Searching and Placing PSpice Parts

You can place PSpice parts on a schematic page in OrCAD Capture using PSpice Part Search. PSpice Part Search allows you to place PSpice parts in OrCAD Capture, search for PSpice parts in OrCAD Capture, and add new PSpice parts from one place (PSpice Part Search database) in OrCAD Capture. Alternatively, you can place PSpice parts using the Place Part window (choose Place – Part).

Searching PSpice Parts using PSpice Part Search

PSpice Part Search allows you to search PSpice Parts in a selected category, or all categories. The following table provides search examples for better search results in PSpice Part Search window:

To search PSpice parts using PSpice Part Search

1. From the Place menu, choose PSpice Component – Search.
   The PSpice Part Search window is displayed. For more information, see Place PSpice Part command.
2. Either select a category in Category Tab to search PSpice part in a particular category or select a library in Library tab to search PSpice part in a particular library.

3. Enter the part details in the search text box.
   Refer the Search Example table for better search results.

4. Either select the Search Selected Category option to search in the selected category or select the Search All Categories option to search in all the categories, from the filter that is located below the text box.

5. Press Enter or click .

 Click  to clear the search results.

Placing PSpice Parts using PSpice Part Search

PSpice Part Search allows you to view all PSpice parts at one place with respect to their function or library. You can either select the Category tab to view the PSpice parts according to their function (such as Amplifiers, Discrete),  or select the Library tab to view the PSpice parts according to the library they belong to (such as 7400, 74h).

To place PSpice parts using PSpice Part Search

1. From the place menu, choose PSpice Component – Search.
   The PSpice Part Search window is displayed. For more information, see Place PSpice Part command in Capture Reference Guide.
2. From the list, choose the PSpice part you wish to place on the schematic page.
3. Right-click the selected part and select Place Symbol from the pop-up.
   Alternatively, you can double-click the part.
   An image is attached to the mouse pointer.
   Press F6 to place the part at a specific location. The cursor changes to cross-hair when it is ready to place a part.
   
4. Move the part image and click on schematic editor to place the part.
5. Press the Esc key or select another tool to dismiss the part that is attached to the pointer.

Adding New Parts in PSpice Part Search

Perform the following steps to add a new PSpice part in PSpice Part Search:

1. Configure the database
2. Add a part in the PSpice Part Search database
3. Add a category using Category table
4. Link part to one or more category
   
   

To configure the database

To add new parts in the PSpice Part Search database, you need to first configure the database (local or remote) using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). You can edit the default PSpice Part Search database (cdn_psp_db.db) using SQLite. The PSpice Part Search database is stored in <Installation Directory>\tools\capture\tclscripts\orPSpiceModelBrowser.

To add a part in the database

Perform the following steps to add a part in PSpice Part Search database:

1. Enter the Company_ID, Part_Number, Part_Name, Part_Description, and Part_Library details in the Part table.

   The following table describes the Part table:

   Field Name	Data Type
   Company_ID	Text (Up to 16 char)
   Part_Number	Text (Up to 64 char)
   Part_Name	Text (Up to 64 char)
   Part_Description	Text (Up to 255 char)
   Part_Library	Text (Up to 64 char)

   - Part_Number is the key in Part table.

   - Part_Name, Part_Description, and Part_Library are used by PSpice Part Search to search for a part.

2. Save the table

To add a category using Category table

If no related category of the new part is present in the database, you need to add a category for the new part. If you have a related category present in the database for the new part, you can skip this step.

Perform the following steps to add a category related to new part in PSpice Part Search:

1. Enter Company_ID, Category_ID, Category_ParentID, Category_Name, and Category_Description in the Category table.

   The following table describes the Category table:

   Field Name	Data Type
   Company_ID	Text (Up to 16 char)
   Category_ID	Number
   Category_ParentID	Number
   Category_Name	Text (Up to 128 char)
   Category_Description	Text (Up to 255 char)

   - Category_ID is the key in the Category table.

   - Category_ID, Category_ParentID, and Category_Name are used by PSpice Part Search to search for a part.

2. Save the Category table

To link the new part with one or more categories using category_part_link table

Perform the following steps to link the part with one or more categories:

1. Enter the Company_ID, Category_ID, and Part_Number in the category_part_link table.
   Following table describes the category_part_link table:

   Field Name	Data Type
   Company_ID	Text (Up to 16 char)
   Category_ID	Number
   Part_Number	Text (Up to 64 char)

   - Category_ID must represent a category in the Category table and Part_Number must represent a part in the Part table.

   - Category_ID and Part_Number are the keys together in category_part_link table.

   - Category_ID and Part_Number are used by PSpice Part Search to search for a part.

   - A part can be linked to multiple categories.

2. Save the category_part link_table.

Adding Dynamic Pop-Up Menus in Part Table

You can add dynamic pop-up menus in Part table of PSpice Part Search. Perform the following steps to add dynamic pop-up menus in the Part table:

1. Add menu name
2. Add the callback TCL procedure

Add menu name

You can add custom menus by adding the item to the Menu_Parts.txt file located at <Installation Directory>\tools\capture\tclscripts\orPSpiceModelBrowser\tcl. For example, to add a menu item Custom Menu 1, add a line {"MenuName":"Custom Menu 1","Function":"Menu1Callback"}" in menu_parts.txt file.

After you add this line, this menu will appear on the pop-up in Part Table.

Add the callback TCL procedure

Add a procedure in the TCL file with following syntax:

proc <procedure name> {arguments} {}

For example, to add  a procedure Menu1Callback. Add a procedure "proc Menu1Callback {args} {}" in the TCL file.

In the procedure, define your the custom steps that are executed when the custom menu is chosen. The parameters of the selected row in Part Table are passed to the procedure.