Chuck, The Standard Electrical Test Record in IPC 356 is used to create a bare board test file from CAD data or from post processed CAD data. The Alternate Electrical Test Record is used to create a bare board test file by reading a IPC-D-350 formatted board description file ONLY. The standard electrical test and the alternate electrical test structures are explained on page 15, paragraph 7.0. The standard electrical test record is fixed format...character positions have significance. If data such as rotation of a feature is not required, then the data fields are blank. Since IPC-D-350 board description can in a variable format, the alternate electrical test record must allow for variable formats (see paragraph 8.3.1 which refers to paragraph 4.3.2.1 of IPC-D-350) The standard test record in section 7.7 describes a feature in character position 58 thru 71. Character positions 58 thru 62 described in paragraph 7.7.1 gives the X axis dimension of the feature to the nearest one tenthousandth. Paragraph 7.7.2 describes character positions 63 thru 67 which is the Y axis dimension of the feature to the nearest one tenthousandth. The feature described with X and Y dimensions may be rotated as described per paragraph 7.7.3 and use character positions 68 thru 71. Examples of the data described in paragraph 7.7 are as follows: A circular land 0.050" in diameter Character 5 6 7 Position 89012345678901 X0500Y0500 A rectangular land 0.040" x 0.070", not rotated Character 5 6 7 Position 89012345678901 X0400Y0700 A rectangular land 0.040" x 0.070", rotated 90 degrees Character 5 6 7 Position 89012345678901 X0400Y0700R090 Rotation has no meaning for a circular feature so character positions 68 thru 71 are not used in my first example. In the second example the rotation feature is not used because that feature is not rotated. Standard and Alternate Electrical Test files could be used in the same file, but I wouldn't advise it. I'd use the Standard Electrical Test format exclusively if you are outputting the file from your CAD data.....the format's simpler and the file size is smaller. I'll send you a short sample file directly from our SCICARDS system formatted in IPC-D-356, Standard Electrical Test format Harry Parkinson IPC Gen'l Chairman, Data Format Standards Digital Equipment Corp Tel 603-884-6760 FAX 603-884-1036 E-mail [log in to unmask]