FWIW, here are the relevant functions from the Protel 98 software developer's kit
(freely downloadable as part of P98 trial version -- no NDA involved).
I do not know whether Protel has changed these functions for P99se (source code has
not been released).
Const
kInternalUnits = 10000; {ths Of a mil} Note: a mil is actually
equal to ten thousand internal units
kMaxCoord = 99999 * kInternalUnits;
kMinCoord = 0 * kInternalUnits;
kMilAccuracy = kInternalUnits Div 10;
kMMAccuracy = kMilAccuracy * 100;
k1Mil = 1 * kInternalUnits;
k1Inch = 1000 * kInternalUnits;
Var
d, f : TDouble;
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MilsToCoord(M : TReal) : TCoord;
Begin
Result := Round(MilsToRealCoord(M));
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MMsToCoord(M : TReal) : TCoord;
Begin
Result := Round(MMsToRealCoord(M));
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MilsToRealCoord(M : TReal) : TReal;
Begin
Result := M * kInternalUnits;
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MMsToRealCoord(M : TReal) : TReal;
Begin
Result := M * kInternalUnits / 0.0254;
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MMAccuracy : TDouble;
Begin
f := d - Trunc(d);
f := Round(f * kMMAccuracy) / kMMAccuracy;
Result := f + Trunc(d);
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
{..................................................................................................................}
Function MilAccuracy : TDouble;
Begin
f := d - Trunc(d);
f := Round(f * kMilAccuracy) / kMilAccuracy;
Result := f + Trunc(d);
End;
{..................................................................................................................}
John Williams
QualECAD
Abd ul-Rahman Lomax wrote:
> At 08:41 PM 3/15/01 +1100, Les Grant wrote:
>
> >Perhaps I have missed something here but are you implying that
> >conversion from metric is exact but conversion from imperial is
> >approximate? 1 inch = 1000 mil = 25.4mm exactly, both ways.
>
> So conversion from inch to mm is exact. But what about the other way?
>
> If Protel supported divisors for distances, i.e., the use of fractions,
> then one could get exact conversions in both directions, it would not
> matter. It would not be difficult to implement that, by the way. One would
> break the dimension field into two fields; the default for the second field
> would be 1, but if it was present and was not one, dimensions would be
> converted by division.
>
> Remember that we are talking about database units, not necessarily what is
> displayed.
>
> However, Protel presently uses a database unit of a small decimal fraction
> of an inch. I think it is one microinch, but it might be smaller than that;
> I've done some experimentation with this, but I don't remember the results
> right now. Actually, the units are mils, but there is then three decimal
> place precision. For a while there, the database was floating point, which
> was interesting, but I think they changed it back. Metric dimensions (in
> mm) are translated into the database units by dividing them by 0.0254. So
> if I enter 1 mm, it will become 39.370 mils, which is pretty accurate. But
> it is not exact; an error of approximately 0.078 microinch is introduced,
> which is 0.002 mm. When the number is translated back into mm, it becomes
> 0.999998 mm. That is only 2 nanometers off, but, especially when
> accumulated, it can knock the displayed mm measurements off, as we
> frequently see.
>
> However, the problem might also be addressed by intelligent rounding of the
> mm display. If the database precision is 1 microinch, we only have a real
> resolution in mm of 0.040 mm, so display of mm to three decimal places or
> beyond is meaningless. If the mm figures were rounded (not truncated) to
> two places I think that conversions within the 100 inch workspace would
> remain accurate; but I have not thoroughly investigated this. Intelligent
> rounding would avoid the necessity of changing and testing all the myriad
> routines which use locations.....
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