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INSTALLING THE ProntoPLACE SOFTWARE

                                                                                                             Revised 9/18/07

Thank you for evaluating the Unisoft ProntoPLACE software.  In minutes Unisoft ProntoPLACE software translates CAD or Gerber and Bill of Materials (BOM) files into real reference designators, X/Y body centers, Theta rotation, part numbers, etc. This data is then used by Process Engineers to program their SMT and Thru-hole Automatic Assembly Equipment.  Programs are generated offline conserving valuable machine time.  ProntoPLACE creates assembly documents, work instructions and process aids.  Part numbers are automatically assigned to the assembly step you wish.  The  part numbers are then automatically uniquely colored.  Each step can then be printed or displayed along with a matching colorized assembly drawing.  ProntoPLACE is reasonably priced and available for rental or purchase.  

In this “quick start” overview of ProntoPLACE we will process a sample PC Board provided and you can also process one of your own PCB assemblies.  For help and questions call (203) 913-0782 or place1@unisoft-cim.com.

Overview of this ProntoPLACE quick start procedure:

1) Import a CAD sample file.

2) Import a Bill Of Materials (BOM) sample file. 

3) Create the output file used to setup the Assembly Machine. 

4) How to exercises:

     - Exercise 1: Creating assembly/process sheets and annotation overlays.
                        Assigning operations text to each part number.

Assigning step numbers to each part number.

Adding F2P annotation overlays to steps.

Assigning colors and patterns to each part number.

Print assembly sheets and matching load lists for each process step.
Creating .F2P annotation overlays for adding text & graphics to the assembly.

Adding selectable Annotation (.F2P) overlays to the general display.

     - Exercise 2: Color, blink and check off part numbers one at a time for "first article inspection" cross check.

     - Exercise 3: Review the FIND feature.

     - Exercise 4: Review the cross probing of hyper-linked Schematic and Assembly feature.

5) Saving your work. 

6) Importing your own CAD file.

7) OPTIONAL:  API FUNCTION - In addition to controlling the software in the standard manual method via the mouse and keyboard an API function for external control is included.   This API allows you to write a program to automatically direct ProntoVIEW-
MARKUP from your application or equipment without the use of the mouse or keyboard. 

8) Where the software is installed and features of the ProntoVIEW-MARKUP free viewer software. 

STARTING THE PROCEDURE:

We suggest you printout this document to follow along.

1)  Importing the CAD data file.
 

1a)  The Unisoft ProntoPLACE software can import all types of CAD and Bill of Material (BOM) data file formats. 

To import the sample CAD file provided click  START  on your Windows desktop then click  PROGRAMS and select the  "Unisoft ProntoPLACE Software" folder and click the icon “ProntoPLACE” inside that folder.   The “ABOUT UNISOFT” window is displayed click OK.      Next click FILE from the main menu, click OPEN, click the pull down menu next to "LIST FILE TYPES", for the sample PCB select the  "Accel PCAD file (*.PDF)"  file type (note the list sorts by extension so you will find it about 7 up from the bottom).     Next select the directory the CAD file is located in by clicking the pull down menu next to “LOOK IN” at the top of the window.  Select the directory "C:\PROGRAM FILES\UNISOFT" then select the file SAMPLE.PDF and click OPEN.  A “shareware trial mode version” window will be displayed, click “CLOSE”.  The PC board is now displayed.  

NOTE1: Importing the full CAD files should always be your first option because the CAD files are fast to import and contain complete PC Board data.  But in some cases you may not receive full CAD files to import into ProntoPLACE and therefore your only option is to import raw Gerber files.  ProntoPLACE can import and turn these raw Gerber files into real reference designators, theta rotation, part numbers, X/Y component pin geometries, etc. This data is then used to program SMT, Thru-hole Automatic Assembly Equipment, AOI/X-RAY inspection equipment, create manual assembly sheets, process documentation, etc. The GERBER CONNECTION pull down menu imports these raw gerber files. If you require more details on this feature please refer to the

QUICK-START_GERBER-CONNECTION.DOC manual located in the directory 
c:\program files\unisoft  for more information or contact Unisoft directly.      

