Using the Electric VLSI Design System

Chapter XI: MENU SUMMARY

| ## 5: The Port Menu |

Ports are the sites of arc connections on nodes. Primitive nodes have ports automatically defined, but facet instances (complex nodes) have no ports on them. The locations of arc connections on these instances must be defined by exporting ports inside of the facet's definition.

### Create Port... [3-6]

This command exports the currently highlighted port on the currently highlighted node. The port then becomes a port on instances of the facet, higher up the hierarchy. A dialog will be presented for the name and characteristics of the exported port. The characteristics may be directional (input, output, bidirectional), levels (power, ground, or reference) or clocking (clock with optional phases 1 through 6). The option "Always drawn" indicates that the port name will not be suppressed when the port is connected or otherwise in use. The option "Body only" indicates that this port will not be included in an iconic view of the facet. |

### Re-Export Everything [3-6]

This command automatically creates ports in the current facet, wherever a port on a sub-facet instance is found to be unconnected and unexported. All such ports on subfacet instances are exported. This is useful in array-based design where the edges of the array, which are not connected, should be exported further up the hierarchy.

### Re-Export Highlighted [3-6]

This command does the same thing as Re-Export Everything, except that it functions only in the currently highlighted area. 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 to drag a rectangle on the screen.

### Delete Port [3-6]

This command removes the exported port on the currently highlighted node.

### Delete All Ports on Highlighted [3-6]

This command removes the all exported ports on all of the currently highlighted nodes.

### Delete All Ports in Area [3-6]

This command removes the all exported ports in the selected area.

### Move Port [3-6]

This command moves an exported port from one node to another. The source port is selected in the standard fashion and the destination port is specified with the toggle select button. Be sure that the correct port is highlighted on both the source and destination nodes.

### Add Ports from Library... [3-6]

This command prompts for another library and locates ports in that library that should be in the current one. It does this by finding facets in the other library that have the same name as those in the current library. New ports are then created in the current library to match those in the other library.

This command is useful in managing standard cell libraries that are imported from other file formats. Because some formats contain geometry and others contain connectivity, this command is needed to put them together.

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