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Parent page: Schematic Objects
Wires are used to create electrical connectivity in a schematic.
A wire is a polyline electrical design primitive that is used to form electrical connections between points on a schematic. It is analogous to a physical wire.
Wires are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only in the following ways:
After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter wire placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:
When placing a wire, there are three 'manual' placement modes, two of which have Start and End sub-modes. The mode specifies how corners are created when placing wires and the angles at which wires can be placed. During placement:
Schematics have a definable electrical grid that makes it easy to define electrical connections between objects. As you are placing a wire, when the wire falls within the electrical grid range of another electrical object, the cursor will snap to the fixed object and a Hot Spot (blue cross) will appear.
The Hot Spot guides you to where a valid connection can be made and automatically snaps the cursor to electrical connection points.
The electrical grid can be defined on the General tab of the Properties panel in Document Options mode. It is recommended that you set the electrical grid to be slightly smaller than the current snap grid or it can become difficult to position electrical objects one snap grid apart.
This method of editing allows you to select a placed wire object directly in the workspace and change its size and/or shape graphically.
When a wire object is selected, the following editing handles are available:
A selected Wire ready for graphical editing.
nth
vertex selected ready for editing.Depending on the affected wiring, performing a drag operation may result in the creation of auto-junctions at new locations. To provide visual feedback on where these new junction instances will be, hotspots are used. Enable the use of these hotspots and their color for wires and buses in the Auto-Junctions region on the Schematic - Compiler page of the Preferences dialog.
With the wire selected, click on a segment to individually select that segment. This wire 'sub-selection' is distinguished by the associated editing handles becoming red in color.
Individual segment sub-selection.
The associated vertices for the segment can then be edited directly using the SCH List panel panel with any changes appearing immediately on the schematic.
You also can perform removal of selected wire segments with the tap of the Delete key. You can delete multiple segments across different wires - ensure that each is selected (Shift+click twice on each subsequent segment to include it in the overall segment selection). Auto-junctions are also accounted for - allowing you to remove a segment of a wire up to that junction only (and including that junction if only two other wire segments would otherwise remain connected to it).
The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:
Properties page: Wire Properties
This method of editing uses the associated Wire dialog and the Properties panel mode to modify the properties of a wire.
The Wire dialog, on the left, and the Wire mode of the Properties panel on the right
After placement, the Wire dialog can be accessed by:
During placement, the Wire mode of the Properties panel can be accessed by pressing the Tab key. Once the wire is placed, all options appear.
After placement, the Wire mode of the Properties panel can be accessed in one of the following ways:
Dialog page: Wire
This method of editing uses the Wire dialog to modify the properties of a Wire object.
The Wire dialog can be accessed after placing a wire by right-clicking on a vertex point then choosing the Edit Wire Vertex n command.
Panel pages: SCH List, SCHLIB List, SCH Filter, SCHLIB Filter
A List panel allows you to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing you to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.
A T-junction in a wire is automatically connected by a junction (Compiler-Generated Junction). If the Break Wires At Autojunctions option is enabled on the Schematic - General page of the Preferences dialog, an existing wire segment will be broken into two at the point where an autojunction is inserted. For example, when making a T-Junction, the perpendicular wire segment will be broken into two segments, one on each side of the junction. With the Break Wires At Autojunctions option disabled, the wire segment will remain unbroken at the junction.
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