NOTE2: Later to open your own CAD files you can use the SMART OPEN feature which will automatically detect CAD files in a directory that can be imported into the Unisoft software.   To use SMART OPEN click FILE off the main menu then click SMART OPEN and point to the directory that contains your CAD files and follow the instructions to display your PC Board assembly and other files such as AutoCAD drawing files.

2) IMPORTING THE BILL OF MATERIALS - You may import a Bill Of Material(BOM) and upon doing so the part number and descriptions contained in the BOM will be associated with the components on the display. 

Click EDIT from the main menu, then click BOM and CLEAR BOM. Next click EDIT , then BOM and IMPORT BOM. Click SAMPLE.BOM displayed in the window to select it, then click OPEN.  The importer window shows:

            Warning:  Duplicate BOM for REFDES 'U5'.

            Totals:  28 items, 314 references.

            Complete.

To illustrate the cross checking the software does between the CAD file and BOM we have purposefully edited the BOM to cause the message "Warning:  Duplicate BOM for REFDES 'U5' ". For example if U5 was socketed you could have U5 the socket and U5 the actual component part in the same BOM and you would want this fact brought to your attention. 

 

Click CLOSE to shut the window.

3) CREATE THE OUTPUT FILE USED TO SETUP THE ASSEMBLY MACHINE.

- Selecting the topside reference points:

Make sure the display is split and the left pane displays the top of the assembly and the right pane displays the bottom (this is the default display when the software first starts).

Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu.  Click on MARK REFERENCE 1, the cursor will turn into a diamond.  In the LEFT side pane move the cursor to the lower right of the assembly.  Now place the cursor over a pin and click.  The pin should turn to a diamond.   Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu.  Click on MARK REFERENCE 2, the cursor will turn into a diamond.  In the LEFT side pane move the cursor to the upper left of the assembly.  Now place the cursor over a pin and click.  The pin should turn to a diamond.  

- Building the top side assembly placement (mount) file. Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu then click MYDATA, then click on BUILD OUTPUT FILE.  The BUILD MOUNT FILE window opens. There are different options in this window to accommodate different machine and part types, including changing the 0 rotation of package types, global rotation correction, etc. 

Click OK and then click SAVE and the FLIP PARTS window opens. This window allows you to flip 2 pin polarized components such as diodes and LEDs 180 degrees if necessary.  Click OK , then click OK again.  Note the amount of components that where placed in the message window. Click CLOSE.

The file just created is called SAMPLE.MNT.  You can view SAMPLE.MNT with any editor in the directory you saved it to ( the SAMPLE.MNT you just created should be in the directory

c:\program files\unisoft )   .   SAMPLE.MNT contains the top side component placement information compatible with the MYDATA assembly equipment. The MYDATA machine then takes this file as input and you are ready to assemble the top side of the board. 

MYDATA MOUNT FILE SAMPLE:

B Ref1 = FID1.1

B Ref2 = FID2.1

U  0.1

C1       0       0  -65000   24750

M1  -61250   14750 270 390607-01-0

M2U9

M1  -55250   16500  90 391770-01-2

M2R41

M1  -43500   22500  90 391770-02-0

M2R2

M1  -52500    3750 270 391777-06-8

M2C1

M1  -52500    8000 270 391777-06-8

M2C2

NOTE that we have used the Mydata assembly machine for our example.  Please feel free to select from one of the many assembly machine models listed in the main menu pull down "PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS".

Other sample Assembly Machine setup file formats created by the Unisoft ProntoPLACE software (all popular machine specific formats supported):

IC4      360-0834     90      1.575     1.475

R24     111-0122     270     2.750     3.200

R26     111-0103     270     2.250     3.200

206"242432-03"

004+0000+0000+0000+0000

002+0000+0000+0000+0000

012+0004+0000+0000+0000

116+0000+0000+0000+0000

001+2800+1600+2800+1600

216"BIN 1"

010-0159+1432+0000-0160\R1 \

012+0004+0000+0000+0000

216"BIN 2"

010-0199+1432+0000-0160\R2 \

012+0004+0000+0000+0000

216"BIN 3"

000+0171+0261+0160+0000\R3 \

000+0411+0261+0160+0000\R7 \

- Selecting the bottom side reference points:

Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu.  Click on MARK REFERENCE 1, the cursor will turn into a diamond.  In the RIGHT side pane move the cursor to the lower right of the assembly.  Now place the cursor over a pin and click.  The pin should turn to a diamond.   Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu.  Click on MARK REFERENCE 2, the cursor will turn into a diamond.  In the RIGHT side pane move the cursor to the upper left of the assembly.  Now place the cursor over a pin and click.  The pin should turn to a diamond.  

