Mouser Library Loader for DipTrace

I'm getting Image Not Found for first 7 pictures in the body of your post.  The next 6 appear OK.  The 13 thumbnails at the bottom of the post look OK.

Stan: Yep. Got that covered, I think.

My phone and PC won't open diptrace file . is there a free app to open and export ..

I dunno. I haven't had good luck with the Mouser library loader. I used it a few times and found it quite lacking. I did better (and faster) by finding a close-to-what-I-want part in DipTrace and then modifying to my exact needs and saving it in my custom parts library.

I'm with CJ, most of my custom parts are just hacking the 3D parts in the library for similar parts.  It's surprising what you can do with stretching and twisting a stock part.

Thanks, Leo!  I will give this a try. Looks like you have covered everything pretty well here, nice details.

I've managed to 'hack' (and save) a few parts (very few) as GRJ & CJ mention above. I got them saved to the .eli files like you have done with your Mouser files, but I haven't gotten the 'Library' (as put them all in one User library) part mastered either? Havent messed with it for a while, but I will definitely have to try your instructions above. 

riki posted:

My phone and PC won't open diptrace file . is there a free app to open and export ..

You have to download and install the Diptrace program on your PC, no phone apps.  Get the 'Diptrace 3.3 Freeware' version. 

Thanks rtr

riki: What's an app? Just kidding! As Tom says, DipTrace is not geared to work with a cell phone but who knows. Maybe someday.

CJ & GRJ: It's not surprising that you seasoned veterans with electronic design would prefer a hands-on approach. You guys know all the jargon. But for lame-brains like me who can easily get lost in a datasheet, its better to rely on leaving dimensional criteria to the experts at Mouser, DigiKey and other electronics distributors.

The other day, while wandering through a datasheet, I came across the terms PDIP and CDIP and wondered if that was an important difference in terms of package dimensions. I had to look it up after staring at the component drawings with tiny, little dimensions in both inches and millimeters. I didn't know that it had to do with plastic vs ceramic materials. You guys don't even have to think about it.

So as Tom likes to say, "We need all the help we can get."

Help indeed! If GRJ, Stan and some of the other kind folks around here didn't throw me a line every so often, I'd surely be at the bottom of the lake by now.   

And I think I know what PDIP is, but not CDIP?  I'm off to go look it up....

Tom: Good news! I found out how to move parts to a collective library with DipTrace. Easy!

So I downloaded some parts from Mouser and saved them each in their own library. They show up under the "User Components" group with their own names. These correspond to those ".eli" files we talked about earlier.

Start up DipTrace using the Schematic Editor. Then the component libraries are on the left side of the screen. Select "User Components" and the individual libraries are displayed just below that. Select the parts that you want to add to a new library and put them on the layout section.

Then you select a part (normal mode with the arrow from the tool bar) by clicking on it. The four little widgets appear showing the part is selected. Then right click to produce the context menu that goes with that part. In the list it says "Save to Library". If you click that, another selection appears that asks if you want to save to the current, active library (no) or save to file (yes). Then a dialog box appears where you give it the name for the library and select the "group" (User Components) where it will be placed.

Click OK and the file save dialog box comes up. You navigate to where you want the new ".eli" file to go and you should see a list of other files there with the ".eli" extension. You have to fill in the name for the new library at the bottom and click on SAVE.

Now it gets easier because you've already created the new library and you can easily save other components to it.

First you want to make your new library the "active" one by selecting it from the list under "User Components" that should now include the name of the one that you just created. If it doesn't show, select the "Components" group at the top and then go back to the "User Components" group. You should see the new library in the list.

Select the new library to make it the "active" library. And you will see in the bottom half of that section the parts that belong to that library. Again, you want to have your parts in the layout area of the screen. Select the next part to save, right click to get the context menu, then "Save to Library" and this time just save to the active library (your new one). That's where it will go and it should show up in the components list at the left.

Finally, if you want to remove the individual libraries with just the single parts in them, use the "Library Tools" item also on the left side of the screen. It should have an entry that asks if you want to "remove" the selected library from the "User Components" group. Click on that and it will disappear. However, it does not delete the ".eli" file from your computer. It's just no longer seen by DipTrace as one of the libraries in the User Components group.

Wow, when you write it all down it doesn't seem so easy at all. It really is once you get going on it.

Here's a shot of my User Component library list as it now appears:

I hope this is helpful. It will certainly help me to remember how it's done. Good luck!

Leo, Good you got it figured out. Just saved this entire thread to a PDF to try out and also for future reference! Thanks for documenting this so we can all use it! I have several items saved in the ".eli" files that I want to combine into one library so there is plenty here to try it out on.

Earlier, I forgot to add, C-DIP = Ceramic, P-DIP = Plastic, I did look it up...