I am looking to be able to take a Mentor tel netlist, do a netin, and then run Design Compare. The goal is to do all of this from the command line outside of PCB Editor.
Technically I can do everything I mentioned, but the problem is that it seems like Design Compare really only works with XML files. I have tried loading the tel netlist, but Design Compare throws some exceptions and basically hangs.
So with the assumption that you essentially need an XML file for Design Compare to work, the only way I know how to get an XML out of PCB Editor for a third party netlist is to open the design in PCB Editor and run Design Compare. But this breaks the objective of not having to open PCB Editor.
I tried looking at the journal file after running Design Compare from within PCB Editor hoping it would give me some information on how the XML file is being generated, but it doesn't look like it.
Does anyone know if its possible to do a brd to XML conversion from the command line outside of PCB Editor? Ideally I am looking for some executable or script that already exists in the installation.
I know there is one other option and that is extracta. Using one of the existing views as a test I can tell that I would be able to reproduce all the necessary information, and have Design Compare import it and it looks good. The problem is that it seems like it would take a lot longer to write the appropriate command file to essentially match what is contained in the XML file than it would if there was a magic executable that could produce the XML output for me.