Hi everyone,
I've been searching on this forum and others, and so far haven't found an exact answer to my issue and I'd really appreciate your input. I'm coming back to OrCAD after a few years with other tools, and even then I was a relative newbie, so my knowledge in this area is fairly limited.
What I want to do is take our previous design files (.dsn and .brd) and dump the parts data into a library (.olb) and symbols files (.dra, .psm, etc). Ideally, I'd like to upload these parts into our CIS database to use with data downloaded from CIP, but for now a local library is my first goal.
I have exported an .olb from my old .dsn file by copying the design cache to a new library and saving it. I then exported the part symbols from the .brd file using Export > Libraries. I updated psmpath and padpath to point to the symbols directories I exported the part data. I also updated my capture.ini for both the library and symbol locations:
[Allegro Footprints]
Dir0=C:\git\new_design\Symbols\Board1
Dir1=C:\git\new_design\Symbols\Board2
Dir2=C:\Cadence\SPB_16.6\share\pcb\pcb_lib\symbols
Dir3=C:\EMA\CIP-E\Allegro_Library\symbols
[Part Library Directories]
Dir0=C:\git\new_design\Libraries
Dir1=C:\EMA\CIP-E\Schematic_Symbols
When a create a new design and add the new library I've created, I'm noticing that when try Show Footprint on a number of the parts I've placed from the new library, that I get the "Allegro footprint <PART> was not found in the search path" error message. However, in the old design file, if I place parts from the design cache (not my new library), the part previews show up when I click Show Footprint.
The old design files were copied from our previous designer's machine, and therefore the paths in the design cache and symbols information are incorrect, which I thought might be the issue. Do I need to run a Replace Cache on the old .dsn and point it to my new library before exporting again? Do I need to run a Place > Update Symbols before exporting from the old .brd file?
Thanks!
Matt