Copyright: Copyright 1995-1996 SVC Productions


Main Index
Index

Please select one of the following topics for more information.

Introduction

Basic menu commands


Introduction to S-Spice

S-Spice is a grafic editor for electronic schematics. Its main purpose is to be an interface for spice. The program consists of three main parts:

 The Editor

 The Simulator

 The Postprocessor

The Editor:

The editor is the part where you draw your electronic design. You can add new components; delete, copy and paste components,... . Each component must have a name (except the ground). You connect the components with wires using the right mouse button. With the left mouse button you can select components and move them around.

The Simulator:

There is in the curent version no built-in simulator (Iam working on it). So you need to specify an external simulator. The program is tested with the student version of Berkleys spice simulator version 2G6.

The simulator is called with the menu option Simulation -> Start simulation. The PIF settings are by default so that the program works in the background. If you dont like this, change this with the PIF editor that came with MSWindows.

The Postprocessor:

The postprocessor interprets the result from the simulator. It creates and displays the requested grafics. The grafics can be drawn on one or more windows.

For detaild information select one of the following:

Working with the editor

Working with the simulator

Working with the postprocessor


Basic menu actions
Basic menu options

File Menu :

New

Open

Save

Save as...

Settings...

Exit

Edit Menu :

Undo

Cut

Copy

Paste

Delete

Component Menu : ( only when an edit window is active )

Statistics

Others

Simulation Menu : ( only when an edit window is active )

Start simulation

AC Analysis

DC Analysis

Transient


This creates a new editor file.


This opens an exsisting file.

See File Open Dialog for information on opening a file.


This saves the curent file with the curent name.


This saves the curent file with a new name.

See File Dialog for information on saving a file.


This gives you the posibility to change the global settings for the program. These settings include your simulator program, the autofocus state, ...

See Settings Dialog for more information.


This exits the program.


Select this option to undo the last edit operation


This options deletes the selections and copys it onto the clipboard


This options copys the curent selection into the clipboard


This pastes the clipboard contens in the center of the curent window


Deletes the curent selections without copying it to the clipboard. Data is lost !


Shows a list of all components in the editor window.


Places a new component in the center of the editor window.


This starts the simulator to simulate the curent schematic design.


Set up the neded information for AC analysis.


Set up the neded information for DC analysis.


Set up the neded information for transient analysis.


Editing .gef files
Using the Editor

1. Starting :

The first thing you must do is start a new file or open an exsisting one. To start a new file choose new from the file menu. An empty window is opened with a title that sounds like NONMEXX.GEF. To open an exsisting file, choose the option open from the file menu. A dialog box apears. Select the directory and the file you need and press the OK button.

2. Adding new components :

To add new components, select from the components menu the desired component. The component will be added in the center of the screen. You can move it around by using drag and drop. You can move more than one at a time.

Related topics :

Creating new components

Settings in ini-file

Changing components parameters

3. Selecting and deselecting components :

Selected components are shown in red; deselected ones are shown in black. To select or deselect components, you must use the mouse.

Deselecting : To deselect all components point on an empty space and click the left mouse button. To deselect a few number of component, holt the Ctrl key down and click on the components you want to deselect.

Selecting : To select a few number of component, deselect those you dont need and select the ones you want by holding down the Ctrl key and klicking on them with the left mouse button. To select an rectangular area of components, point to the upper left corner of the bounding rectangle and click the left mouse button. Hold the mouse button down and move the mouse to the lower right corner. Release the mouse button.( drag and drop ).

Related topics :

Function keys while selecting

4. Drawing wires :

To draw wires press and hold down the right mouse button at the starting point. Move the mouse to the ending point. Lines will be drawn horizontal and vertical while moving the mouse.


Using drag and drop : press the left mouse button down, and hold it down. Move the mouse to the destination point, while holding down the mouse button. Release the mouse button at the destination point.


Function keys while selecting

The following keys are used :

Key	Function	Use
Ctrl	Keep curent selection	Always
Alt	Dont include border	Rectangular selection
Shift	Select outside rectangle	Rectangular selection


Working with the simulator

The simulator is automaticaly started when you select the option Start simulator from the Simulaion menu. Before you can simulate, you must select the kind of simulation that must be preformed. After the simulator is started, a dialog box like this apears :

The tile window tels you what file is being simulated. The checkbox Autostart Graph indicates wheter the postprocessor must be started as soon as the simulator has finished simulating. The Show button brings the simulator to the forground.

Related topics :

Settings : How to define the simulator preferences.

INI-File : Explanation of the various ini file settings.


