Multisim line color

[DrPR]

In Multisim is there a global way to force the color of all existing lines to be the default color?

Can the colors of all elements be forced to the defaults?

I have inherited a design that has had specific colors assigned to traces, and the schematic is a mess! I can select each individual trace and change the color in the Properties dialog, however, there is no "Default" color option. So once a trace color has been changed it can't be "unchanged" back to the default.

Lines that are the default color automatically change when the background changes. However, if a different color scheme is selected, say switching from a white background to a black background, all lines that have been assigned the color black disappear. Likewise, white lines on a black background disappear when the background is changed to white.

This is very annoying, especially so since one of the first things you learn in programming is to be sure that you don't create pictures of polar bears in a snowstorm! This is an especially stupid Stupid Programmer Trick!

I have also noticed that you cannot assign a global color scheme to all sheets of a design, but you have to change them one at a time. This is another Stupid Programmer Trick.

Phil

[Mahmoud_W]

Hi Phil,

Under Options/Sheet Properties, you will find a Color box. Pick either White background which is the Multisim default or Custom which allows you to pick what color scheme you want to use for your entire design.

Hope this helps,

Mahmoud W

National Instruments

[DrPR]

I found the color setting selections. That is how I have been changing the background. When I changed from a black background (with yellow lines) to a white background a sunstantial part of the lines in the schematic remained yellow, very difficult to see on the white background. Many lines changed to red, which I assume is the default for a white background.

What I am looking for is a way to change all of the yellow lines to the default color (red?) without having to search through dozens of sheets looking for the faint yellow lines, and then having to change each one at a time.

Phil

[Mahmoud_W]

Hi Phil,

Can you please send me the Multisim file?

Thank you,

Mahmoud W

National Instruments

[DrPR]

Here is a sample sheet from one of the files.

Phil

[Mahmoud_W]

Hi Phil,

In the spreadsheet view (at the bottom of your design) go to the nets tab and you will find that some of the nets colors is defined as default(red) and other as custom(yellow).

Select all Nets (Ctrl+a) and change any of their colors to red and all the wires in your schematic will change to red.

Hope this resolves your problem,

Mahmoud W

National Instruments

[DrPR]

Sorry, but it doesn't.

When I open the spreadsheet window there is no "Nets" tab, just "Results" and "Simulation" tabs.

Even if I had the full version of Multisim that does have the "Nets" tab, this would not actually solve the problem. If I made all of the lines black and then switched to a black backgroud all lines would disappear.

The problem is a bug in the program. It should never allow lines, components, text - anything - to disappear when the background color is changed. NEVER!

This should be obvious to anyone, and it is one of the first things taught in introductory programming. Looks like the Multisim programmers slept through that lecture. If a programmer did something like that at our company the bozo would be given a broom and put to work doing something he was qualified for.

Thanks for the suggestion, but it looks like I will have to search through every page and every line to change the color of each on individually.

So far I have found Multisim and Ultiboard pretty easy to work with, but the almost total absence of global editing capabilities puts it near the bottom of the list of the dozen or so PC design packages I have used.

Phil

[Mahmoud_W]

Hi Phil,

You can't see the "Nets" tab because you are using Multisim Full. It is only visible in Multisim PowerPro.

To have some nets customized to default (red) and other to custom color (yellow) means that someone using the PowerPro version has changed it. That makes it hard coded and can not be replaced by changing the general settings under the sheet properties.

To change your line colors back to red you can do the following:

- Check the user who customized some line colors using PowerPro and ask him to change it back

- You can send me your files and I would willingly do it for you

- double click each net and change the colors manually

Regards,

Mahmoud W

National Instruments

[DrPR]

Thanks,

But I think I have found them all and switched them to red. It wasn't a big hassle, but something of a nuisance.

I really didn't need to switch colors to do the work, but I have been trying to use a "what you see is what you get" screen format for decades with all of the programs I use, and no one prints a dark background, at least not since the days of blueprints. I was just surprised when some of the traces became almost invisible.

I can change the net color in the Base Edition version that I am using, but then I cannot change them back to custom. I do not know what edition the files were created in (they are version 8), and the fellow who did the original work is no longer available.

Thanks again,

Phil