Possibilities for command input in Schematic, Layout, and Library Editor:
In any case it is necessary to understand the syntax of the Electronics command language which is described in the following section. A detailed description of the Electronics commands can be found on the help pages.
The classical way of working with Electronics is to activate the command first, and then choose the object you want to have it executed on. For example, first activate the MOVE command by clicking the icon in the command menu or selecting the command in one of the menus, and finally click onto the object you want to move.
As an alternative to the previously mentioned clicking onto an icon you can use the command line. When entering commands you may abbreviate key words as long as they cannot be mistaken for another key word, or you may use small or capital letters (the input is not case sensitive), for example:
CHANGE WIDTH 0.024
The actual unit for the values is set in the GRID menu. It's also possible to specify the unit directly in the command line without changing the currently set grid:
CHANGE WIDTH 0.6MM
or
cha wid 24mii
Most commands can be executed whilst declaring coordinate values in the command line.
Examples:
MOVE IC1>VALUE (2.50 1.75) ;
The value placeholder text for part IC1 moves to position 2.50 1.75 in the layout.
MIRROR U1;
Part U1 will be mirrored to the bottom side of the board.
HOLE 0.15 (5 8.5) ;
Place a hole with drill diameter 0.15 at position 5 8.5.
VIA 'GND' 0.070 round (2.0 3.0) ;
A round shaped via with a diameter of 0.070 belonging to signal GND will be placed at position 2.0 3.0.
You can recall the most recently entered commands by pressing Crsr-Up () or Crsr-Down () and edit them. The Esc key deletes the contents of the command line.
Another way of using Electronics is to work with the object-specific command menu. In this case you first click with the right mouse button onto the object and then you select the command that you want to have executed. The context menu contains all commands that can be executed with the selected object. Additionally you can display all the object's properties by clicking onto the Properties entry. Some of them can be even changed directly in the Properties window.
Texts may be allocated to the function keys and to combinations of those keys with Alt, Ctrl and Shift (for Mac OS-X additionally Cmd), if not occupied by the operating system or a Linux Window Manager (for example F1 for help). If a function key is pressed, this corresponds to the text being typed in via the keyboard. Since every command is capable of being entered as text, every command, together with certain parameters, can be assigned to a function key. Even whole sequences of commands can be assigned to a function key in this way.
The command
ASSIGN
displays the current function key assignments. Changes to the key assignments can be carried out in the assign window. The New button can be used to define a new key assignment. A click onto Del will delete a marked entry, while Change alters an existing definition. OK closes the dialog and saves the definitions, while Cancel aborts the dialog.
These settings can also be made via the Options/Assign menu in the Schematic or Layout Editor.
To predefine certain assignments you can also use the ASSIGN command in the file eagle.scr (see page 132).
Examples:
The combination of Ctrl + Shift + G displays a grid of 0.127mm:
ASSIGN CS+G 'GRID MM 0.127 ON;';
The combination of Alt + F6 changes the layer to Top and starts the ROUTE command:
ASSIGN A+F6 'LAYER TOP; ROUTE';
The combination of the keys Alt + R displays only the layers Top, Pads, Vias and Dimension first and then starts the print out with the default printer:
ASSIGN A+R 'DISPLAY NONE 1 17 18 20; PRINT;';
A, C, M, and S are the modifiers for the Alt, Ctrl, Cmd (Mac OS-X only), and Shift key.
The combination of Alt + 0 brings the Control Panel into the foreground. The combinations Alt + 1 up to 9 are assigned to the various editor windows, according to the window number which is shown in the respective title bar.
Script files are a powerful tool. They can contain long sequences of commands, such as the specification of specific colors and fill-patterns for all layers, as for example in defaultcolors.scr. On the other hand they might contain netlists converted from the data of other programs.
The SCRIPT command is used to execute script files.
Many User Language programs (ULP) create script files that can be read in order to modify a layout or a schematic.
Electronics outputs an entire library, for instance, as a script file with the aid of the EXPORT command (Script option). This file can be modified with a text editor, after which it can be read in again. This allows changes to be made to a library quite easily.
There is more information about script files and export commands later in this chapter.
The various methods of giving commands can be mixed together.
You can, for instance, click the icon for the CIRCLE command (which corresponds to typing CIRCLE on the command line), and then type the coordinates of the center of the circle and a point on the circumference in the command line, in this form:
(2 2) (2 3) ←
The values used above would, if the unit is currently set to inch, result in a circle with a radius of one inch centered on the coordinate (2 2). It is irrelevant whether the CIRCLE command is entered by icon or by typing on the command line.
Some Electronics commands are used in combination with the Shift, Alt or Ctrl keys. In case you are working with Electronics for Mac OS-X, please use the Cmd key instead of Ctrl.