Programmers greetings
Welcome to S-Spice 1.0

First of all : Thank you for trying this program out. I sure did put a lot of effort in this, dont you think? So, let me know what you think of it, what you would like to see in future releases, what you dont like, what you love or hate, what you dont think of it,...

Have you noticed any bugs, any funny things, any strange looking things, just anything :

Just let me know whatever you want to let me know !

This is my adres :

Stefaan Van Cauwenberge

(Oh ! Thats where the name SVC Productions comes from )

Peter Benoitlaan 32

9820 Merelbeke

Belgium


About on about ? You must be joking.


Creating new components

You can add as new components using a simple editor like notepad. As a mather of fact, all components curently in use are created in that way (exept the ground symbole ).

A components is built of the following parts :

- Name

- Layout

- Connection points

- Parameters

- Modelfile or subkitfile

As an example, we build a PNP transistor :

1. Name :

The name must be a sequence of characters (with a maximum of 20). All characters are allowed. The name will apear in the menu Components

In our example the name the it will be :

Name=Bipol. Trans. PNP

2. Layout :

The layout is defined as a sequence of lines and arches. Each line or arch must have a number. The numbers start from 1, and no numbers might be skipped.

Lines : A line is an enumeration of points. Each point is sepperated by a slash (/), and each points consists of an X and an Y value, which are seperated by a comma (,). Theire may be more points in one line.

Arches : An arche is discribed as : x0,y0,r,alfa1,alfa2

where the symbols stand for :

Symbole	Meaning
x0	The X-coordinate of the center of the arche
y0	The Y-coordinate of the center of the arche
r	The radius of the arche
alfa1,alfa2	The start and end angle of the arche

In our example the lines will be :

Line1 = 0,30/40,30

Line2 = 40,10/40,50

Line3 = 60,0/60,10/40,30/60,50/60,60

Line4 = 43,24/40,30/46,27

And the arche will be :

Arc1=50,30,22,0,360

3. Connection points :

Connection points are an enumeration of points. Theire must be at least twoo connection points ! The construction is simmular as for lines, exept that theire is only one Nodes statement, and that theire can be more Line statements.

In our example the lines will be :

Nodes=60,60/0,30/60,0

4. Parameters :

Parameters are given in a def line. The folowing parameters can be given:

symbolchar

model

valueX

stringX

subkit

Each parameter must be desribed (see later), exept the first (symbolechar),which is just one character. The symbole will be described to spice like this :

SymboleChar+SymboleName   nodes   other parameters


Creating new components
Files Dialog Box

The open or save as dialog has the following parts:

File information box

File list

Directory list

File type box

Drive box

Pushbuttons OK,Cancel,Help

To open or save a file, you can directly type in the filename in the file information box and press OK.

If you dont feel like typing or if you dont know the exact name or directory you can also do the folowing :

1.Select or search the directory where the file must be located. To browse trough the directorys, dubbel click the directoryname you need or click the directory and press the OK button. If the required directory is on another drive, select the correct drive from the drive list box.

2. Select the file name you need or, when you want to save, type in a new file name in the file information box. Press the OK button.


These are the different parts of the file dialog :


AC Analysis Dialog Box

To perform an AC analysis, spice needs to know the following things :

Sweep type

Start time

Stop time

Number of points

Each of the feelds must be filled with a valid parameter (see your Spice documentation for more information).

The possible sweep types are :

Linear

Octave

Decade

Its not possible to create new sweep types using S-Spice.

The start time ans stop time must be positive integers. No dimensions can be given : you must type 1E-3 or 0.003 instead of 3m or 3ms.

The number of points differ from the sweep type. When it is linear, the total number must be given; when it is octave or decade, the number of punts for each octave or decade must be given.


Settings Dialog Box

The settings dialog box makes it easyer to understand the ini-file settings. You can change the following topics:

Simulator

Rotation angle

Autofocus

Autostart graph

The simulator field gives the location of your simulator. This must specify a fully qualified filename if the directory of the simulator program is not in your PATH statement. You will not be abel to fill in a file that does not exsist.

The rotation angle field gives the rotation angle when you press the right mouse button when moving components. For best result, this must be 45,90 or 180 degrees. Theire are to many calculation errors when you use smaller angles or angles like 33 degrees.

The autofocus checkbox specifies whether or not to bring to top the edit window in which the mouse moves. When the checkbox is marked, autofocus is on.

The autostart graph checkbox specifies the default setting for the checkbox in the simulation dialog box . When the checkbox is marked, the postprocessor will be automaticaly started.


The PATH statement is an environment parameter if MSDOS. This parameter is normale set in your autoexec.bat file. See your DOS documentation for more information about the PATH statement.