Browsing Structure Classes in a PCB

Parent article: Class Structure in the PCB

Set the PCB panel's mode to Structure Classes to browse the overall class hierarchy for the PCB document. The display in the main design window
will change to reflect the filtering applied as you click on an entry (or entries) in the panel's various regions.

The class structure hierarchy in a PCB can be browsed from within the PCB panel. Simply set the mode for the panel to Structure Classes. As you click on entries in the panel, corresponding filtering will be applied to the workspace, presenting the member objects accordingly.

The following sections take a closer look at the three list regions of the panel.

Structure Classes

The top region of the panel lists all Structure Classes currently defined for the PCB document. These include those automatically generated from the PCB project's source schematic documents (denoted by the icon), as well as those defined manually in the PCB document itself (denoted by the icon). Clicking on the icon next to a Structure Class will reveal the Structure Class hierarchy descendant from that class. By expanding the top-level Structure Class, you will see the full hierarchy.

Structure Classes for an example PCB.

Select one or more Structure Class entries to have the lowest-level member objects of their descendant classes (e.g. components and nets) filtered in the workspace.

Double-click on a Structure Class entry to access the Edit Structure Class dialog, from where you can change the name for the class and redefine its members (any of the class types) as required.

The right-click context menu for this region provides the following commands:

• Select All – select all Structure Class entries in the current 'branch' of the hierarchy.

• Clear Filter – clear filtering in the main workspace.

• Report – generate a report presenting a flat listing of all defined Structure Classes. The report will open for preview in the Report Preview dialog.

• Properties – access the Edit Structure Class dialog for the currently selected (and focused) Structure Class. This command is the same as double-clicking directly on an entry.

• Add Class – add a new Structure Class. Definition (name and membership) is performed from the Edit Structure Class dialog.

• Delete Class – delete the selected Structure Class(es).

Classes

The middle region of the panel lists all class members for the currently selected Structure Class(es) in the region above. These can be:

• Net Classes
• Component Classes
• Layer Classes
• Pad Classes
• From To Classes
• Differential Pair Classes
• Design Channel Classes
• Polygon Classes
• Other Structure Classes.

Example class members of the selected Structure Class(es).

Select one or more class entries to have the lowest-level member objects of those classes filtered in the workspace.

Double-click on a class entry to access the associated editing dialog, from where you can change the name for the class and redefine its members as required.

The right-click context menu for this region provides the following commands:

• Select All – select all class entries in the region.

• Clear Filter – clear filtering in the main workspace.

• Report – generate a report presenting a listing of all classes in the region. The report will open for preview in the Report Preview dialog.

• Properties – access the relevant editing dialog for the currently selected (and focused) class. This command is the same as double-clicking directly on an entry.

Class Members

The bottom region of the panel lists all members of the currently selected class(es) in the region above.

Example members of the selected class(es).

Select one or more entries to have the applicable object(s) filtered in the workspace.

Double-click on a primitive member entry to access the associated properties dialog. Double-click on a class member entry to access the associated editing dialog, from where you can change the name for the class and redefine its members as required.

The right-click context menu for this region provides the following commands:

• Select All – select all class member entries in the region.

• Clear Filter – clear filtering in the main workspace.

• Report – generate a report presenting a listing of all class members in the region. The report will open for preview in the Report Preview dialog.

• Properties – access the relevant properties/editing dialog for the currently selected (and focused) class member. This command is the same as double-clicking directly on an entry.

• Zoom Selected – only available for a primitive object entry. Will zoom into that object in the workspace, in accordance with the defined Zoom Level. Note that this command has no effect if the Zoom option is enabled as part of the panel's highlighting controls.