Altium Designer Viewer - Generating Output

Altium Designer Viewer allows you to open, view, and generate output from, Output Job Configuration files (*.OutJob). Such files – also referred to as Output Job files – typically contain a host of manufacturing and design information. These files are opened in the OutputJob Editor.

An Output Job file is divided into categories – reflecting the function of the output. Within each category there are various predefined output generators – responsible for generating the actual output. The Viewer supports generation of the following print-based and report-based output types:

• Assembly Outputs – Assembly Drawings

• Documentation Outputs – Composite Drawing, OpenBus Prints, PCB 3D Prints, PCB Prints, Schematic Prints

• Fabrication Outputs – Composite Drill Drawing, Drill Drawing/Guides, Final Artwork Prints, Power-Plane Prints, Solder/Paste Mask Prints

• Report Outputs – Bill of Materials, Component Cross Reference Report, Design Rules Check, Electrical Rules Check, Report Project Hierarchy, Report Single Pin Nets, Simple BOM.

Example of an open Output Job Configuration file.

Examining Output Generators

For each output generator that has been defined in a file, the following information is displayed in the Editor's main job configuration window:

• Name – this field displays the name for the output generator. This field is used to distinguish between multiple output generators of the same type, the configurations of which will typically differ in some way.

• Data Source – this filed allows you to specify the exact source from which to generate the required output. For Assembly and Fabrication output generators for example, which generate output from a PCB document, this field will use the first PCB document found in the project folder. If there are multiple PCB documents available, these will be listed in the associated drop-down for the field (click once to focus, then again to access the drop-down). When generating Report-based output, the various output generators support generation of output based on the project itself, or from an individual source document. Again, the Data Source field provides you with full control over which source to use.

• Output Description – this field displays the output generator type.

• Variant – when generating Assembly and/or Report-based output and your project includes one or more assembly variants, this field allows you to specify which variant should be used when generating the required output.

• Enabled – this field allows you to control whether or not a particular output generator is included (option enabled) or excluded (option disabled), when generating output to the chosen output medium. Once enabled for a particular output medium, a green line will connect that output generator to the associated medium. The same output generator can be included for generation to multiple output media.

Depending on the specific output type, options may be available for you to configure the associated output generator, providing more control over the generated output – for example, page setup for a print-based output generator. Where configuration options are available, they can be accessed in one of the following ways:

• Selecting the required output generator and choosing the Configure command from the Edit menu.

• Right-clicking on the required output generator and choosing the Configure command from the pop-up menu that appears.

• Selecting the required output generator and using the keyboard shortcut, Alt+Enter.

• Double-clicking directly within the row for the required output generator.

Supported Output Media

Related article: Publish to PDF

Depending on the output generator, the associated output can be published in various formats – referred to as Output Media. The following output media are supported:

• Prints – allowing you to send generated output to a chosen printing device.

• Publish To PDF – allowing you to collate generated output into a single PDF document (or separate PDF documents for each output generator, should you wish).

• Publish To Web – allowing you to publish the generated output in web-format, to one of four destinations:
   
  • Amazon S3 – publish to Amazon's Simple Storage System (S3). An account with Amazon is required.
  • File System – publish to a specified folder, either on your local machine or on a shared network drive.
  • FTP – publish to a server capable of accepting files via the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).
  • WebDAV – publish to a web server capable of accepting files via the WebDAV protocol.
     
• Generate Files – allowing you to export generated output as one or more saved files on a specified storage medium. This output medium is only applicable to enabled Report-based outputs (such as Bill of Materials).

The defined output media for an Output Job file can be found listed in the Output Media pane. These are the publishing media to which you assign output generators - allowing
you to control what gets published, and how!

Configuring Output Media

Main article: Configuring Output Media (Output Job File)

With the Viewer, you are not able to create new output media, but you can configure publishing-related options for those that do exist. Such configuration might include page size and orientation for a generated PDF document, or nominating which printing device (and related options) to send print-based output to.

