Allegro PCB Design Tutorial


alias and funckey


To execute commands in Allegro you need to go through a series of commands. For example to add a board out line, you click on Add then line then you select the respective class and subclass. It is possible that you can use the special keys to acheive same function. By default Allegro provides a small set of alternate way of these function using keyboard. For example Control + F5 is used for Display Color/Visibility function.
The good news is that you can define your own keys and function. This is done using two ways. Alias and funckey.

Alias


You can use the alias command to remap the keyboard function keys to a command or series of commands. You can also define the class and subclass separated by a semicolon. Examples:

alias F4 "add line"
alias F5 "add line ; class board geometry ; subclass Outline"

In the above example, pressing the F5 key will add a line and will select the Board Geometry -> Outline.

funckey


funckey was added in later versions of the Allegro. Using the funckey command you can map a command or series of commands separated by a semicolon.

Examples:

Here is the real world example where ct will add a connect on top layer while the cb will add a connect on bottom layer
funckey ct "add connect; class Etch ; subclass Top"
funckey cb "add connect; class Etch ; subclass Bottom"


Notice that doint it this way, you will loose the alias and funckey when you restart your Allegro. You may like to explore the skill to define it permanently.

How to find a list of the current Alia


You can find a list of the current alias using

Command> alias
It typically gives the following list

#alias F1     help        ## Read-Only
#funckey "\t" tab        ## Read-Only
#funckey C	     ctab        ## Read-Only
#funckey CS	    sctab        ## Read-Only
#funckey S	     stab        ## Read-Only
alias CDown  'ipick 0; ipick_to_gridunit 0 -1'
alias CF2    next
alias CF5    color192
alias CF6    layer priority
alias CLeft  'ipick 0; ipick_to_gridunit -1'
alias CRight 'ipick 0; ipick_to_gridunit +1'
alias CSF5   status
alias CUp    'ipick 0; ipick_to_gridunit 0 +1'
alias Down   roam y $roamInc
alias F10    grid toggle
alias F11    zoom in
alias F12    zoom out
alias F2     zoom fit
alias F3     add connect
alias F4     show element
alias F5     redraw
alias F6     done
alias F7     next
alias F8     oops
alias F9     cancel
alias Left   roam x -$roamInc
alias Right  roam x $roamInc
alias SDown  'move; ipick_to_gridunit 0 -1'
alias SF10   save_as temp
alias SF11   zoom previous
alias SF12   zoom world
alias SF2    property edit
alias SF3    slide
alias SF4    show measure
alias SF5    copy
alias SF6    move
alias SF7    dehilight all
alias SF8    hilight pick
alias SF9    vertex
alias SLeft  'move; ipick_to_gridunit -1'
alias SRight 'move; ipick_to_gridunit +1'
alias SUp    'move; ipick_to_gridunit 0 +1'
alias Up     roam y -$roamInc
alias bubset 'settoggle shove_mode Off "Hug preferred" "Shove preferred"; options bubble_space $shove_mode'
alias cdnshelp cdsdoc
alias dehilite dehilight
alias edps   padedit
alias hilite hilight
alias ipickx ipick
alias ipicky ipick 0
alias ix     ipick
alias iy     ipick 0
alias pickx  pick
alias picky  pick l
alias reopen open -q $module
alias revert open -q $module
alias rps    replace padstack
alias sar    set pcb_autoroam
alias smoothset 'settoggle smooth_mode Off Minimal Full; options smooth_level $smooth_mode'
alias uar    unset pcb_autoroam
alias unplrp report unplaced
alias window zoom
alias x      pick
alias y      pick l
alias ~B     bubset
alias ~C     smoothset
alias ~D     delete
alias ~N     new
alias ~O     open
alias ~S     save
alias ~Z     undo
funckey +      subclass -+
funckey -      subclass --

We found that there is a file called env in the location

C:\Cadence\SPB_16.3\share\pcb\text\

If you permanently want to change the alias, you may like to modify this file. Before making changes, make a copy of this file, so you can revert to the original, in case something goes wrong.You can open this file and make changes into it to define the alias and funckey.