New Features in Altium Vault 2.6

Advanced Components Search

Altium Vault 2.6 brings powerful new component searching with its Advanced Search capability. Delivered through a dedicated view within the Vaults panel, you can either perform generic-level searching or (and this is the really cool part) targeted searching through the use of saved search configurations. These allow you to search by a particular component type and also use ranged searching - a nice aspect of searching facilitated through unit-aware component parameter data types. Additionally, you can add a keyboard shortcut to your saved searches that allows you to quickly perform a search from wherever you are within the Vaults panel.

Part Requests

For an organization that employs a dedicated library department to grow and maintain its design components - accessible to all engineers and designers in that organization - it makes sense to submit requests for new (missing) components to that department. This new Part Requests feature allows an engineer to put in a request for one or more parts to be created, to a member of a librarian-nominated role, and get notified when that request has either been rejected (and why), or processed, and the component(s) made available. The requestor supplies as much key information to support their request as possible (manufacturer and part number(s), description(s), any relevant datasheet (PDF or URL)). Stub Component Items can even be created that the librarian can then run with (and finish off).

Explicit Component Types

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, brings the ability to define explicit component types. With a range of supported types, this enhancement to components facilitates targeted searching, through the vault's Advanced Search facility - a facility that not only allows you to search by component type, but allows you to search smarter, with supported unit-aware component parameters.

Unit-Aware Component Parameter Data Types

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, brings the ability to define explicit data types for component parameters defined within a component template (*.CMPT).  In addition, these data types are unit-aware, with a range of popular unit prefixes supported. As such, you can enter a parameter's value using a range of formats - such as 2.2k, 2k2, 4M, 2.5GHz - with the Altium Vault engineered with the requisite smarts to recognize the numerical value behind those entries.

This enhancement facilitates targeted searching, through the vault's Advanced Search facility - a facility that not only allows you to search by component type, but allows you to search smarter, with range, greater than, or less than searches. Using the power of unit-aware component parameters, you can quickly define a search, for example, to find all capacitors with a capacitance between 47uF and 220uF.

Improved Upload of 3D Models to Vault

Altium Vault 2.5 saw the arrival of support for 3D Models. However, only a single model could be uploaded to an existing 3D Model Item at a time, making the process quite cumbersome. Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0 delivers vast improvement in this area, with support for upload of multiple 3D Models through the Release Manager. Alternatively, upload through drag and drop functionality, similar to uploading any files into Binary File Items. The Release Manager also receives new migration tool functionality in this release, allowing you to quickly extract 3D models from their 2D footprint libraries.

Item-less Component Creation

The arrival of Component Templates provided an efficient means by which to create components using ratified templates. But one thing that became apparent, was that when creating an Item, if the Item was created first - as is the normal procedural flow - the information in the template, namely naming scheme, revision scheme and lifecycle definition, weren't assigned, since the Component Item was being created first. To get around this, Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, supports the notion of Item-less Component Creation. This doesn't mean an Item isn't created, but rather an instance of the CmpLib Editor is accessed directly, allowing the template details to be applied, prior to then adding the required component, and releasing. The actual Component Item (and planned revision thereof) is created as part of release preparation.

Acquisition of Vault Folders

Through use of the Content Cart - the user interface to the Altium Vault's Data Acquisition Service - you can quickly acquire content from a source vault, and deliver it to a nominated target vault. With the arrival of Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, this feature has been further enhanced. Now you are able to load an entire folder onto the cart, while preserving its folder structure. This enables you to quickly acquire all content in a desired folder, or content that could be resident across multiple sub-folders, simply by acquiring the parent folder.

Ability to Copy/Paste Vault Folder Structure

Adding greater flexibility to the management of your vault content, Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, bring the ability to copy and paste a folder (and its descendant structure). This essentially allows you to quickly clone areas of your vault folder structure, which can prove a real time-saver when readying your vault for a deluge of component data, for example, where structure is similar, with a parent folder and sub-folders for the various domain models.

Item Revision Comparison

Using the power of Altium Designer's native file format comparison technology, Altium Vault 2.6 now supports the visual comparison of two revisions - of the same, or different Items - for a range of supported content types, directly from within the Vaults panel.

Component Template Improvements

The arrival of Component Templates provided the ability to predefine settings for use by component definitions defined within Component Libraries referencing those templates. Now, with Altium Vault 2.6 and Altium Designer 16.0, the functionality of the component template has been greatly enhanced. These powerful improvements - including support for specific component types, unit-aware parameter data types, and definition of models - make the allure of using component templates ever more attractive.

CmpLib Editor Improvements

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, sees functionality of the Component Library Editor (CmpLib Editor) further enhanced. Improvements include support for getting additional parameters define in a referenced component template, support for specifying component type, and validation of values entered for component parameters that have been set to use unit-aware data types.

