I wonder if we should come up with an attribute for the symbols for
large parts that says "this is symbol M of of an N-symbol multi-symbol
component". Then you could have the drc2 backend verify that you've
instantiated all of the pieces of your particular chip in the schematic.
Avoids embarrassing things like forgetting to instantiate the symbol
with all the power pins.
-Dan
That would be interesting. But you don't really want it on
say the 4th gate of a quad op amp...
Or maybe you do - makes you put it on the spares corner.
Personally my most effective check on complex boards is by reading
a reformatted version of the netlist - a list of nets and loads
connected to each pin, sorted by chip then pin number.
For me, that _always_ finds some errors.
Perhaps thinking more widely on DRC attributes for programmable parts
could have benefits also.
I personally don't find DRC particularly useful for programmable parts,
as for every pin even the obvious things like in/out/bidi get instance
specific, and its always too much work to assign them all. And maybe
rename every IO signal in a way that does not break the ball mapping.
Would an attribute along the lines of - this pin really should be
connected to _something_ be useful? Still seems like so many
exceptions the rule would be just switched off.
john
