Example: Determining the Direction of a Comparison
The order of the comparison is important for producing useful results. Below are two examples: direction for comparing two ECAD designs, and direction for an MCAD-ECAD comparison.
Direction for Comparing Two ECAD Designs
When you compare two ECAD designs, make sure the older design is the First Item, and the newer design is the Second Item. For example, component U1 appears this way in these designs:
• original.eda—Contains component U1.
• updated.eda—Does not contain component U1. The ECAD user deleted it from the original design.
To obtain an accurate result, that U1 was deleted, define the comparison as follows:
• First Item—original.eda
• Second Item—updated.eda
If you reverse the order, U1 is shown as an addition to the design.
Direction for an MCAD-ECAD Comparison
The results of an MCAD-ECAD comparison can help you synchronize the designs, if you specify the correct order.
If you are an MCAD user, make sure to specify the MCAD file as the First Item and the ECAD file as the Second Item. When you define the comparison this way, the results show the new ECAD items as additions to the design. Then, you can use Creo View ECAD Validate to send a message to Creo Parametric to add these items to the MCAD design. If you reverse the order, the new ECAD items are shown as deletions to the MCAD model because they exist only in the First Item. Sending these results to Creo Parametric is an attempt to delete components that do not exist.
If you are an ECAD user, and you plan to send the results back to the native ECAD tool, make sure to specify the ECAD file as the First Item. The results show changes to the MCAD file as additions to or deletions from the ECAD design. Then, when you send the IDX file to the ECAD tool, you can quickly synchronize the ECAD data with the MCAD data.