Well, this is a bit long - skip to the bottom if you are busy...... I've been evaluating DXP a little more and I keep finding myself asking why the hell did they do that?
I like the PCB printer in 99SE, so I decide to find out what DXP has got instead. I load up a demo PCB and find "Fabrication Outputs" and "Assembly Outputs" under the file menu. Under "Fabrication Outputs" there is "Final". Not very obvious what "Final" is (especially is there is no "Draft" option) but I click it and get a fancy kind of print preview window. The preview window shows 16 pages. It doesn't tell you what those 16 pages are or what they are called unless you can zoom into the previews and deduce what they are from what will be printed. I think what the hell told DXP to generate these 16 pages and what are they and where are they configured? This print preview window has 3 buttons to control zoom, and even an edit box where I can type in a zoom % (although typing something different into it has no effect on anything). Eventually I discover the only way to do anything but zoom and print in this preview window is from a right click context menu. The menu has a "Configuration" item, configure what? who knows till you try it. I try it and get this really crap dialog which is the equivalent of the 99SE PCB Printer tree view. It isn't a conventional tree and by default is displayed fully expanded meaning I have a lot of scrolling to do (at least the scroll bar is grey not the pale blue used randomly elsewhere in DXP). Sheesh this is dragging on but there is just so much wrong to describe.... The tree branches are the printed pages like "TopLayer" etc and these branches contain the PCB layers to be printed. If I left click on a PCB layer it gets highlighted - cool but the highlight doesn't do anything for you, no Del to delete, no Alt Enter for properties, All you can do is move the highlight up and down with cursor keys. If I click on a Page name I am suddenly editing the name. If I double click on a page name I am suddenly editing the name. If I click on the icon next to the page name nothing seems to happen but actually that name got highlighted without showing anything - maybe because page names are displayed with a different background colour. I know it is highlighted because cursoring up and down takes an extra step for the highlight to pass through the page name. I also know because when (and only when) these page names are invisibly highlighted I can hit + or - to expand or colapse their branch. I can also doubleclick on the icon next to the page name to expand or collapse the branch, however, that also brings up a properties dialog for the page. The properties dialog is pretty similar to the 99SE PCB printer. So I delete some of these pages, which is only possible from their context menu and click OK and click close on the preview and close the project. I open the project, open the PCB, select "Final" and the same 16 pages are back just like it was. I find this a bit incredible, compared to 99SE configuring and previewing prints is bloody awful and DXP doesn't even save one configuration in the project never mind multiple configurations in PCB printer documents. I believe CAM output is the same. Another gripe is these generated files don't appear in the project pane. Generate drill files and you have to leave DXP and find the report file in Windows. Sometimes the project pane does show "Generated text files" for some generated files but they simply dissapear the next time you open that project. I am coming to the conclusion that the D in DXP stands for disaster. I am annoyed at the lost of the design database and explorer, a great idea with a bad implimentation. It should have been improved not scrapped. None of my existing designs will convert to DXP without pain, especially for the embedded non-protel documents. I don't think problems like the above where something which worked well in 99SE being crippled by design are going to be fixed in a couple of service packs. I don't think DXP will reach the non-buggyness level of 99SE in a year. The new router seems unimpressive. I would have a lot of re-learning to do. I have to pay for it and pay for ongoing support. I've been using Protel since it was called Tango for DOS. The release of DXP and realiastaion that 99SE is now an unsupported dead end means I have never had more insentive to switch to a different vendor. As the title said Cruch time - do I spend any more time looking at the DXP demo and upcoming SP1 re-learning how to use it or do I spend my time looking at other packages? What do you guys think? Cheers, Terry. ************************************************************************ * Tracking #: AF14BA9FD37F2E49B06417BA387EF98FCCBA26CE * ************************************************************************ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
