Good morning Ken!  I can answer your questions from a Cadstar point
of view.

> (1) What is CAD libraries?

In Cadstar I maintain four different types of libraires.

The first is a parts library.  This is a text file that contains all
of the information we need to designate which schematic symbol and
which component outline to use.  It also contains some miscellaneous
information that we find helpful.  (At this time I am using three
different parts libraries.)

The next is the schematic symbol library.  This is self-explanitory.

The PCB library contains the component outlines, padstacks, keepaway
area and drill symbols.

The last is the documentation sybol libraries.  This contains our
drawing formats as well as some other odds and ends.  Cadstar
considers anything without a terminal a documentation symbol.

> (2) Can such libraries work with other CAD packages or how about the down
> rev of the same CAD package. I mean how if transfer job from one place to
> other assuming both has same CAD package but may not be at same revision -
> can CAD libraries clash here?

I cannot save my symbols or components in any format other than a
Cadstar archive.  There could be software out there that converts
from one program to another but since we only us Cadstar this is
something I don't know about.

When we switched from DOS-based Cadstar to Windows we had to do a
complete conversion.  What a mess (for a while).  There is a mapping
file that tells Cadstar what a former DOS symbol is in Windows.  It
took a while to develop that file but it works 99% of the time now.
The problems arise when we are working on a drawing that contains
information that was never included in the network version of the
library.When I first started for this company there were three of us
using Cadstar and we all ran our own individual libraries.  About a
year later I saw the folly in that and took over the libraries.  The
other two didn't argue the point.  They didn't want the hassle.

Cadstar schematics can be saved as several back revisions and the
boards can be archived and brought into a back rev (I think).  We
really don't have the need to do that though.

I hope I was able to answer part of your questions. :-)


JoAnn L. Amerson
Design Librarian
Red Lion Controls, Inc.
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Voice: (717) 767-6961 ext 6308

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