Migration from Netlist based design to Central library based is proving to be impossible , mostly because of the packager related errors.
Starting from square one, dancing around the issues would be easy BUT!!!!
I have a very large database of symbols , in both dxdesigner and pads that is linked by a dxdatabook tables of more that 3000 parts.
I used the Central Library Migrator to create the central library, there were a lot of warning and some errors. I assumed I would be able to work around them.
This is where my problems start,
I took a completed and in production design created in netlist flow and converted it to Integrated.
It is just one giant bucket of errors. though all the data needed is there and good.
The biggest problems is the "PART" area,its associations and the need foboth symbol and decal to be correctly associated.
many parts are not associated to symbols. simply because the "GATE" and "CAE DECAL" are missing, wrong or incomplete in pads.
Most of out part database does not have or need this info , and the schematic goes forward and backwards fine without it in netlist flow.
Because the Packager insists on validating this info, and in a certain set of cases, it is impossible to set it correctly.
problem 1: some of our symbols , use ".1,.2,.3,.4" ' still very selectable in dx designer part and still works in integrated mode for part selection.
,cannot be import into central library because there are no extension , schematic entry still works, packager fails and cannot be made to work, no extensions on symbol names importable, so only the ".1 "version will ever exist in the central part library.
problem 2: I have some duplicate and identical symbols {not on purpose} in two or more partitions ,
schematic entry still works, packager fails and cannot be made to work. no partition info in part name so it cannot set symbol from correct partition. works if lucky , else never works ,
problem3: MUST have a "cae decal" defined, does not do anything I can see that is useful, but cannot be possibly be set right if problem 1 or 2 applies .
problem4: MUST have a Gate and correct pin names, does not do anything I can see that is useful, can be a massive manual editing job on large I.C. and cannot be set right if problem 1 or 2 applies .
Most of the migration process left symbols and decal association unset because of the previous problems. we are talking like way more than 1/2 of my database is not usable .....
Most of the problems are based on rules and input that applies to pads schematic entry and has no bearing on dxdesigner.
as a matter of fact my base Pads library has NO schematic decals at all, but all of the packager test against this hierarchy which is not compatible to dxdesigner in many cases.
Remember this is a design that was fully forward and back annotated and built using netlist flow but I cannot get past packager forward without a lot of errors ,
all the errors are rooted in the packager verifying that PADS schematic symbols as correct for the part, and schematic symbols are not really relevant to layout, but it keeps me from going to layout.
simple question , can I turn off the packagers check of the schematic symbol to part db integrity????