Item Manager Improvements

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, sees functionality of the Item Manager further enhanced. Improvements include: A refurbished grid, allowing sorting, grouping and filtering; Ability to control data columns, including the display of component parametric data; The ability to choose the required PCB footprint required when selecting a replacement component; and ability to cross-probe from the Item Manager, to component instances in the design workspace.

Configuring Vault Email Notifications through Browser Interface

Altium Vault 2.5 brought the ability to configure email notifications from the vault - flagging a variety of events to key stakeholders, relating to Component Items, Managed Projects, and Approval Requests. However, enabling and configuring the feature required the user to interact with the LocalVault.ini file - not difficult, but rather obscure and not so user-friendly. With Altium Vault 2.6, setting up to use this feature is a breeze, with configuration performed through the vault's browser-based interface.

Ability to Share a Managed Project from within Altium Designer

Previously, when a Managed Project was created, it was initially available to the owner/creator, and all vault administrators. To be shared with any other user of the vault required navigating to that project, and setting sharing permissions from the Projects page of the vault's browser interface. Not anymore. Now, with Altium Vault 2.6 and Altium Designer 16.0, you can define sharing permissions for a Managed Project directly from within Altium Designer. What's more, every newly created Managed Project is, by default, shared publicly to all vault users within the organization.

Ability to Cancel Output Generation During Board Release

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, brings the ability to cancel the board release process, during the Generate Outputs stage. This provides an efficient and effective means with which to stop the release - especially if a sizeable number of outputs are involved. It also provides a far more attractive solution to abandoning a release, without having to resort to closing down the application!

Ability to Define All Ports used by Vault during Installation

When installing Altium Vault 2.6, you now have the ability to define all network ports that are used by the vault, through the Altium Vault Setup wizard. These are: Http Port, Https Port, LDAP Service Port, and the Synchronization Service Port.

Dedicated Admin Area in the Vault's Browser Interface

Altium Vault 2.6 brings some organizational reshuffling of the vault's browser-based interface. Pages that are only ever accessible by a Vault Administrator are now tidily presented on a dedicated ADMIN menu. In addition, and part of this admin-only area, a new page is available - Settings. This page provides a collection of sub-pages relating to configuration for areas such as Network Installations, Licensing, and Email Notifications, as well as the configuration of aspects relating to the vault itself, starting with Part Requests.

Lifecycle State Attribute in BOM

With Altium Vault 2.6 and Altium Designer 16.0, the LifeCycle State attribute is now available in a BOM report. This enables you to see, at-a-glance, where each of the vault-based components used in a design have reached in their life cycles, and visually verify their legitimacy - enabling you to catch, for example, components that are not for production, or have become obsolete, and make the required changes to the design, prior to embarking on what could otherwise be a costly manufacturing spin.

New Vault Explorer Extension

Altium Vault 2.6, in conjunction with Altium Designer 16.0, delivers a new interface with which to browse the contents of an Altium Vault, from within Altium Designer. Delivered as a dedicated extension to the software - Vault Explorer - access to this interface remains the same, courtesy of Altium Designer's faithful Vaults panel - you simply get an enhanced user interface, along with elements of functionality that are only supported through this 'interface upgrade'.

HTTPS Protocol Support

For situations where a secure connection is required to the Altium Vault, it now includes the ability to accept HTTPS port connections directly from Altium Designer or from a web browser. Once established, the secure protocol is used for access to the Vault and all constituent services, including the Private License Server. The HTTPS connection port is defined during the Vault installation process, and can be viewed or reconfigured later from the Windows IIS Manager panel.

Vault-based Private License Server

An advanced Private License Server is now included as part of the Altium Vault 2.6 installation. Enabled when the Vault is licensed at an Enterprise level, the new Private License Server (PLS) is simple to configure and provides a host of improved features over the existing Private License Server that is installed as a windows service. Amongst other new PLS capabilities, a vault administrator is able to take full control over the offline leasing of license seats, configure a User group license as Roaming and much more.

Additional Vault Enhancements

Altium Vault 2.6 delivers a number of additional performance-related enhancements and improvements. These are not large enough to warrant their own documented pages, and so are summarized here. However, they collectively make a big impact in your day-to-day usage of the Altium Vault, helping to streamline that usage and deliver a positive experience.

Command Line Tool for Vault Management

Altium Vault 2.6 introduces a new Command Line tool designed to import Vault Users, Roles, and user-role membership data from standard comma-delimited *.csv files. The tool allows the Altium Vault to be preloaded with bulk user and role configurations derived from company systems or records, thereby avoiding the need to individually create the entries through the Vault web interface.