Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA, Part 1 : Making Your Own Schematic Symbols

Using the Schematic Symbol Editor in TINA:Making Your Own Schematic Symbols

Using TINA’s Schematic Symbol Editor, you can create new schematic symbols so that you can add your own circuit components to TINA.

To create new symbols, you place lines, arcs, rectangles, and arbitrary characters with any fonts, specifying line-width, color, and area color fills.

After drawing the symbol, you add and define connections to it.

Start the Schematic Symbol Editor of TINA using the Start menu of Windows 10

TINA Schematic Symbol Editor appears

Now let’s create a new symbol for the full-adder circuit that was used previously in our “Creating Subcircuits from Schematics, part 2- Macro in Macro” video

Draw a rectangle as the body of the component.

Press the Rectangle button then click on any point in the drawing area, hold the mouse button, and move the mouse until the rectangle is properly sized.

You can easily replace the label by using the left-mouse button while dragging it

Fill the rectangle with a color by clicking first the symbol (to be selected),

then the Fill color icon at the lower left corner of the window

Select the color from the Palette then click OK

You can also change the border of the rectangle by using the Object color icon

Let’s not change the suggested border color

Now add the terminals. Select the desired terminal type from the Terminal-Toolbar in the upper left corner of the window and move the cursor into the rectangle you just drew.

Position it using the mouse then click to locate the terminal.

Be sure the small red x, indicating the pin end, is outside the body. Continue this process until every terminal is positioned.

Use the rotate right or rotate left button if it is necessary

Note: the Rotate icons are active after the terminal is placed & still selected

After you have positioned all the terminals, you can establish their properties by double clicking on each of them.

Change the pin name 1 into A in the Pin Properties window, then click OK

You should assign terminal names as shown above

Next, write the name: Full Adder inside the symbol

Click on the Text Editor (T)button on the Toolbar, then click on the macro symbol

Enter the name: Full Adder then click OK

Click the “Auto-calculate sensing rectangle” icon to define the area where you can select the symbol in TINA.

Finally, copy the new symbol into the Symbol library with the Add device button

and by using the Save as command,

save your .ddb file in your Private or Shared catalog folder

under the name Full Adder

Close the TINA Schematic Symbol Editor

Now let’s see how to use the new schematic symbol in TINA

Open TINA

Click the Tools menu

Select New Macro Wizard

Type a name for the new macro

In our case: Full Adder

Change the Settings from Current circuit to From file

Click the Open icon

Select the Main TINA folder

then select the Macrolib folder

Open the Full adder.tsc file

Press the Next button

The wizard finds the built-in Full Adder symbol in the symbol library of TINA

Our newly created Full Adder symbol will be at the end of the list.

Click the Next button

and save the macro (Full adder.tsm) into the default Macrolib folder.

In the New Macro Wizard dialog box now the following message appears:

The macro file is ready for use, it can be inserted by selecting Insert Macro or by pressing the Insert button below.

Click the Insert button

The Full Adder macro will be attached to your cursor. Place it wherever you wish on the

workspace.

To see the content of the macro double-click the macro

then Press the Enter Macro button

The content of the Full Adder macro appears

 Let’s test our newly created macro in TINA’s Digital interactive mode.

To do this, place 3 High-Low digital switches from the Switches Toolbar, one for

each of the A,B & Ci inputs, and 2 logic indicators from the Meters Toolbar

Now select the Digital interactive mode with the narrow „Select Interactive mode”

button on the toolbar and then press the DIG button

^{The logic levels of the nodes appears, Red for High. Blue for Low.}

Click the switches to change the input states.

The logic indicators will also show the logic level of the outputs in a Red square for

High, and empty square for Low.

The Half adder circuit works as required.