Cell¶

Cell is the fundamental object of all objects in the layout (Ok, some object, like Port, inherit only Rect, but most inherit Cell). Cell can be found in cic-core/src/core/cell.cpp

Properties¶

In the object definition file the Cell can contain certain properties

name [mandatory] : Name of the cell, must be uniq
class [optional] : will use LayoutCell if it’s not specified. In cic-core/src/core/design.cpp constructor there is a list of allowedcells
inherit [optional] : Cell from which this cell will inherit all instructions
leech [optional] : Cell from which this cell will copy all instructions, but will not follow the inheritance hierarchy. In other words it only cares about the first parent, no grandparents.
comment [optional] : can occur anywhere, and is ignored by the compiler

Action¶

Each cell will trigger actions in a specific sequence. The sequence is as follows:

Create object if the class exists
Set name
Run afterNew of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run afterNew of the current cell
Set all properties, and run all custom functions on the object
Run beforePlace of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run beforePlace of the current cell
Call place() on the object
Run afterPlace of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run afterPlace of the current cell
Run beforeRoute of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run beforeRoute of the current cell
Call route()
Run afterRoute of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run afterRoute of the current cell
Call addAllPorts() on the object, to place remaining Ports.
Run beforePaint of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run beforePaint of the current cell
Call paint() on the object
Run afterPaint of all parents, starting with the oldest
Run afterPaint of the current cell
Add the object as a child of Design
Add to the static list of cells