The devs button appears only in electrical mode, and pressing this button will toggle the display of the device selection menu.
There are three styles of the device menu. The default style contains a menu bar with four entries: Devices, Sources, Macros, and Terminals. Each brings up a sub-menu containing names of library ``devices'', that fall into each category.
The second menu style is similar, but the menu bar contains the first letter of the device name (not the SPICE key).
In either of these styles, pressing and holding button 1 while the pointer is over one of the menu bar buttons will pop up a menu of device names. Moving the pointer down the menu will highlight the entry under the pointer. A selection can be made by releasing the button.
The third style is the pictorial menu, which displays the schematic symbol of each available device, in alphabetical order. Clicking on one of the device images will establish the selection.
Each menu style contains a button from which the style can be cycled.
After a selection is made, the device symbol will be ghost-drawn and attached to the pointer, and the device will be placed at positions where the user clicks in the drawing windows. The device is positioned such that the reference terminal is located at the point where the user clicked. Devices are placed according to the current transform, which is defined from the pop-up produced by the xform button in the side menu.
When the menu becomes active, the current transform is cleared. The current transform is saved in Register 0 and cleared when switching between devices to place or upon pressing the Desel button. Pressing the Forward Slash button swaps the current and saved transforms.
The devices available and other details depend upon the definitions in the device library file. By default, this file is named ``device.lib'', and is located in the installation startup directory, but this can be superseded by a custom file of the same name which is found in the library search path ahead of the default file.
The present device menu style tracks, and is tracked by, the DevMenuStyle variable. This variable can be set (with the !set command) to an integer 0-2. If 0 or unset, the categorized layout is used. If 1, the alphabetized variation is used, and 2 specifies the pictorial menu. This variable tracks the style of the menu, and resets the style when set.
The following table lists the devices found in the device library file supplied with Xic.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| Contact Devices | |
| gnd | Ground Contact |
| gnde | Alternative Ground Contact |
| tbar | Contact Terminal |
| tblk | Alternative Contact Terminal |
| tbus | Bus Contact Terminal |
| SPICE Devices | |
| res | Resistor |
| cap | Capacitor |
| ind | Inductor |
| mut | Mutual Inductor |
| isrc | Current Source |
| vsrc | Voltage Source |
| dio | Junction Diode |
| jj | Josephson Junction |
| npn | NPN Bipolar Transistor |
| pnp | PNP Bipolar Transistor |
| njf | N-Channel Junction FET |
| pjf | P-Channel Junction FET |
| nmos1 | N-Channel MOSFET, 4 Nodes |
| pmos1 | P-Channel MOSFET, 4 Nodes |
| nmos | N-Channel MOSFET, 3 Nodes |
| pmos | P-Channel MOSFET, 3 Nodes |
| nmes | N-Channel MESFET |
| pmes | P-Channel MESFET |
| tra | Transmission Line |
| ltra | Transmission Line (LTRA Compatible) |
| urc | Uniform RC Line |
| vccs | Voltage-Controlled Current Source |
| vcvs | Voltage-Controlled Voltage Source |
| cccs | Current-Controlled Current Source |
| ccvs | Current-Controlled Voltage Source |
| sw | Voltage-Controlled Switch |
| csw | Current-Controlled Switch |
| Misc. | |
| opamp | Example Macro |
| vp | Current Meter |
The colors used in the pictorial device menu can be changed by setting the Special GUI Colors (see A.8.3) listed below. This can be done in the technology file, or with the !setcolor command.
| variable | purpose | default |
|---|---|---|
| GUIcolorDvBg | background | gray90 |
| GUIcolorDvFg | foreground | black |
| GUIcolorDvHl | highlight | blue |
| GUIcolorDvSl | selection | gray80 |