Protel : miscellaneous work-arounds

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• Protel locks up while starting up ? Try starting up Protel while holding down CTRL. (When Protel starts up and you're *not* holding CTRL, it also opens up all the ".ddb" files that were open the last time you closed Protel.). `` hint: when you start protel99se using the control button hold down deal, wait and wait a long long time ... go for coffee, etc., before you give up and use task manager to end protel. hope this helps the people on this forum. '' -- "John Lemburg" on 2001-03-23 05:10:52 PM
• Q: Protel was working ... then it crashed. It won't even start up any more. I even tried uninstalling and reinstalling Protel, and it still doesn't work. Now what ? A: ``Windows Uninstall does not remove the Protel configuration files that are located in your Windows directory (e.g. C:\Winnt). When uninstalling Protel, move any files in the Windows directory that start with CLIENT99SE... to another location (or delete them if you don't mind losing whatever configuration changes you have made) and then reinstall Protel.'' -- John Williams QualECAD

• The keyboard locks up in the PCB editor.
  This might help:
   Go into the mouse properties
   select the wheel tab
   select advanced under wheel troubleshooter
   select "only turn off intellipoint wheel for the following programs"
   select add and browse for Protel
  -- Diana Jackson  of SiGEM www.sigem.com on 2000-07-27
  

  Sometimes, *some* surface mount pads in the PCB editor
  are no longer visible when toggling to an internal plane layer.
  Workaround:
    Set two power plane clearance design rules with Pad Specification Scope,
  Hole Size = 0, Layer = Top [Bottom].
  
    Works like a charm and is completely harmless if left in place.
  --
  Abdulrahman Lomax
  

• Q: How do I find out the exact RGB values of the background ?

  A1: David Cary always sets the background to white, R=255, G=255, B=255 (#FFFFFF). Right-click on the schematic, select "Document Options", click the colored box next to "Sheet Color", and pick white.

  A2: The color-picker *ought* to display the RGB values in each color it shows. One work-around until Protel fixes this oversight (bug): Copy the image with ``alt+E+C'' or ``PrintScrn'' or ``alt+PrintScrn'' (this also works when viewing the PCB and nearly all other Windows programs). Paste this image into your favorite image editor (for example, Jasc Paint Shop-Pro http://www.jasc.com/ ). Use the eye-dropper to pick the item of interest and view the RGB values of its color. -- Gudmund Johansson on 2000-05-30

advice on learning PCB design

see ../pcbs.htm

customizing Protel

How do I customize the menus ?

Many people use Protel without any customization.

Q: How do I customize the menus ? [simple tutorial]

Q: check out http://www.eda.co.uk/support.html ``Comprehensive applications note including a complete tutorial and code for all of the example macros.''

"Geoff Harland" on 2001-05-27 06:55:14 PM wrote:

You should never edit any of the .ins files, as these inform Protel of what Processes are provided by the corresponding Server.

However, if due care is exercised, it is possible to edit the (ASCII/text format) CLIENT99SE.rcs file, which is found in the Windows directory. It is customarily so large in size that Notepad can *not* be used to edit it, and when some other editor is used, it is important that the file be (re)saved in ASCII format (rather than some other format, such as those used by (for instance) Word or Write files).

For the most part though, it is generally better to let Protel itself make any changes to this file, and this will occur (as appropriate) if you customise the resources. If you double-click on the menu bar, a dialog box will be invoked, which will permit you to customise your menu resources. By double-clicking on the title bar (and/or non-button occupied area) of a Toolbar, it is similarly possible to invoke a dialog box which permits you to customise the Toolbar concerned. It is also possible to customise your Shortcut resources, though invoking the associated dialog box is not so straightforward (though this can be facilitated by defining a Shortcut key to invoke this dialog box, and as such, is a "bootstrap" means to facilitate *succeeding* changes to your Shortcut resources).

When a resource is added or edited, you always specify a Process, and optionally specify one or more parameters. (*When* these are provided (which is not always the case), the .HLP file for each Server lists which Processes are provided by each Server, and which parameters (if any) can be used with each of these Processes). In the case of menu resources, you also have to specify what text will be displayed by the menu entry; you can optionally use (no more than) one ampersand (&) character to stipulate that the *following* character will be underlined, e.g. Poly&gon will result in the 'g' character within Polygon being underlined in the resulting menu entry. In the case of Toolbar resources, you typically specify which .BMP file is to be used with the associated button, and the size of this file (# of pixels wide, and # of pixels high) must match that of the files used on existing Toolbar buttons. (I can't remember this size off-hand, but I do recall that the width and height are identical.) You can also optionally specify (by a parameter) what "bubble help" will be provided when the cursor is moved over the corresponding button (in the Toolbar). (It is also possible, by the use of an optional parameter, to specify what text will be displayed in the Status Bar when a particular menu item is being "navigated" over.) And in the case of Shortcut resources, you also have to specify which key combination is to be used with this, e.g. Alt-F12 or Ctrl-Q, etc. (It is also possible to specify that a shortcut key be invoked after *two* consecutive key combinations have been entered, but this is not an option which I have used myself, or at least not to any significant extent).

(Paintbrush can be used to prepare bitmap files for your customised buttons within Toolbars. But be sure that the dimensions of your .BMP files match the dimensions of the .BMP files used by the existing/provided buttons within Toolbars.)

You could do a lot worse then read the on-line help and written documentation provided on how to customise your resources. The above description is really just a summary of what is involved.

Memo to anyone preparing FAQ files for Protel: consider including the above material in a question on customising Protel's resources.

Regards,
Geoff Harland.
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How do I customize the fonts or use accented letters ?

fonts on the PWB