Buses and hierarchical sheets

Drawing Schematics, Hierarchical Design, BOM, Exporting net-lists, etc.
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biziosan
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Joined: 07 Nov 2015, 17:25

Buses and hierarchical sheets

#1 Post by biziosan » 07 Nov 2015, 17:35

I am pretty new to DipTrace. Is there a way to use buses in hierarchical sheets? The last reference to buses in multiple sheets in this forum is from 2012. Hierarchy connectors don't seem to accept a bus connection.

A workaround I found is to use bus connectors. However, they do not show up in the hierarchical block. The alternative would be to use multi-sheets designs without the hierarchy.

Thank you for your help!

Techno Tronix
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Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#2 Post by Techno Tronix » 09 Nov 2015, 23:38

On the lower-level schematic: create a bus with the relevant signals. Connect it to a hierarchical label (on the right-hand toolbar, the letter "A" with a yellow port symbol), which gives it a label which can be seen on the instantiating sheet.

biziosan
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Joined: 07 Nov 2015, 17:25

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#3 Post by biziosan » 10 Nov 2015, 01:08

Hi,

thanks for the reply. The "hierarchical label" part is what I am probably missing. I don't see any right-hand toolbar. I believe I have all the toolbars enabled. Are your talking about a "Place Hierarchy Connector" button?

If I add a hierarchy connector, I cannot connect it to a bus.

Tomg
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Joined: 20 Jun 2015, 07:39

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#4 Post by Tomg » 10 Nov 2015, 10:33

I think "Techno Tronix" was talking about the Bus connector illustrated below.

Experiment-I
1) On the hierarchical sheet I created a bus containing many Nets and named it BUS_NET.
2) Then I attached a bus connector to it and gave it the same name.
3) Dropped another bus connector on the hierarchical sheet and gave it the same name, also.
4) Attached another bus line to the second bus connector and gave it the same name.
Observations-I
* Both bus connectors formed rectangles around their labels and displayed green dots as expected.
* Both buses contained identical Nets as expected.

Experiment-II
5) Dropped a bus connector on the main sheet with an identical name.
6) Attached a bus line to it and gave it the same name.
Observations-II
* Bus connector did not form a rectangle around its label and green dot was not displayed.
* Bus did not contain any Nets.

Experiment-III
7) Dropped another bus connector on the main sheet and gave it the same name, also.
8) Attached another bus line to the second bus connector on the main sheet and gave it the same name.
Observations-III
* Both bus connectors formed rectangles around their labels and displayed green dots as expected.
* The main sheet buses had no Nets. They were connected to each other, but not to the identically-named buses on the hierarchical sheet.

Is there something else that needs to be done for this to work?
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biziosan
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Joined: 07 Nov 2015, 17:25

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#5 Post by biziosan » 11 Nov 2015, 00:32

I learned that the type of sheet makes the difference:

The result of your observations in experiment 1 happens only if both sheets are of type "Normal" (as opposed to "Hierarchy block"). If the sheets are both normal the context of the bus name is the same and you can see the same signals. On the other hand, the sheet in "Hierarchy block" mode creates a new context so that the buses are not the same.

My conclusion is that bus connectors cannot be used with hierarchy blocks, but only with multi-sheet schematics.

I agree with the design choice in DipTrace (if my understanding is correct and there is no bug here :) ). Creating a bus connector in a hierarchy block is like using global variables in C++ :) If that is the case though, there is a missing functionality: Buses ports out of hierarchy blocks.

I believe that this should be elevated to a bug/enhancement.

Fab

Alex
Technical Support
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Joined: 13 Jun 2010, 23:43

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#6 Post by Alex » 19 Nov 2015, 19:53

Buses and bus connectors can be used on hierarchical sheet but there is no way to out buses from hierarchical sheet through hierarchcial pins. They (hierarchical pins) can be used for nets only. For example, if a bus on hierarchical sheet contains 10 nets and all of them should be transfered to main sheet, 10 hierarchical pins should be added on hierarchical sheet, i.e. one pin for one net.

jyl
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Joined: 02 Jul 2015, 22:02

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#7 Post by jyl » 11 Aug 2016, 04:25

This would be a great enhancement if a "Bus Hierarchy Connector" exists!!!
This is so painful to transfer a bus, net by net, from one hierarchy block to another.

JYL

Alex
Technical Support
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Joined: 13 Jun 2010, 23:43

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#8 Post by Alex » 12 Aug 2016, 01:49

We will consider a "Bus Hierarchy Connector" for future versions. It would solve many problems with imports but we need to integrate the feature in many existing functions.

jyl
Posts: 6
Joined: 02 Jul 2015, 22:02

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#9 Post by jyl » 31 Oct 2018, 04:39

Any update on this...
I'm currently designing a new project with a bus holding more than hundred nets from an FPGA: No way to place all components on the same sheet, not really in a mood to place hundreds of hierarchical connectors on each sheet...
Thanks
JYL

Alex
Technical Support
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Joined: 13 Jun 2010, 23:43

Re: Buses and hierarchical sheets

#10 Post by Alex » 01 Nov 2018, 03:23

No updates so far. But we understand the importance of the feature and will add it in future.

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