- Building the bottom side assembly placement (mount) file.

Click PLACE/AOI/X-Ray MODELS from the top menu then click MYDATA, then click on BUILD OUTPUT FILE.  The BUILD MOUNT FILE window opens. In the window displayed click the  BOTTOM SIDE button. 

Click OK and then in the File Name field change the name to SAMPLEB.MNT and click SAVE and the FLIP PARTS window opens.  Click OK , then click OK again.  Note the amount of components that where placed in the message window. Click CLOSE.

The file just created is called SAMPLEB.MNT.  You can view SAMPLEB.MNT with any editor in the directory you saved it to ( the SAMPLEB.MNT you just created should be in the directory

c:\program files\unisoft )   .   SAMPLEB.MNT contains the bottom side component placement information compatible with the MYDATA assembly equipment. The MYDATA machine then takes this file as input and you are ready to assemble the bottom side of the board. 

 
4) HOW TO EXERCISES – For this exercise we will open the same PC Board but with additional annotation notes and steps we have previously added.  From the main menu click FILE click OPEN and select the file   SAMPLE2.F2B  and click OPEN and click NO in the “Save Changes to sample” window.  The PC Board is displayed and click CLOSE in the “Messages from importer module” window. 

There are over a 100 features of the Unisoft basic software module ProntoVIEW-MARKUP, below are a few example exercises.

Exercise 1 - (How to create assembly/process sheets and annotation overlays): 

The Unisoft software allows you to quickly create matching assembly lists and assembly drawing sheets for each step in the assembly process.  Part numbers are automatically assigned to the assembly step you wish (for example: Step 1 for Hand Inserts, Step 2 Chip Shooter components, etc).  The part numbers are then automatically uniquely colored.  If needed, overlay annotation notes can be added to each step.  Next for each step matching assembly lists and assembly drawings are created.  These drawings can either be printed or save to a file (PDF Adobe, etc.) or displayed on the screen.

To create assembly and process sheets on the main menu click ASSEMBLY SHEETS/1^ST ARTICLE then click OPEN SMART COLOR OPERATIONS and a new window appears at the bottom.

The SMART COLOR window at the bottom is sortable either by Part Number, Step Number, N=number of components for that part number, Operation, number of Pins on the component, etc.

ASSIGNING OPERATIONS TEXT TO EACH PART NUMBER:

To assign an Operation to each part number click EDIT then BOM then IMPORT PN/OPERATION and a new window will appear.  In the window click on the file SAMPLE.OPR to select it then click OPEN.  The result is that under the OPERATION field at the bottom of the screen each part number has been automatically assigned a operation step, for example Part Number 390579-03-3 is assigned Operation "MYDATA AUTO INSERT". 

The Operation field is optional and it is easily populated by the .OPR file which is a simple text file.   The .OPR file contains the Part Number followed by a tab then the Operation text for that part number (Example:  396051-01-4            HAND INSERT SOCKET PRE-WAVE).   The Operation information in the .OPR file is automatically assigned to every part number on the assembly.  The SAMPLE.OPR file used in our example is located in the directory  c:\program files\unisoft .  Also the Operations can be manually entered by double clicking on the Part Number and editing the OPERATION field directly in the window provided.  Then you can export and save the Operation information you have manually entered to an .OPR file by clicking EDIT then BOM then EXPORT P/N operation (NOTE: This exported file does not append to an existing .OPR file it simply exports the Part Number and Operation field to a new file.  Of course if you wish at that point you can manually append that file to another existing .OPR file.).

