbar for quick selection of
a shape type.
Spacing Classes
Dialog
Changes have been made to the Spacing Classes dialog to improve ease of
use.
Attribute
Editor Dialog
Support has been added for customising the display of attributes in the
attribute editor.
Shape Defaults Dialog
Settings for different shape types are now remembered to improve ease of
use.
Other
CADSTAR Enhancements...
General
Gate and Pin Swaps
on High Speed Nets
Gate and Pin Swaps are now possible on High Speed nets.
Batch Process
Summary
A results summary has been added to the top of the batch process report.
E-Nets & Default
Net Names
Support has been added for user-defined default net names.
Pin Flash after
Attribute Addition
Pins will now flash briefly after an attribute is added.
New Install
Features
It is now possible to define which User files are installed with CADSTAR.
OLE Classes
Extended
New methods to support new functionality.
Pad
Number Alignment
Support has been added for specifying the alignment of pad number text.
Library
Paths in Reports
Support has been added for generating the Symbol, Component and Part Library
paths in the Report Generator.
Select by Attribute/Value
The Select Tool has been enhanced to allow selecting by attribute or value.
Report Generator
- Line Wrap
It is now possible to specify the horizontal indent for wrapped lines.
PCB Design
Extended Excellon
Support
Support for Extended Excellon format has been added.
User-Defined File
Extensions
Support has been added for using user-defined extensions for post process
output files.
Library
Editor
Part Attribute
Hyperlinks
Hyperlinks defined as part attributes can now be accessed in Design Editor
using a right-hand mouse menu.
Design Viewer
Variant
Toolbar
A Variant toolbar has been added to work in the same manner as in Design
Editor.
Other
P.R.Editor Enhancements
P.R.Editor
XR
T-In & T-Out
Enables easy modification of trunks.
Stop & Restart
Tool
Allows trunk routing to be stopped and resumed from another position.
Trunk
Via Patterns
Enhancements have been made to Trunk Via Patterns.
Trunk End
Router
The Trunk End Router has been improved.
Pin Swap
It is now possible to perform Pin Swaps within P.R.Editor and retain the
information when returning to Design Editor.
Springback on
Trunks
The Springback tool has been enhanced to work correctly with Trunks.
Attributes Dialog
The Attributes dialog has been altered to make it easier to update Attributes.
Miscellaneous Improvements
Inclusive
Selection. Clear
Template function. Review
'Ask Me Again'.
P.R.Editor
XR HS / SI Verify
Use of coating
layers in field solutions.
Add new MLR file to allow field solver to take into account coating (e.g.
solder resist) layers.
Display
of transmission lines in Scenario Editor
Changes to Scenario Editor to view the layer numbers of transmission lines
on the canvas.
Changes to display transmission lines from different layers in different
colours.
Remote Select
The Scenario Editor
has new Tools, Remote Select option. In the Constraint
Manager, the Remote Select tool will now highlight items in the Scenario
Editor and Topology Viewer.
Support for
complex via modeling has been added:
New
options have been added to the General tab of the Options dialog in
Constraint Manager. A description of
how they are extracted from the physical data has been added in the new
Via modeling section. A symbol for a complex
via has been added to the Add Symbol dialog in Scenario Editor, allowing
you to add complex vias to the canvas. Complex vias have
a Nominal Values dialog that can be used to view and modify their characteristics.
Support for
n-port models, which allow the user to associate arbitrary passive networks
to components:
You can define n-port
models in the simulation library and assign them to parts and components
in the design, as described in the N-port devices section in the Constraint
Manager chapter. An n-port symbol
has been added to the Add Symbol dialog in Scenario Editor, allowing you
to add n-port devices to the canvas. You can view and
set information for an n-port model using the Model Information option
in Scenario Editor.
Loss tangent
and resistivity:
The loss tangent
of dielectric materials is now used when running a field solution. Values
can be viewed/modified in the PREditor attribute editor. The resistivity of
conductor materials is now used when running a field solution.
Material
usage in configurations:
For a configuration
that has been extracted from the physical data, the names of the conductor
and dielectric materials are now displayed in the Configuration Editor. When changing the
material for a conductor or a dielectric in the Configuration Editor,
the drop-down list will now contain materials from the design as well
as materials from the materials.dat file.
SI Simulation
Simulation
Library Manager
New Import SPICE
menu option on File menu. New N-Port Editor
to allow definition of n-port devices. Support for the definition
of Circuit Models. | 
