AR# 2398: PAR M1.5 - PAR appears to ignore soft range constraints
AR# 2398
PAR M1.5 - PAR appears to ignore soft range constraints
Description
In some cases, PAR appears to ignore soft range constraints, placing the constrained components outside the specified range, with no warning message or other indication that this is happening.
A soft range constraint is a constraint that is used to guide placement, but PAR will place components elsewhere if the costing algorithms override the constraint. A hard range constraint will not be overidden by other factors and the PAR session will either follow the constraint or error out if this is not possible.
Reference #11273
Solution
PAR does in fact pay attention to soft range constraints by factoring the constraint into its costing algorithms. A site outside the specified area may still be the lowest cost solution even though the soft constraint has increased that cost. A hard range constraint should be used to guarantee placement within a range.