 

ASSIGNING STEP NUMBERS TO EACH PART NUMBER:

In the bottom window to the right of the PART NUMBER field you will find the STEP field. In this field you may optionally add STEP NUMBERS to part numbers in order to create separate unique steps in the PC Boards assembly process (for example: Step 1 for Hand Inserts, Step 2 Chip Shooter components, etc).  To assign a STEP NUMBER to a part number at the bottom of the display double click on a part number and edit the STEP field with a step number.  When the PC Board and BOM are first imported all steps are defaulted to step 1.  Note that we have previously added step numbers 1 through 5 for our sample PC Board.

ADDING F2P ANNOTATION OVERLAYS TO STEPS:  
If needed overlay annotation notes can be added to each process step.  To do this click ADD F2P’S TO STEPS.

 The following window appears! 

For our sample board we have previously created five process steps.  Now for each one of these steps we can optionally add .F2P annotation overlay notes.  In the figure above for example Step 1 is selected on the left and on the right four .F2P overlays boxes are checked. These four overlays will be printed on top of the PC Board display for step 1.  The results would look something like the figure below.  Please click on step 2 through 5 on the left side and you will see the .F2P overlays that will be printed for those steps. 

(NOTE: The sample PC board we are working with already has 8 .F2P annotation overlays pre-loaded into it.  It is not necessary now but in the future to add F2P Annotations to the Window above you need to Load them first.  To Load Annotations close all currently opened windows then from the Main menu click EDIT, click ANNOTATIONS then click  LOAD ANNOTATIONS and select the  .F2P file you wish to load then click OPEN.).

ASSIGNING COLORS AND PATTERNS TO EACH PART NUMBER:

In the window at the bottom click the DRAW ALL button.  A new window opens, put check marks in all the boxes and click OK.  The result is each part number and the components associated with that part number have been assigned a unique color and pattern according to the sort sequence of the part numbers in the SMART COLOR window at the bottom of the display.  You also have the option to repeat the color sequence for each Step Number in the process. To do this in the window at the bottom click the REPEAT COLORS/STEP button and the colors on the PC Board will change. Note the same color will appear for different part numbers because these part numbers are in different steps. Click the REPEAT COLORS/STEP button again to toggle the colors to their previous state.

To view the order that the colors are applied on the main menu click ASSEMBLY SHEETS/1^ST ARTICLE and click SET COLOR/BRUSH ORDER and the “Change Color/Brush Order” window is displayed. This window displays the order of the colors on the left and the order of the brush patterns on the right.  The order can be changed if you wish. Click OK to close the window. 

PRINT ASSEMBLY SHEETS AND MATCHING LOAD LISTS FOR EACH PROCESS STEP:                                                                    

The assembly instructions for this PC Board are now complete. For this PC Board we have previously added 5 process STEPS.  To Print Assembly Sheets and matching Assembly Load Lists for each process step in the window at the bottom of the display click the button PRINT ASSEMBLY DOCS and then choose your printing method. For example you can print to a printer, plotter or to a file such as a .PDF Adobe file.  

The pictures below are similar to the Assembly Sheets and matching Assembly Load Lists created.

Note for example that in the first figure which is Assembly Sheet #1 of 5, CR1 to CR32 are colored green.  Also printed are the 4 .F2P annotation overlays selected earlier for step 1 including  “Hand insert all diodes that are this color…”, “insert J1 custom bend connector…”, and the legend box “ABC Electronics…”.  In the second figure which is the matching Assembly Load List Sheet #1 of 5, the third item is part number 385-848-05-6 which are components CR1-CR32 and for this item we have included automatically the part number, the operation text “hand insert diodes”, the quantity of 32, the device type THD, the component part number color of green, and optionally additional Bill Of Material (BOM) information of tolerance/package/description, and top side reference designate or listings of CR1 through CR32.

CREATING .F2P ANNOTATION OVERLAYS FOR ADDING ADDITIONAL TEXT AND GRAPHICS TO THE ASSEMBLY:

Additional text and graphics can be added to the Assembly by creating .F2P annotation overlays.   To add annotation notes to the assembly similar to the figure below click the Annotation Tool button  on the top toolbar. Your cursor will change to .

Drag a rectangle within a top or bottom view window.  Release the mouse button after dragging your rectangle. The tabbed Object Properties dialog opens. This is where you can specify properties for your annotation.

