Device Sheet Symbol

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Modified by Admin on Nov 18, 2013

Parent Page: Objects

A placed Device Sheet Symbol.

Summary

A Device Sheet Symbol is an electrical design primitive. It is used to represent a Device Sheet and usually contain predefined circuits. A Device Sheet Symbol references a Device Sheet and can be re-used within and across design projects. Device Sheet Symbols include Sheet Entry Symbols, which provide a connection point for signals between the parent and child sheets, similarly to sheet symbols.

Availability

Device Sheet symbols are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only. Use one of the following methods to access the placement command:

choose Place » Device Sheet Symbol [P, I] from the main menus.
right click on your Schematic Document and choose Place » Device Sheet Symbol from the pop-up menu that appears.
click the button on the Wiring toolbar.

Placement

After launching the command, the Select Device Sheet dialog appears with all of your declared Device Sheet Folders. Choose a Device Sheet to place and then click OK. The cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter Device Sheet Symbol placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

click or press Enter to anchor the top-left corner of the Device Sheet Symbol
move the cursor to adjust the size of the Device Sheet Symbol, then click or press Enter to anchor the diagonally-opposite corner and thereby complete placement of the Device Sheet Symbol.

Non-Graphical Editing

The following three methods of non-graphical editing are available:

...via an associated properties dialog

This method of editing uses the following dialog to modify the properties of a Device Sheet Symbol object.

The Device Sheet Symbol dialog.

During placement, the Device Sheet Symbol dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.
After placement, the Device Sheet Symbol dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

double-clicking on the placed Device Sheet Symbol object
selecting the Device Sheet Symbol object and choosing Properties from the right-click pop-up menu
choosing the Change command from the Edit menu and then clicking once over the placed Device Sheet Symbol object.

The Device Sheet Symbol Designator and Filename text fields can be formatted independently of the Device Sheet Symbol itself. The corresponding properties dialogs for each - the Sheet Symbol Designator and Sheet Symbol File Name dialogs respectively - can be accessed using the three methods described above (replacing Device Sheet Symbol with the relevant object whose properties you wish to view/modify).

The Sheet Symbol Designator dialog and Sheet Symbol File Name dialog.

...via the SCH Inspector panel

The SCH Inspector panel enables you to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

...via the SCH List panel

The SCH List panel allows you to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling you to quickly inspect and modify object attributes. When used in conjunction with the SCH Filter panel, it enables you to display just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter - allowing you to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Graphical editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed Device Sheet Symbol object directly in the workspace and change its size, shape or location, graphically.
When a Device Sheet Symbol object is selected, the following editing handles are available:

A selected Device Sheet Symbol.

Click and drag A to resize the Device Sheet Symbol in vertical and horizontal directions separately.
Click and drag B to resize the Device Sheet Symbol in vertical and horizontal directions simultaneously.
Resizing the Device Sheet Symbol will not affect the absolute positions of any Sheet Entries within it.
Click anywhere on the Device Sheet Symbol away from editing handles and drag to reposition it.

The Device Sheet Symbol's Designator and Filename text fields can only be adjusted with respect to their size by changing the size of the font used (accessed through the Sheet Symbol Designator and Sheet Symbol File Name dialogs, respectively. Editing handles are not available when either of these objects are selected:

The selected Designator or File Name.

Click anywhere inside the dashed box and drag to reposition the text object as required. The object can be rotated or flipped while dragging:

Press the Spacebar to rotate the text. Rotation is anti-clockwise and in steps of 90°.
Press the X or Y keys to flip the text along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.
If the Enable In-Place Editing option is enabled on the Schematic - General page of the Preferences dialog (Tools » Schematic Preferences), you will be able to edit the name for the Designator or File Name directly in the workspace. Select the text object and then click once to invoke the feature. Type the new name as required and then click away from the text object or press Enter to effect the change.

If you attempt to graphically modify a Device Sheet Symbol object that has its Locked property enabled, a dialog will appear asking for confirmation to proceed with the edit.
If the Protect Locked Objects option is enabled in the Schematic - Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog (Tools » Schematic Preferences), and the Locked option for this design object is enabled as well then this object cannot be selected or graphically edited.
You will have to double click on this locked object directly and disable the Locked property or disable the Protect Locked Objects option to graphically edit this object.

If you attempt to select locked objects along with other objects, only those objects that are unlocked can be selected and moved as a group if the Protect Locked Objects option is enabled. Otherwise if the Protect Locked Objects option is disabled you will be prompted for confirmation to proceed with the edit of the objects including locked objects.

Notes

The Filename property of the Device Sheet Symbol, set on the Properties tab of the Sheet Symbol dialog, must be set to the file name of the Schematic Sheet that the symbol represents. The *.SchDoc extension is not used in the Filename for Device Sheets.