Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Setting Up Your Virtuoso XL Layout Editor Environment

■Use bright colors to make probes and highlights easy to find

Note: Do not make the hilite drawing layer and the hilite drawing2 layer solid fill because these layers are used to indicate selected components and to manipulate shapes.

Using Bindkeys

Bindkeys, also called function keys, are keyboard macros that assign a menu command to a key you choose from the keyboard.

When your cursor is in the layout window, you can use all of the bindkeys that are loaded for the applications you are running.

Displaying Bindkeys

To display the list of bindkeys for Virtuoso XL, follow these steps.

1.From the CIW, choose Options – Bindkey.

The Key or Mouse Binding form appears.

2.In the Application Type Prefix cyclic field, chooseLayout.

3.Click Show Bind Keys.

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Setting Up Your Virtuoso XL Layout Editor Environment

A text window displays the layout editor bindkeys and commands.

Loading Virtuoso XL Bindkeys

You can find a list of default bindkeys for Virtuoso XL at the following location:

your_install_dir/samples/local/lxBindKeys.il

where your_install_dir is the top directory in which you store Cadence® software.

To load this file of bindkey definitions every time you run Virtuoso XL, add the following to your

.cdsinit file: load(prependInstallPath("samples/local/lxBindKeys.il"))

Setting Environment Variables in the Layout XL Options

Form

Environment variables control the values of Virtuoso XL options. You can set some Virtuoso XL environment variables in the individual options forms for Virtuoso XL commands. You can set other Virtuoso XL environment variables using the Layout XL Options form. (See “Environment Variables” on page 485).

You must set the options related to initialization (Show All Incomplete Nets and Auto Arrange Windows) on the Layout XL Options form before you start your design session. The values you enter for these options in the current session take effect the next time you start Virtuoso XL. Changes made to other values take effect as soon as you click OK or Apply. To avoid having to restart the session, set these values in your .cdsenv or .cdsinit file.

Not all the Virtuoso XL environment variables are available through forms. You can set the value of environment variables not available on forms in your .cdsenv or .cdsinit file. For a list of all the Virtuoso XL environment variables and their values, see “Environment Variables” on page 485.

To set environment variables using the Layout XL Options form, follow these steps.

1. From the layout window, choose Options – Layout XL.

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Setting Up Your Virtuoso XL Layout Editor Environment

The Layout XL Options form appears.

Virtuoso XL Layout Editor User Guide

Setting Up Your Virtuoso XL Layout Editor Environment

2.In the Edit section at the top of the form, select Global Options or Cellview Options, depending on whether you want the information you enter in this form apply to the your whole design environment or to only one cellview. If you choose Cellview Options, several of the options on this form are grayed out because they cannot be localized to individual cellviews.

3.In the main body of the form, choose the layout options you want to apply to your design.

4.In the Load/Save section at the bottom of the form, set the options according to whether you want to load the information from a file, save the information to a file, or delete the information in the form from the current cellview, the design library, the tech library, or a file.

If you choose the File option, the type-in field becomes active to let you type in a path and name of a file.

To save your design options to a cell or library other than the one from which you opened the form or to a tech library, type the name of a file and clickSave to.

To load previously saved options into this form, type the name of a file and clickLoad from.

To delete these values from a cell or a library, click Delete from.

Note: You cannot delete environment values from a file.

5. Click OK.