Parent/Child XREF Issue

[pqphillips]

Okay, I've created two blocks, one a parent, the other a child.

 

When I insert the child component into the drawing and associate it with the parent, the child symbol's XREF is perfectly fine, but the parent's XREF has converted to a text block with additional references to two of the terminals on the child symbol, and I cannot figure out why. It's supposed to have the XREF attribute.

 

Here's a shot of part of the parent symbol (I had to crop it because it's so big that you'd never be able to read it)

 

 

As you can see, the XREF attribute isn't working correctly, and indeed is not even an attribute, but is now MTEXT.

 

 

This is the child symbol:

 

 

As you can see, the XREF on the parent symbol is showing not only the reference, but the CH3:1 and CH3:2 terminals.

 

 

Any reason why this is happening?

[pqphillips]

Well, I figured it out...

 

When using a cross reference style that is anything other than basic crossreferencing (i.e. - using the table format or the NO/NC style), Electrical seems to want to treat every created block as if it were an NC NO and cross reference like that. Of course, this could be because I have the insertion point in line with a wire connection. Perhaps if I changed the insertion point to not be in line with a wire connection, things could be different.

 

I will try it and update this post with my findings.

[pqphillips]

I will try it and update this post with my findings.

 

BOOM! Got it!

 

We are using the Graphical Format on the Component Cross-Reference Display as opposed to Text Format or Table Format. What I guess happens is that if you use the Graphical Format and the insertion point on the child component is in line with any wire connections, Electrical will try to cross reference it as if it were a NC/NO object (like contacts on a relay coil).

 

The solution to this is quite simple: Move your insertion point to where it is not in line with any wire connections.