Displaying Wire Annotation on Panel Footprint for Connectors

[blakeherr0418]

I am trying to figure out how to display wire annotation for connectors as a panel footprint. This isn't quite working for me as connectors typically have the same terminal number for both sides. Essentially, I've tried the following thus far:

1) Insert connector on schematic page:

2) Connectors on schematic will have the same terminal as expected:

3) With this method, this is where I stall out because I'm not aware if there is a panel footprint that will correctly display the wire annotation for my panel page... I've tried creating my own schematic symbol and panel footprint for the connectors but of course for it to display correctly, you can't have the same terminal number on each side of the block as shown above; instead it has to be something like this:

If I use the same terminal number on each side (as it should be), the wire annotation will of course only display on one side of the block... Are there any solutions to this? Surely I am overlooking something with the terminal attributes on the panel footprint. I have to imagine that there is a solution which will allow me to still use the 'insert connector' feature on the schematic page, insert a panel footprint on the panel page, and then run the wire annotation command on the panel footprint and have everything display correctly. Ideally I need the terminal number on each side of the block to be the same (01 goes to 01, 02 goes to 02, etc.).

Currently the only way I can get it to display correctly is to make my own blocks and have different terminal numbers for ALL terminals on the schematic block.

[alds02]

This is a little complex and not as well-documented as I would like. I made a custom wire annotation footprint for an 80-pin connector recently. To have the information for both side displayed separately, I had to lay out attributes for each pin number that ended in P or J. This allows you to have the same pin number on both sides, you won't have to change them on one side.

I ended up with these attributes on one side:

TERM01P

WIREN001P

X1TERM01P

TERMDESC01P

WDEV01P

WLAY01P

And these on the other side:

TERM01J

WIREN001J

X1TERM01J

TERMDESC01J

WDEV01J

WLAY01J

And repeated for every single pin. Additionally, every TERMxP or TERMxJ *must* have a default that corresponds to the real pin number. Mine were just the same as the pin number but imagine a connector with alphabetical labels.

In the end, in spite of all that work by hand, the wire annotation table output looks better to everyone.

[blakeherr0418]

@alds02 thanks for the reply. So the solution I found was to have the attributes as shown below for a 4pin example:

I did this using the 'panel terminal' attribute template, clicking the dropdown under wire connection > others and making it a 2 level terminal. The 2 level terminal style worked for my 2 pin connector but the selection there only allows up to a 3 level terminal. So for my 4pin and 6 pin I simply added extra attributes and named them accordingly 'L03WIRENOL' ,'L04WIRENOL', etc. This allows me to use the 'insert connector' dialog on my schematic sheet and use the custom footprint shown above on my panel page. 

It works with one minor caveat that I've yet to solve... I can place all of my schematic symbol connectors, then place all of my custom panel footprints, then run the wire annotation ONCE and everything shows correctly...

However, if I run my wire annotation more than once it will throw the attributes into open space like this:

Not sure what is causing this but it's a bit of a pain. In order to re-run wire annotation I have to delete/purge all of my connector panel footprints and run it again as if it's the first time. 

[alds02]

Sorry, I have never worked with the terminal attributes, so I don't think I'll be able to troubleshoot that.