Click the Text tab (if necessary).   In the Text box, type the text you want to appear in the annotation.  Click OK. The display contains the annotation.

With the Annotation Tool selected, click the annotation you just added. A shortcut menu appears.

Click Call Out. A callout line appears to the right of the annotation.  With the annotation cursor, click and hold the tip of the callout. Drag the callout to the desired location. While you drag, a thick line will stretch from the center of the annotation to the tip of your cursor.  Note: If the tip of the callout is not in view, you may have to use the panning tool (TOOLS / PANNING TOOL) to move it into view.  Release the mouse button. The callout line will move to the desired location.

Click and drag the annotation to the desired location.  Note: If the annotation has a callout, the callout will stay anchored to the PCB.

ADDING SELECTABLE ANNOTATION (.F2P) OVERLAYS TO THE GENERAL DISPLAY:
The Selectable Annotation (.F2P) overlays allows you to load the  F2P annotation overlays you have created and turn them on and off individually. 

The ANNOTATION icon  at the top of the display (it is the 25th icon from the left) is a 3 way toggle which brings up the "CHOOSE F2P'S TO DISPLAY" window below.

To add F2P Annotations to the Window above you need to Load them first.  To Load Annotations close the current window below, if you have it displayed, then from the Main menu click EDIT, click ANNOTATIONS then click  LOAD ANNOTATIONS and select the  .F2P file you wish to load then click OPEN.

Our sample SAMPLE2.F2B file we are working with has 8 sample .F2P Annotation overlays already Loaded into it.  These same 8 .F2B files are also on the directory  c:\program files\unisoft  . The list of the 8 F2P's are in the figure above starting with  SAMPLE2-assembly-sheet-2-of-6.f2p .  Feel free to load and unload them as you wish to get a feel for this feature.  

This feature is also in the free VIEWER software, so for example in the figure below an assembly person on the production floor can select the HAND INSERT overlays to guide them with assembly. 

Or as in the figure below a PC Board Test person can use the free VIEWER software to select the  "SAMPLE2-test-adjust-r12-to-3 volts.f2b" overlay to guide them with a test setup procedure.   

The ProntoVIEW-MARKUP free Viewer software can display these results for assembly personnel at their computers on your production floor or if you do not have computers they can be printed for exact assembly instructions, for example (PART NUMBER / OPERATION / NUMBER OF PARTS / COLOR).

Exercise 2 - How to blink and color part numbers one at a time. Useful for check off in first article inspection process, etc.: 

Generally First Article Inspection is done on the first PC Boards assembled. When the assembly inspection is satisfactory at that point the PC Board can be built reliably in quantity.

After completing the exercise above, in the window at the bottom of the display click UNDRAW ALL.  A new window opens, put check marks in all the boxes and click OK.  The result is all component coloring is now cleared.  Now single click the first part number displayed in the lower left of the screen under the "PART NUMBER" field.  Then click BLINK in the bottom center of the screen. This will blink those components with that part number. In real life the person doing the first article inspection would check each of those components for the correct part number installed.  If all where correct then they would color those components to indicate they are correct. Please do this now by clicking DRAW. Note a check mark has been placed to the left of the part number indicating it has been completed. The inspector would continue this process for each part number until all part numbers are colored at which point that would indicate the PC Board was assembled correctly with all components. At that point the PC Board can be built in quantity. 

Exercise 3 - The Find Feature:  Using the FIND feature allows you to find a component or component pin.  You can find a net trace or 2 net traces to identify where a short between two traces maybe.  Search and find by netname or by part number. Also find by description field from the Bill Of Materials (BOM), for example find all “0.1uf capacitor”.  You can also find a Test Probe X/Y location and Test Probe number for your Bed Of Nails test fixture.

To open the FIND window either at the top of the display click the FIND icon   or from the main menu click EDIT then FIND.  Next to search for a component type  U4  in the top left field and click APPLY.  The result is the cursor moves to   U4   and   U4  is highlighted in red.  Note that APPLY finds what you are looking for and leaves the FIND window open for further finds or clicking OK closes the FIND window and locates the item you requested.

