Connections can exist between unplaced connection points (functions) and mixed between placed and unplaced connection points. These connections are reported just as connections between placed connection points.
In the Connections - <Project name> dialog you can connect placed and unplaced functions or connection points. To do this, generate a new (unplaced) connection and specify the connection source and target in the connection properties. The source and target have to be existing functions (placed or unplaced) in the project.
If you delete one or both targets of an unplaced connection, this connection remains. This type of connection does not appear in the report. You can recognize these connections in the Connections - <Project name> dialog by the empty entries in the Source and / or Target columns. You can repair the connections (reconnect) by re-entering the source and target in the connection properties. Unplaced connections can be deleted in the Connections - <Project name> dialog. Incomplete, unplaced connections can be deleted when compressing the project.
Tip:
In order to find unplaced connections faster, you can show the Type of administration property in the column configuration for the list view of the connections navigator (via the popup menu item Configure representation).
Multiple placed or unplaced connections can exist between identical connection points (cross-section doubling).
Unplaced connections also inherit properties from potentials and from the project. The potential, as with placed connections, is determined when updating the connections and can't be entered on the connection.
Unplaced connections can be created on a component as follows:
- A placed function is connected with an unplaced function (e.g., because the placement of the second function has been deleted).
- Two placed functions are connected via an unplaced connection (e.g., via the generation of connections in the Interconnect devices dialog).
Use existing connections
If a connection is created in the graphical editor that already exists as unplaced, the unplaced connection is not automatically used and is deleted. Initially, then, there are two identical connections. You can set a connection definition point on the connection, click it, and then use the existing unplaced connection. The placed connection in question thus gets the properties of the unplaced connection. It is also possible to use existing placed connections. The connection in question then exists more than once in the project and must be edited at a later point in time.
A selection appears with a list of all the unplaced connections that have at least a target in common with the targets of the selected connections. Connections that have the two matching targets are at the top of the list.
An unplaced connection that only has one target can be used if that one target matches.
An unplaced connection without targets can always be used. These connections are always at the bottom of the list.
See also