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3: The Facets Menu |
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Cell facets are collections of circuitry. Each facet of a cell has a view type (layout, schematic, etc.) and a version number. Since facet instances may be placed inside of other facets, the facet notion defines hierarchy in Electric.
This command displays an existing facet or creates a new facet in the current window. You are prompted for its name and view type. Use the "New Facet" button to create a new one. | ![]() |
This command deletes a facet. You will be given a list of facets, and can select the one to delete. You must then use Edit Facet... before any more editing can be done in the window.
This command presents a dialog that shows facets in two different libraries, and indicating which ones are newer. You can select a facets in either library and copy or move them to the other. In addition, if the facet has subfacets or associated views that are newer, they can also be copied. The "Examine Contents" button compares the contents facets whose dates are different and displays an indication of whether they are actually different or just out of date. The "Examine Contents Quietly" button does the same thing, but it does not explain which differences have been found. | ![]() |
This command makes a copy of the facet in the current window and gives it a new name. You will be prompted for the new name.
![]() | This set of commands controls the interactions of multiple users working together on a single library. Subcommands are available for checking facets in and out, for updating your personal copy of the library from a master library, and other features. |
![]() | Check In and Out... |
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Update | Updates the current library from the master library. | |||
Check Out This Facet | Checks out a facet from the master library. | |||
Check In This Facet | Checks the current facet into the master library. | |||
Add This Facet | Adds the current facet to the master library (if it is not part of the project management system). | |||
Delete This Facet | Deletes a facet from the master library. | |||
Old Version of This Facet | Access old versions of a facet. | |||
Set User... | Sets user identification for project management. | |||
Build Project | Converts the current library into a master library for subsequent sharing. |
This command presents a dialog that allows options to be set for facets in a specified library. The check box "Disallow modification of anything in this facet" prevents any change to the selected facet (this prevents accidental changes to a facet during examination). The check box "Disallow modification of instances in this facet" prevents changes to instances inside of the selected facet (this prevents accidental changes to a facet during wiring). The check box "Part of a cell-library" indicates that this facet is from a library of standard cells and should be treated accordingly (these facets can be filtered out of facet lists in many dialogs). Buttons on the right can set or clear these bits for all facets. New instances can be expanded or unexpanded (expansion determines whether the node is drawn as a black-box or with its contents visible). The "Characteristic Spacing" is the spacing of this facet when arrayed (see the Array... command of the Edit menu).
This command splits the current window, and shows a hierarchical "explorer" window in the left half. A recursively indented list of facets-within-facets is listed, and you can explore your circuit's hierarchy.
This command displays a graph showing the hierarchy of facets in the current library. The graph is actually a new facet that contains Artwork components. Thus, it will be stored with the library and may be edited, printed, etc.
![]() | This set of commands gives information about facets. |
![]() | Describe this Facet | This command displays information about the facet in the current window. |
Describe all Facets | This command displays a list of all facets in the current library, with their creation and modification dates shown. | |
Describe all Facets to File... | This command creates a disk file with a list of all facets in the current library, with their creation and modification dates shown. The information in this file is tab-separated, for ease of reading into spreadsheets. | |
List Facet Instances | This command displays a list of facet instances contained in the current facet. | |
List Facet Usage... | This command prompts for a facet and displays a list of places where the it exists as an instance. |
This command changes the current edit window so that the facet whose instance is currently highlighted is now the editable facet.
This command returns editing to the higher level of hierarchy in which the current facet is instantiated. It thus travels back up the hierarchy that was descended with the Down Hierarchy command. If an exported port is highlighted, that network is highlighted in the outer facet. If there was no Down Hierarchy, and the higher level facet cannot be determined, a list of possible facets will be presented. Arbitrary depth of hierarchy can be traversed with these two commands by repeating them.
![]() | These commands cause the highlighted facet instances to be expanded, which means that their contents will be displayed. If their contents is already being displayed, this will cause the contents of any subfacets to be displayed, repeatedly down the hierarchy. Once expanded, these facet instances will always display their contents until the Unexpand Facet Instances commands are issued. For a temporary view of the contents of an instance, use Look Inside Highlighted. Note that the expansion information can also be set in the Get Info dialog of the Info menu. |
![]() | One Level Down | The next level of unexpanded facets is made visible. |
All the Way | All facets from here to the bottom of the hierarchy are made visible. | |
Specified Amount... | You are prompted for a number of levels of hierarchy, and that many levels of depth are made visible. |
![]() | These commands cause the highlighted facet instances to be unexpanded, which means that they will be displayed as black boxes. If there are expanded subfacets, these are closed first and subsequent commands will unexpand up the hierarchy. Note that the expansion information can also be set in the Get Info dialog of the Info menu. |
![]() | One Level Up | The next level of expanded facets is closed. |
All the Way | All facets from here to the bottom of the hierarchy are closed. | |
Specified Amount... | You are prompted for a number of levels of hierarchy, and that many levels of depth are closed. |
This command displays all layout in the currently highlighted area, all the way down the hierarchy. This "peek" into the facet instances is temporary and will not be shown again if the window is redrawn in any way. To get a permanent view into a facet, use the Expand Facet Instances command above or set the "Expand" option in the Get Info command of the Info menu.
This command creates a new facet that contains all of the circuitry in the currently highlighted area. You will be prompted for the new facet name. The highlighted area is defined as the bounding rectangle of everything that is highlighted. A more precise way of defining a highlighted area is to use the rectangle select button.
This command takes the currently highlighted facet instance and replaces it with its contents. This is conceptually the opposite of Package into Facet... as it removes a level of hierarchy. If multiple facet instances are highlighted, all of them are extracted.
This command makes a copy of the facet in the current window. Version numbers appear in the facet name as a semicolon followed by a number (except for the most recent facet which has no version notation). For example, after the duplication of facet MyCircuit, there will be the facets MyCircuit and MyCircuit;1. The current facet, which has no explicit version number in its name, actually is version 2 (smaller version numbers are older).
This command deletes all facets in the current library that are not the most recent version and are not being used as instances in some other facet. It essentially cleans up the library when too many versions have been created. As with all commands, this can be undone with the Undo command of the Edit menu.
This command reads a disk file into the current text window. It replaces the existing contents.
This command saves the current text window to disk.
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