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Parent page: Schematic Objects
Two placed blankets - a simple rectangular shape blanket on the left and a polygon blanket on the right.
A blanket directive enables other parameter set-based directives to quickly be applied to a group of nets simply by covering those nets with a 'blanket'. When placing a blanket, you can either define a simple rectangular shape or a polygonal-shape. The latter gives more precise control over coverage of the required net objects on a sheet.
The blanket applies to all nets that:
Blankets are available for placement in the schematic editor only. To place a blanket:
To place a rectangular blanket:
To place a polygonal-shaped blanket:
Additional actions that can be performed during placement while the blanket is still floating on the cursor are:
This method of editing allows you to select a placed blanket object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape, or location graphically. When a blanket object is selected, the following editing handles are available:
Example of selected polygonal (left) and rectangular (right) blankets.
Click and drag an editing handle at the center of an edge to move that edge of the blanket.
For a rectangular blanket, click and drag a corner editing handle to resize in both vertical and horizontal planes simultaneously.
Click anywhere on the outline of the blanket – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. The blanket can be rotated or flipped while dragging:
The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:
Dialog page: Blanket
This method of editing uses the Blanket dialog to modify the properties of a blanket object.
The Blanket dialog
The Blanket dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the blanket object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent blankets.
During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.
After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:
Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCH Filter
An Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.
Panel pages: SCH List, SCH Filter
A List panel allows the designer 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 the designer to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.
In support of the blanket object, two particularly useful keywords are available for use when targeting blankets using logical query expressions. These complement the range of other keywords used to target a blanket based on its properties.
Collapsed
- the object is collapsed (also useful when targeting Compile Masks). This keyword can be found in the SCH Functions - Fields category, when using the Query Helper.IsBlanket
- is the object a blanket? This keyword can be found in the SCH Functions - Object Type Checks category, when using the Query Helper.Create logical expressions for queries to target and return blankets in your design as required. Some examples of logical query expressions targeting blankets are:
IsBlanket And Collapsed
- targets all blanket objects that are currently collapsed.
IsBlanket And Not Collapsed
- targets all blanket objects that are currently not collapsed.
Once placed, blankets can be temporarily disabled by clicking on the small triangle in the upper left. Click once to disable the blanket; click again to re-enable it. This provides a convenient way of controlling the impact of the blanket without needing to remove it completely from the design.
To identify the nets that the blanket applies to, click View » Set Net Colors then use the color selections in the drop-down to apply the desired color(s) to the desired net(s) within the blanket. Click View » Show Net Color Override to enable/disable the highlighting of the nets.
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