Thanks to everyone who responded. Sat down this morning to test out the various suggestions. Before doing this I decided to make up the two component footprints and was surprised to find that I could place them on to a pcb AND place components `under' them without any problems at all. Wasn't sure why this was the case at first as I had based the assumption of the potential problem on the fact that you can't put two resistors or capacitors together without getting a conflict. Realised soon after that Protel ignores the component outline (which is on the Top Overlay Layer) taking note only of the pads. So you can freely place pads or components with in another component as long as you do not infringe the pad clearance rules. This works perfect for what I need (an LCD module with four fixing holes and a 16-way SIL connector, and a 4x4 keypad with four fixing holes and an 8-way SIL connector. I can appreciate that if the components had considerably more `pad content' that there would be a bigger problem in trying to position other components. The only drawback with this approach is that when selecting components within the footprint you get the `popup select component dialog' more an inconvenience than anything else. Once again thanks to all those who responded.
Best Regards Laurie Biddulph http://www.elby-designs.com * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
