Mask coordinates displayed with mouse hover

jmhutchi

Hi:

I am using KLAYOUT for mask review, and frequently do a screen shot of a particular location to show to someone else. I'd like to be able to have the mask coordinates including in the screen shot "closer" instead of at the bottom right corner of the window. I frequently just snip part of the window.

Is there any way to have the mouse cursor set up to show the location coordinates it's pointing at?
Or is there some way to reposition the x,y coordinates into a separate, standalone little window?

Thanks. Great work

davidnhutch

jmhutchi,

Nice last name Perhaps we have the same.

Matthias may tell you otherwise, but here is my take.

What you ask is possible via "Plugin" class of the API. But it's very tricky.

Perhaps instead you have a script that does the following. You manually place a text ("Text" button in toolbar) wherever you want the coords to show up. Then select it. Then you can write a script to set the text text to the correct coordinates when you press a hotkey. Here's a simple example -- this can be expanded. So, put this as a new .lym file in Macro Editor, and click the orange 'Properties' button to assign a shortcut key.

include RBA
app = Application.instance
mw  = app.main_window
lv  = mw.current_view
ly  = lv.active_cellview.layout
dbu = ly.dbu

lv.each_object_selected { |obj|

  shape = obj.shape

  if shape.is_text?
    pos = shape.text_pos
    shape.text_string = "(#{pos.x*dbu}, #{pos.y*dbu})"
  end

}

Matthias

Hi,

what I do in these cases is to use rulers for marking those positions.

Rulers can be configured in various ways and you can defined new ruler classes. You can use that feature to set up a "pointer" style ruler which shows the target location. Here is a recipe:

• Chose "Edit/Ruler and annotation setup"
• Click on the "+" button below the "templates" list and give the new class a new name (i.e. "Pointer")
• Configure the pointer to show coordinates:
  • Label format "$U,$V" (x,y of first point)
  • Clear X label format and Y label format
  • Set style to "Arrow at start"
• You can disable "snap to objects" if you like and set angle constraint to "any angle" too. This gives a little more freedom in placing the pointer

Close the ruler setup dialog with "Ok". You now have a choice of two rulers in the toolbar: the normal one and the new "Pointer". Choose the pointer and click on your desired target location and drag the pointer to place the end of the arrow plus the label. After taking the screenshot you can remove the ruler with Ctrl+K and place new ones.

Matthias

jmhutchi

Hi Guys:

Thank you for your suggestions.

The "Pointer" ruler type is really useful.

Sorry for not writing sooner.