To locate a short between two traces in the FIND window in the top left field type  U4.4  and in the top right field type   U4.5  and click APPLY .  Note as in the figure below the two traces in question are highlighted.  One trace is in yellow and the other blue.  A technician would then follow along the two traces and where they came closest to each other would be the most likely place to find the short. 

Choose any of the other tabs to experiment with the different types of search options available. Click CLOSE to close the FIND window.

Exercise 4 - Cross probing of hyper-linked Schematic and Assembly feature.:  Click VIEW from the main menu then click RIGHT PANE. Click VIEW again then click SCHEMATIC.  The right pane now displays "No Net Selected".  Click VIEW from the main menu then click LEFT PANE and select a net by either clicking the Select tool (Bull's-eye icon) then clicking on a pin on the display or using the Find feature to select a net.  The result is the schematic should be displayed in the right pane. The schematic view in the right pane is also an active display so by clicking any signal name or pin number on the right side on the components displayed will now navigate to that signal. You can now navigate any signal down its resultant path.

For further details on features and operations please review the manuals by clicking the "ProntoVIEW-MARKUP VIEW Manual" icon and clicking the "ProntoVIEW-MARKUP MARKUP Manual" icon in the "Unisoft ProntoPLACE" folder. 

ProntoPLACE TUTORIAL MOVIE: If you have not already done so we suggest that you watch the tutorial movie which displays most features of this software. Click the icon "ProntoPLACE Tutorial Movie"   The play time is approx. 30 minutes - PLAY SPEED: The play speed is set to slow. You can manually move the frames forward quickly by clicking the STOP button (third button from the top left) then move the slide bar on the top to the right to advance the frames.

5) SAVING YOUR WORK:

            You will want to save your work initially or after adding annotations to your file. You can save your work as a .F2B file (complete board save) or as a .F2P overlay file (saves only annotations you have added).

            To save as .F2B - On the FILE menu, click SAVE.

Note: If you want to save the file with a different name, on the FILE menu, click SAVE AS. The Save dialog box appears. Type a name in the FILE NAME box. Click OK.

An .F2B file contains all of the board information, plus the annotations. The board file is loaded first and then the annotation file is loaded on top of the board file. When you save the file, the system defaults to the original file name with a different extension. This file can be viewed by anybody using the VIEW-MARKUP software or any of the other Unisoft software modules. If you plan to send your annotated board along with the free VIEW-MARKUP program to another person, the F2B file is more convenient.

            To save a .F2P overlay file - Click EDIT from the main menu, then click ANNOTATIONS and SAVE ANNOTATIONS.  The Save dialog box appears. Type a name in the FILE NAME box. Click OK.

An .F2P file contains just the annotations you have added to the PC Board assembly display such as component coloring, notes and graphics.  The .F2P can be viewed in conjunction with an .F2B or CAD files at a later time. If you want to develop multiple visual aids based on the same CAD file, or if you receive updated CAD files in the future, it is better to save F2P files. These files can then be loaded against the similar or updated PC Board design saving you the time of recreating the annotations. F2P's can be overlayed individually or stacked in combination.

- Navigate the menus and select the features to get a general idea of the software's operation.

5a) Additional features: 

ProntoPLACE also has all the features of the ProntoVIEW-MARKUP software.  The ProntoPLACE software is compatible with MARKUP.EXE our royalty free PCB Viewer software.  Normally this viewer is used throughout the plant floor or given to vendors or clients for better communications.  The viewer has over 100 features that make it the ideal ONE TOOL for the various departments of a typical electronic manufacture.  Features include viewing and printing out of the display, find by Reference Designator, Part Number and more.  To give the free viewer to someone simply send them the MARKUP.EXE and the .F2B file for your PC Board (MARKUP.EXE is usually located in the c:\program files\unisoft directory).

6) TO OPEN YOUR OWN CAD FILES YOU CAN USE THE SMART OPEN FEATURE WHICH WILL AUTOMATICALLY DETECT CAD FILES IN A DIRECTORY THAT CAN BE IMPORTED INTO THE UNISOFT SOFTWARE.    To use SMART OPEN click FILE off the main menu then click SMART OPEN and point to the directory that contains your CAD files and follow the instructions to display your PC Board assembly.