Configuration options for an output medium are accessed by right-clicking on that medium (in the Output Media pane) and choosing the relevant command from the context menu that appears:

• For a Print-based output medium – the Printer Setup command.

• For a PDF-based output medium – the PDF Setup command.

• For a Web-based output medium – the Web Setup command.

• For a File-based output medium – the Generated Files Setup command.

Example of accessing configuration options for a PDF-based output medium.

Specifying Publication Content

Prior to generating actual output using a chosen output medium, you will need to assign the required output generators to that output medium. By assigning output generators to a given publishing medium, you are defining the contents of that publication. Assignment is simply a case of clicking within the Enable field for an output generator. Green lines show which output generators have been enabled for output to the currently chosen output medium.

Example of output generators enabled for publication in a PDF document.

 
When enabling output generators, you can set the order in which the generated outputs appear within the resulting publication. As you enable required output generators, they are numbered consecutively. Disabling an output generator – i.e. excluding it from being generated – will cause the remaining output generators to be re-ordered accordingly. The order for enabled output generators can be changed by:

• Double-clicking on the currently assigned number (in the Enabled field) and selecting a new number.

• Disabling all output generators for the chosen output medium, then re-enabling them in the desired sequence.

Double-click on the assigned number to change the
publishing position for an output generator.

Generating the Output

Once you have configured the available output medium (or media) and assigned output generators as required, you can go ahead and generate the output. This is done by selecting an output medium and clicking the button above the Output Media pane (shortcut: F9).

The chosen publication will be created in accordance with defined configuration options. The content of the publication is created by running each output generator, in turn (batch-style), in the specified sequence.

Example of publishing PDF-based documentation from an Output Job File.

Report-based Output

When generating report-based output such as a Bill of Materials or a Component Cross Reference report, you can access and view configuration options using an instance of the Report Manager dialog. Double-click on the relevant output generator to gain quick access to this dialog.

An instance of the Report Manager dialog, illustrating the configuration of an example Bill of Materials for a project.

When generating this type of output – either from an Output Job file (to a chosen publishing medium), or directly using main menu commands from within the Schematic or PCB Editors – you cannot modify the content, or exported format of the report. You can, however, generate and export the report in various formats, directly from within the dialog.

The grid content of the data section of the dialog can be exported and a report generated using the Export button, at the bottom left of the dialog. The following export formats are supported – choose one from the File Format drop-down field, in the Export Options region of the dialog:

• CSV (Comma Delimited) (*.csv)

• Microsoft Excel Worksheet (*.xls)

• Portable Document Format (*.pdf)

• Tab Delimited Text (*.txt)

• Web Page (*.htm; *.html)

• XML Spreadsheet (*.xml).

If you want the relevant software application (e.g. Microsoft Excel) to open once the exported file has been saved, enable the Open Exported option. Similarly, if you want to have the generated report added to the project after it is created, enable the Add to Project option.

You can export the data in a report in various formats, and even have the generated file added to the project and/or opened after it is created!

Using Excel Templates

If the Microsoft Excel Worksheet (*.xls) file format is chosen, the Template field becomes available in the Excel Options region of the dialog. Enter the required Excel template file (*.XLT) directly into this field, or browse for it by clicking the ... button to the right of the field. The field's drop-down list contains available default templates for the installation.
 

When exporting data into an Excel spreadsheet, you can choose a template file to be used.

The file can be specified with a relative or absolute path using the Relative Path to Template File option. For more information about template creation, refer to your Microsoft Excel documentation.

Exporting to PDF Using an Excel Template

You can export your Bill of Materials or Component Cross Reference report in PDF format, based on a chosen Excel template. To do this, select Portable Document Format (*.pdf) in the File Format field and choose the required Excel template in the Template field. Enable any other required options (for example, add to project, open after export) and click the Export button.

The Viewer applies the following rules to determine the size of the spreadsheet to print to PDF:

• Cells to the right of the right most column header are not included in the output.

• Cells below the lowest text cell are not included, unless they contain horizontal borders and/or background colors and are not separated from the main section of the BOM by more than 10 blank rows.

Export data to a PDF using an Excel template.