Component Information System Release 9.2 Lite Release Notes May, 2000 Most of the information contained in these release notes is not included in the Capture manuals or online help. Please read the notes carefully to see if any apply to your designs. To obtain the very latest information about workarounds or solutions to problems that you may encounter, visit the Customer Support page on the Orcad web site at http://www.orcad.com/technical/technical.asp. If you want to read release notes for the previous release, click here. These release notes are divided into the following sections: Installation notes What's new Known problems General notes Installation notes See the General Release Notes for information that applies to all Orcad Family Release 9.2 products. This section gives you information concerning: The internet component assistant (ICA) Viewing Orcad Layout footprints in Capture CIS The internet component assistant (ICA) The following are commonly asked questions about the installation of the internet component assistant (ICA): Q: Which Release 9 products ship with the ICA enabled? A: Only Capture CIS. Q: Are there any special system configuration requirements for the successful installation of the ICA? A: Yes. There are two requirements: (1) Microsoft's Internet Explorer, version 4 or 5, is the only supported Internet browser and needs to be present on the local PC, along with an active Internet connection. (2) You must have access to a licensed version of Capture CIS Release 9. Q: Where do I get a copy of Internet Explorer 5? A: You will be prompted to install Internet Explorer 5 as an option during Orcad Capture CIS Release 9 installation. If you need a language compatible version that is not provided as an option during install, our International Channel Partners can assist you to obtain the version you need. Contact your International Channel Partner. Language compatible versions are also available from the Microsoft Web site at http://www.microsoft.com/ie/. Q: Will Orcad's installation of Internet Explorer 5 change my desktop? A: No. The Orcad installation includes only the Internet Explorer 5.01 browser, Java™ Support, and DirectX multimedia technologies (the whole installation requires about 13 MB of disk space). The installation does not include True Web Integration (Active Desktop™). Q: Does Internet Explorer 5 have to be set as my primary browser? A: No. The installation will not change the configuration of any other browsers you have installed on your system. You can keep Netscape, for example, as your primary browser. Q: Do I need a separate serial number to access the SpinCircuit web site through the ICA? A: No. However, the first time you access the site, you will be required to supply some registration information and to create a new login and password. Viewing Orcad Layout footprints in Capture CIS Capture CIS supports the viewing of PCB footprints created in Orcad Layout products. During the installation of Capture CIS Release 9, the setup will look for a registry entry with the directory location of an Orcad Layout Release 9 installation. If a Release 9 entry is not found, the setup will look for a registry entry for version 7.2 Orcad Layout Plus. If no entries are found for Release 9 or version 7.2, you will be prompted to find the directory (local or on a network) where your PCB footprints are located. However, you can select a preferred Layout footprint directory after installation. To do so, you will need to edit or add the following entry in your CAPTURE.INI file: [LAYOUT FOOTPRINTS] Dir0= Where Dir0= points to the directory where the footprints are located that you want CIS to display. You can also use UNC names for this directory location. For example: You have created a directory on your network server to which you have moved all your company's approved master PCB footprint libraries. The path to the directory is x:\libraries\footprints. The entry in your CAPTURE.INI would look like this: [LAYOUT FOOTPRINTS] Dir0=x:\libraries\footprints What's new This section gives you information concerning: Database configuration wizard Right mouse button support in Capture Derive a database part from a placed part New information type-based CIS help system Configure the part manager property display Exclude properties from the part manager update Select multiple parts and footprints during database part creation Hide fields in the database parts window Expand the explorer window part tree Updated parts list written to the session log   Database configuration wizard CIS requires a database configuration (.DBC) file to interface with your part database. Before this release of Capture CIS, you had to manually create this file, without knowing for sure what settings were required. Now, you can use the database configuration wizard to guide you through the process of creating a database configuration file. The wizard is designed to make sure that you set at least the minimum table and property configuration that is required for CIS to work with your part database. Right mouse button support in Capture Right mouse button access is now available in Capture's project manager and schematic page editor for the most common CIS commands, including Place Database Part, Link Database Part, and Open Part Manager. Derive a database part from a placed part Previously, if you wanted to add a placed part to your part database, you would have to recreate the part using an existing database part. With Release 9.2, you can create new database parts using parts that you have already placed on schematic pages. In addition, while you are creating a new database part, you can change the values and visibility settings of the database part properties. New information type-based CIS help system The CIS help system has been redesigned to accomplish the following goals: Provide efficient access to information that is specific to your immediate need. Target the information to your current task, at the point of need. Provide efficient transfer of the information from the help system to the task you are trying to complete. The features that have been implemented to accomplish these goals include: Clustered information types for each topic. Built-in levels of learning, including procedures, overviews, examples, etc. Access to information based on your preferences. Interface design that accommodates your help use preferences. For more information, see the description of the help system in the Orcad CIS online help. (From the Help menu in Capture, point to Orcad CIS and choose Help Topics.) Configure the part manager property display You can now change which part property columns are displayed, as well as the order in which they are displayed, in the part manager. Exclude properties from the part manager update Previously, you could not change a transferred part property value for a placed part and still successfully update the part status of the design. Now, you can decide whether or not you want the value of each transferred property for placed parts to be checked against the database part’s value when you update part status. Select multiple parts and footprints during database part creation In earlier versions of Capture CIS, you had to manually add additional schematic parts and footprints for a database part in the database application. With Release 9.2, you can add multiple parts and footprints in CIS, while you are creating a new database part. Hide fields in the database parts window You can now hide and unhide part property columns (fields) in the database parts window, to customize the display for how you use the CIS explorer. Expand the explorer window part tree You can now completely expand the explorer window part tree (or any one of part type folders in the tree) using a single command. Updated parts list written to the session log You can now view or save a record of the parts that have bee updated when you update the part status for a design. When CIS completes a part update, a list of updated parts and discrepancies with the database is written to the session log. Known problems None.   General notes This section gives you information concerning: Browsable files automatically located in your .DBC file directory CIS Database Creation Wizard removed from the Release 9 Orcad CIS installation CD Browsable files automatically located in your .DBC file directory Capture CIS version 7.2 and Release 9 support the viewing of external file types from the CIS explorer window. CIS allows you to view any file type (PDF, HTML, etc.), as long as you have a browser installed on your system that can read the file and can be automatically launched for use as a viewer. For CIS version 7.2 a directory path, UNC, or URL had to be specified to locate a viewable file, in addition to the file's name and extension. With Release 9, CIS will automatically locate and read all viewable files that are stored in the same directory as your .DBC file. If you do not wish to place your viewable files in the same directory as the .DBC file or use directory paths or UNC in the file names, then you will need to add the following entry to your CAPTURE.INI file: [CIS Browse Directories] Dir0=PATH Where PATH is the path of the directory where you keep your browsable files. You can also use UNC names for the PATH entry. For example: You create a directory on the server in which you copy all your scanned, PDF, and HTML datasheets. The path to the directory is X:\LIBRARIES\DATASHEETS. The entry in your CAPTURE.INI should look like this: [CIS Browse Directories] Dir0=x:\libraries\datasheets CIS Database Creation Wizard removed from the Release 9 Orcad CIS installation CD Because the CIS Database Creation Wizard changes frequently, the wizard is no longer supplied on the installation CD. To make sure you get the latest version of the wizard, you are now required to download it from the the Customer Support page on the Orcad web site at http://www.orcad.com/technical/technical.asp.