xDX Designer Importer

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Modified by Jason Howie on May 15, 2015

Support for the transfer of binary format designs captured using Mentor Graphics® Xpedition® xDX Designer® (formerly DxDesigner®), to Altium Designer, is available courtesy of the xDX Designer Importer extension. Essentially formed from the separation of the binary importer from the existing ASCII importer (which remains unchanged), not only has the binary importer interface been upgraded to support data transfer from the latest version of xDX Designer, a wider range of object types are also now supported.

Extension Access

The xDX Designer Importer extension (a Software Extension) can be found on the Purchased tab of the Extensions & Updates view (DXP » Extensions and Updates).

The xDX Designer Importer extension.

Restart Altium Designer once the extension has been successfully downloaded and installed.

Version Support

The Importer has been updated for, and tested against, version 7.9.4 of xDX Designer (Expedition Enterprise 7.9.4, or simply EE7.9.4).

Supported Object Types

The following xDX Designer object types are supported when importing a design into Altium Designer:

Arc
Bus
Circle
Component Custom Parameter
Component Geometry
Component Pin
Line
Multi-Part Component (package)
Multi-Sheet Document
Offsheet Symbol
Polygon
Port and Power Port (existing as components)
Rectangle
Sheet Custom Parameter
Sheet Symbol
Sheet Template (stamp)
Text Label
Wire (with caption)

Altium Designer does not support multi-root references. Only a single top-level sheet is supported per design project. While the importer will often try to add an artificial 'root' sheet to accommodate, this can not be guaranteed for all combinations of complex, multi-level design structures.

For wire and bus objects, xDX Designer supports a degree of flexibility when positioning associated net labels. This freedom of positioning is not supported during the import.