FastCounter by bCentral
When creating new pads, vias or text, the designer is able to be creative when assigning names to represent the different styles used in a design.
The method that Altium uses for pads, looks like this...
P:EX60Y60D32A
This gives us a good starting point for naming our own pads, but it is something that can be improved upon.
Before we can improve upon the naming of pads, vias or text, we need to look at the above example and understand the meaning of the numbers and letters that have been used.
The pads always start with the letter 'P'. Vias use the letter 'V', and text 'T'. So far so good. The next letter refers to the type of pad style. In the above example, it is an 'E' for Ellipse. It could also be 'O' for Oval, 'R' for Rectangle, or 'M' for Mounting hole. As a side note, if an ellipse has dimensions that are equal, it is round. If a rectangle has dimensions that are equal, it is a square.
We then have an 'X' which is followed by a number. In the above example, it is 60. This indicates that the pad is .060" in the X direction. The next character is a 'Y', and the number 60. This interprets to .060" in the Y direction.
After these dimensions, we have the character 'D'. This is followed by a number. In the above example, it is 32. This translates to the hole diameter of .032" for this .060" x .060" ellipse pad.
Finally, there is a trailing character. In the above example, it is an 'A'. This translates to All layers that this pad appears on. In the case of a surface mount pad, it would be a 'T' for the Top side or 'B' for the Bottom side.
Well, now that we have interpreted the above example, which is typical of the naming convention ACCEL Technologies uses, we are now ready to improve upon it a bit making it a bit more consistent for our needs.
Here is how we do that. First, we use the same naming prefix information... 'P' for Pad, 'V' for Via, and 'T' for Text - followed by the ':' colon.
Next, we use the Diameter of the hole in the Pad, as a three digit number. If it is a SMT pad, we put a '000' in this field.
We then use the 'X' for the X dimension marker. For the number, we use four digits to describe the value, down to a tenth of a mil. The same applies for the Y dimension. If the Pad diameter is .060", the value entered will be 0600.
We use the shape identifier character. 'R' for Rectangle, 'O' for Oval, 'E' for Ellipse, etc.
Lastly, we use a character to identify what layers it applies to, 'T' for Top Layer, 'A' for All Layers, etc.
In the above example, using our methods for naming, we would now have a pad description as follows...
P:D032X0600Y0600EA
What this does is allow the information to be defined in a more consistent manner, creating columns that make it easier to read, as our eyes scan down the long list looking for that pad we need to use in our design.
Another benefit is that when these pads are sorted, they will be placed in order based upon - first their shape, and second their size.