6a) HOW TO OPEN YOUR CAD AND BOM FILES MANUALLY - ProntoPLACE imports the standard ASCII file that CAD systems create. Each CAD system has its own format.  To view a variety of the latest full CAD samples please see directory  c:\program file\unisoft   and look for the files starting with SAMPLE_  .  For example you will find SAMPLE_PADS.ASC  which is the PADS CAD systems ASCII output file.  This and the other sample CAD files can be directly imported into the Unisoft software.  Simply match your file to one of the samples and your PC-BOARD can be displayed with ProntoPLACE software.

7) API FUNCTION:

An API function for external control is included if you need to manage ProntoPLACE from your application or equipment.

The API is contained in the file  REMOTEAPI.ZIP  in the directory  ...\unisoft where you installed the software.  Please unzip this file into the ...\unisoft  directory.  The result should be directories   ...\unisoft\remoteapi\rapi_test . 

See the file README.TXT in the directory  ...\unisoft\remoteapi\rapi_test  on how to use the API.  Also the files  API.H  and  RAPI_TEST.C  explain the functions. 

FUNCTIONS:

            ShowCurView

            ZoomCurView

            OpenBoard

            SetCurView

            ShowCurView

            ZoomCurView

            Rotate

            Flip

            MoveCurView

            ClearBom

            ClearAnnotation

            ImportBom

            ImportAnnotation

            FindComponents

            FindNets

We have supplied a function tester program. You can test out the functions by running RAPI_TEST.EXE in directory RAPI_TEST .  See the readme above for details  (For example run RAPI_TEST.EXE and type HELP  to get general help or type   HELP FindComponents    to get specific help for FindComponents. If you type    FindComponents 1 U11   the 1 will zoom the display to where U11 is located and component U11 will be highlighted.   If you type    FindComponents 1 U11.3 U6.9   then both the component U11.3 and U6.9 pins and traces will be highlighted.).

 
MORE ON THE API:

RAPI_Test - contains samples of how you can use the API via a DOS prompt.

Please note that when using the DOS command prompt test program - if you type Help at the command prompt (Enter>) you will get a list of all the API functions available to you.  If you type 'help' and then the functions name (e.g. Enter>help OpenBoard) it will explain how to use that particular function.  You should go through this exercise to become familar with the functionality of the API.

If you review the C code in the file (RAPI_Test.c) you will see how the actual DOS prompt program was written.  You can write similar functions in your own code that will call up the program and launch the necessary API functions you wish.

We hope you find this API useful. 

8) WHERE IS THE SOFTWARE INSTALLED - If you chose the default path on installation the software was installed to the directory  c:\program files\unisoft  .   The ProntoPLACE executable program is MARKUP.EXE .  The Icons group are installed in the PROGRAM GROUP under "Unisoft ProntoPLACE".  ".  Also three shortcuts where placed on your desktop, one for the ProntoPLACE software, a second for the movie tutorial and a third for this manual.

FEATURES OF ProntoVIEW-MARKUP (all the features of ProntoVIEW-MARKUP are in ProntoPLACE):
- Import virtually any CAD file.
- Instantly find components, pins, nets, part numbers and shorts between traces.
- Zoom, single/split screen, flip, rotate, change screen settings

- Active schematic view that is hyper-linked to the assembly.
- Print or plot to any Windows compatible printer
- Colorize single or multiple components.
- Save and load single or multiple annotation overlays.
- Import Bill of Material (BOM) information and associate with each component. BOM importing is programmable to accommodate multiple BOM style formats.
- Add up to 4 User Text fields automatically to any component.
- Change the component properties of any part number.
- Set origins and measurement tool.
- Any CAD file exported to a flat ASCII file. Contains each component, pin, via, net-number, x/y, surface, etc. (Useful for other systems - test, assembly equipment, etc.).
- Renumber nets, kill nets and auto assign net numbers to "no connect" nets.
- Split Alphanumeric pins on Import/Export, shorten long netnames on Import/Export.
- Import test probe numbers to appear on the display and search test probe numbers.
- More    
 

Thank you for evaluating the ProntoPLACE software.  Please contact Unisoft with any questions  (203) 913-0782  or  info1@unisoft-cim.com .