The Auto-Connect operation provides five filters (described below) allowing the Analyst to constrain which ports are allowed to be connected (ports that are already connected to nets, of course, are completely ignored by the Auto-Connect operation).
Only Connect Ports within specified Distance
- when selected, this filter allows only ports within a specified distance to be connected. The distance (which defaults to 100 when this filter is enabled) should be expressed in the same scale as the object width and height. This filter cannot be selected for the "All Selected Ports" and "Create I/O Flags" net connection methods.
Only Connect Ports with Complementary Flow Directions
- this filter, when enabled, specifies that a net can only be created if the connections consist of at least one input and one output port. This filter can be selected for all net connection methods (except for the "Create I/O Flags" method). It is selected by default for the first two connection methods.
Only Connect Ports that start with
- this filter is used to specify that ports can only be connected if their abbreviations begin with a specified string of characters (the Analyst can specify whether this match must be case-sensitive). Although this filter is always disabled by default, it is available for all four net connection methods.
Only Connect Ports when there is a clear path between objects/ports
- when enabled, this filter prevents nets from being created if there is an object blocking the path between either the two objects or the two ports being connected. This filter is only available for the first two net connection methods (it is enabled by default for the "Selected Ports on Adjacent Objects" method).
Connect Unnamed Ports
- when this filter is enabled, selected ports with no assigned abbreviation will be allowed to be connected. This filter is enabled by default for most of the connection methods. The only exception is the "Selected Ports with Matching Abbreviation" method. Not only is the filter initially disabled for this method, the Analyst can also select whether unnamed ports can only be connected to other unnamed ports, or whether the object abbreviation is to be used in lieu of the port abbreviation.
