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About Entry Ports for Ribbon Cables
Entry ports connected with ribbon cables must be of the type FLAT.
Pin 1 of Entry Ports for Ribbon Cables
When an entry port of a ribbon cable is flat along the Y-axis, pin 1 has the minimum y value, that is, the pins are placed from the negative direction to the positive direction of the Y-axis as shown in the following figure.
When an entry port of a ribbon cable is flat along the X-axis, pin 1 has the minimum x value, that is, the pins are placed from the negative direction to the positive direction of the X-axis as shown in the following figure.
Aligning the Flat Direction of Ribbon Cable With Entry Port Axes
When routing a ribbon cable from an entry port, you can align the flat direction of the ribbon cable with either the X- or Y-axis of the entry port.
The default flat direction of ribbon cables is controlled by the ribbon_cable_flat_direction configuration option.
First Conductors of Ribbon Cables
When routing a ribbon cable from an entry port, the first conductor of the ribbon cable is the conductor connected with pin 1 of the entry port. By default, first conductors of ribbon cables are displayed in red as shown in the following figures.
Justifying Ribbon Cables
For a ribbon cable with an odd number of conductors, a routed trajectory is the centerline of the conductor in the middle of the ribbon cable.
For example, the routed trajectory of a ribbon cable with 11 conductors is the centerline of the sixth conductor as shown in the following figure.
For a ribbon cable with an even number of conductors, a routed trajectory is the centerline of the even number conductor at the middle of the ribbon cable.
For example, the routed trajectory of a ribbon cable with 12 conductors is the centerline of the sixth conductor as shown in the following figure.
To Designate a Coordinate System as an Entry Port for Ribbon Cables
1. Click the arrow next to Auto Designate and then click Designate to designate a component as a connector.
2. Select the component. When logical information is assigned to the component the DES CONN menu appears.
3. Do one of the following:
Click From Logical to use imported logical information. The REF CONN menu appears. Select a logical reference.
Click Enter Name. Press ENTER or click to use the default file or type the name of a file.
The MOD CONN menu appears.
4. Click Entry Ports. The ENTRY PORT menu appears.
5. Click Add/Modify and select a coordinate system. You are prompted to enter the internal length of the cable.
6. Type the length and press ENTER. The PORT TYPE menu appears.
7. Click FLAT as the port type.
 
* You cannot route a ribbon cable using a WIRE or ROUND port type. You must select FLAT as the port type for routing ribbon cables.
You can also use the Auto Designator dialog box to designate the entry ports.
8. Perform steps 4 through 6 to define all the entry ports.
9. Click Done on the ENTRY PORT menu.
 
The internal length is the length of the cable that is inside the entry port. The internal length is not actually routed and is specified in a numerical parameter for each entry port using the INT_LENGTH parameter. These lengths are automatically added to the routed length of a wire.
When you designate one or more coordinate systems as entry ports on a connector, the parameters EP_TYPE and INT_LENGTH are added for each entry port at the entry port level of the connector in the Electrical Parameters dialog box.
To Change the Attachment Axis of Entry Ports for Ribbon Cables
1. Select an entry port of the ribbon cable on the Model Tree or in the graphics window.
2. Click Properties. The Location Properties dialog box opens.
3. Select the ribbon location points attached to the entry port.
4. From the Flat Direction dropdown list, select Flat in X-axis or Flat in Y-axis to flatten the ribbon cables in X direction or Y - direction respectively.
 
* You can also set the attachment axis by setting the value of the ribbon_cable_flat_direction configuration option to either y_axis or x_axis. The default value is y_axis.
5. Click OK to close the Location Properties dialog box.