What's New - Altium Vault 2.5

Component Templates

This release brings support for creating and defining Component Templates. Just as a schematic template can be used to predefine information on schematic sheets that reference it, a component template is referenced by a component library (CmpLib), and provides predefined settings for use by component definitions defined therein. In particular, component templates have been developed with parametric information firmly in mind, allowing you define, in a single location, a 'bucket set' of parameters that will be made available to the referencing component library.

Controlling Lifecycle State Transitions

Altium Vault 2.5 brings greater flexibility for deciding who can make particular state transitions for an Item Revision in a vault. It is now possible to prohibit standard (non-administrative) users from transitioning between specific lifecycle states on-the-fly, while opening up permissions to more than just vault Administrators. You now have the ability to specify permissions at the global level - as part of Global Vault Operation Permissions - and also at the individual state transition level. The latter act in conjunction with those settings at the global level, and facilitate fine-tuning of permissions for those more important transitions (for example setting an Item Revision to be Ready for Production). Local permissions are defined as part of the properties for a particular state transition and can be locked down to specific users or roles. Alternatively, standard users can be made to request approval for specific state transitions. In turn, these Approval Requests are sent to, viewed, and acted upon, by those designated to be members of one or more Approval Groups.

Support for Free File Storage

Catering for expanded storage of design content, this release sees support for the storage of free files. With relevant folder type and Item type support, Items can be created to accommodate one or more files of any format. This allows you to effectively take advantage of the vault's secure nature, and underlines the vault as being the perfect place to store anything, including your source binary files - from which releases into other vault Items are made - together in a single Item.

Support for 3D Models

This release brings support for vault-based 3D models. Used in a similar fashion to file-based linked 3D models,  a vault-based 3D model Item can hold a 3D model file, that is then referenced through a 3D body attached to a standard 2D footprint. This support brings with it the security and inherent benefits (where-used, lifecycle management, etc) associated with use of an Altium Vault.

Ability to Add Components from Supplier Search

Providing a welcome boost to creation of vault components, Altium Designer 15.1 brings the ability to search for one or more real-world parts, courtesy of Supplier Search functionality, and then add those parts into the active Component Library document. This functionality is delivered through a purpose-made extension for the Component Library Editor - the Component From Supplier Search extension. Not only do you get a new component definition entry for each selected part, you get all of its parameters, and any data sheets, leaving you to just organize some domain models, and then release!

Ability to Assign Lifecycle Definition and Revision Naming Schemes to Content Types

This release brings the ability to control how your defined lifecycle definitions and revision naming scheme are used by the Items created in the vault. You can opt to allow a definition/naming scheme to be used by any Item type, as before, or you can determine allowed usage at the individual Item/Content type level. This gives you that extra level of control to ensure created Items of a particular type only use the lifecycle definition and/or revision naming scheme you require. Just the ticket to fend off the inadvertent use of the wrong schema during the heat of design by your engineers and designers!

Ability to Clone Vault Items and Component Definitions

This release heralds the ability to clone component- and schematic sheet-related vault Items. So now, rather than creating that component, related domain model, schematic sheet, or associated template from scratch, you can simply clone it. File-less editing ensures any required changes - to a copy of the source data from the original Item Revision - is a streamlined affair, with the resulting changes released into an initial revision of a new Item of the same type. Done and dusted in record time, you can quickly expand your vault content without vere facing a blank canvas. In addition, cloning is supported from within the Component Library Editor, enabling you to quickly clone a component definition - ideal when building a CmpLib featuring an abundance of generic devices that differ only in their values!

Global Vault Operation Permissions

This release facilitates the definition and management of global vault operation permissions. Accessible by Vault Administrators only, permissions across the spectrum of day-to-day global-level vault operations, can be set up for all vault users in the one convenient location. So while Administrators continue to enjoy full permissions for all types of operation, they can now quickly configure permissions for collaborators, owners, specific roles, and specific users.

New Parametric Data View for Component Library Folders

The Component Library type folder receives an additional view mode - the Components View. Similar in look and functionality to other areas such as Model Links and Component Definitions in a CmpLib, or the results view when performing a search in the Vaults panel, this view allows you to browse the parametric data associated with all Component Items in the current folder. What's more, you can set up the view exactly how you like it for different folders of components, and those configurations will remain between sessions.

Ability to Update Components when Re-Releasing a Child Model

When you make a change to a vault-based domain model - be it a symbol, PCB 2D/3D Component model, or simulation model - the moment you release that change into a new revision of the model's Item, any Component Items that use that model will become effectively out of date, still using the previous revision. In most cases, you will no doubt want to re-release those components, with the respective model links updated to use the latest revisions available. To streamline this process, the ability is provided to update related Component Items, at the point of re-releasing a model Item, after having made any modifications to that model through the file-less editing feature.

Automatic File-less Editing after Item Creation

Altium Vault 2.0 saw the introduction of file-less editing. This feature made it possible to edit a supported Item type using a temporary editor loaded with the latest source direct from the vault itself. Extending this feature, Altium Vault 2.5, in conjunction with Altium Designer 15.1, provides the ability to start editing an Item type - supported for file-less editing - immediately after it is created. No longer do you have to create the source data outside and release it first, now you can start working on the source directly from the moment the empty Item is created. And when editing is complete, the entity is released into the initial planned revision of its parent Item, and the temporary editor closed.

Configurable Parameter Selection for Part Search

When searching for real-world design parts in Suppliers' databases - through use of Supplier Links, or Part Choices (either for Vault components, or when defining manual supply solutions in an ActiveBOM) - Altium Designer provides suggested keywords to speed the search process. To date, this has been a fixed list comprising Comment, Description, and Name parameters. Now, with the advent of Altium Designer 15.1, the use of suggested keywords has been made completely configurable. You now have full control over which parameters of parts are used for suggestive filling of the keyword search field, and in what order.

Support for CmpLib in New Document Defaults

With the arrival of Altium Designer 15.1, support has been added to allow new document defaults to be specified for the Component Library (*.CmpLib) document kind. Support is available at both the project-level, and the free document level.

Live Supply Chain Data from Suppliers

Additional Pages for the Vault's Browser-based Interface

Altium Vault 2.5 brings with it an expanded browser-based interface, with the addition of two new pages - Home and Stream. The Home page provides a summarizing overview of recent vault activity, and those managed projects created by the user currently signed-in to the interface. The Stream page provides a stream of real-time notifications concerning the signed-in user. These are for various events associated with Managed Projects, Component Items, and Approval Requests.

LDAP Enhancements

Vault Performance Enhancements

Altium Vault 2.5 delivers a number of performance-related enhancements, including: Safer removal of SVN repositories through the vault's browser-based interface; Ability to disable SVN password synchronization; and automated back-up of vault data during vault upgrade.

Altium Vault Status Report Tool

NIS Enhancements

Altium Vault 2.5 delivers a couple of beneficial enhancements to the Network Installation Service. Firstly, it is now possible to delete outdated revisions of products or extensions directly from the Installations page. This significantly reduces the storage space used for the Altium Vault database and consequently speeds up creation of vault backups. Secondly, and in order to support easier automatic Vault deployment - via Active Directory and Domain Policies - deployment packages are now being created in a form of msi package.