Background

Why do I need to update my parts?

As you start to learn schematic and PCB design, you will have to learn to make your own symbols and footprints for your components. Because of this, there is a chance that you accidentally mislabel or misread a data sheet and add a wrong pin/connection. Designs are also constantly being updated and revised.

Therefore, it is important to maintain the most update to date component available. Sometimes it’s necessary to make small changes to your parts as you learn more about them or need to define them better to identify more design mistakes during the design process.

Prerequisites

For this tutorial it is expected that you have made a custom library with custom symbols. The link to those tutorials can be found below:

• Creating a custom library in Cadence
• Creating a custom schematic symbol in Cadence

Please note: The PCB design in the tutorial is an example used for the purpose of this demonstration. Do not copy it. Your PCB design should either be your individual subsystem or team design.

Updating a part in your library

Find your part/symbol in the project explorer

1. In this example we will be updating the pin names of the PIC18F47Q10 that is onboard the Curiosity Nano. We can find our part on the left-hand side of the screen in the project explorer. We will right click and select the part we want to edit.

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2. Make the necessary changes to your part and save using “ctrl+s” or by right clicking on the active tab and selecting “save”. In this example we will be changing the names of Pins 15 & 14 to “ISCP CLK” and “ICSP DATA” in order to preform in circuit serial programming with the MPLAB SNAP Programmer.

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3. Once the changes have been saved. You can now try to add the new version to the schematic, you will run into an error. This error means that we need to update the cache so that we can add our modified part to the shematic.

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4. In the project explorer, find the design cache and expand it. Then find the modified, right click, and select “update cache”. Select yes to all the dialog boxes and go back to your schematic. You can also update the entire Design Cache if you make multiple part changes.

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5. Find the part in your custom library on the right-hand side.

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6. We can now add our modified part to the schematic. Our changes should be reflected in what is placed on the schematic. If all this is done correctly, your schematic is now updated. Make sure you fix any connection problems if you updated pin names or numbers.

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Things to check in case of mistakes

1. Make sure to save the modifications to your part when editing it.
2. Make sure all errors are resolved when modifying your part.
3. Make sure you edited the correct part.