Reusing a Managed Schematic Template Item

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Modified by Jason Howie on May 31, 2017
Contents

Parent article: Releasing a Schematic Template to an Altium Vault

Once a Schematic Template has been released to an Altium Vault, and its lifecycle state set to a level that the organization views as ready for use at the design level, that template can be reused in future board-level design projects.

A released Schematic Template Item can be reused manually, or as part of centralized enforcement of a designer's working environment. The latter sees the template used as a configuration data item in one or more defined Environment Configurations. Under a concept referred to as Environment Configuration Management, Altium Designer uses the configuration data items specified in an applied environment configuration to configure the relevant areas of the application environment – resulting in the designer only being able to use those environmental elements they are entitled to use, in relation to their assigned role(s) within the organization.

This article takes a look at reuse of a released (managed) Schematic Template Item, from both manual and applied environment configuration perspectives.

Manual Reuse

The ability to freely (and manually) browse a target Altium Vault and choose a vault-based (managed) Schematic Template Item to be used/applied for your schematic document, depends on whether the Team Configuration Center service is available to a user when signing in to the Altium Vault. Use of the configuration management feature requires the following licensing:

  • Enterprise-level Server License for the Altium Vault, making the Team Configuration Service available to the organization.
  • Enterprise-level Client Access License, making the Team Configuration Service available to a user within that organization, when they connect to the Altium Vault.

If available, the Center determines the environment configuration(s) that can validly be used, and changes the relevant areas of the Altium Designer environment to enforce the permitted data elements of the chosen configuration. The ability to manually reuse vault-based templates then depends on the chosen environment configuration:

  • If the chosen environment configuration has one or more defined Schematic Template Items, then only those defined templates can be used. In other words, manual reuse of a vault-based Schematic Template is not possible/permitted.
  • If the chosen environment configuration does not have any Schematic Template Items specified/added, then these will remain manually definable by the user. In other words, you are free to manually reuse a vault-based Schematic Template.

If you do not sign in to your Altium Vault you can still work with Altium Designer (under your valid Altium Designer License), but you will not be able to access your organization's Altium Vault, or any other services provided through its installation. You will therefore not be able to manually reuse any vault-based Schematic Templates.

Choose a managed template to use from the Template tab of the Document Options dialog. In the Template from Vault region of the tab, simply click the Choose button and use the subsequent Choose Item dialog to browse to, and select, the required template in the connected Altium Vault. The region will populate with details for the chosen Item Revision.

Manually choosing a vault-based Schematic Template Item from within the Document Options dialog.

To change templates, simply choose a different Schematic Template Item. Alternatively, use the Design » Set Template from Vault command. This presents the Choose Template dialog, from where you can browse to, and select the required Item in the vault.

Use the Set Template from Vault command to quickly switch between vault-based Schematic Templates.

When not using centralized environment configuration, or when the configuration chosen has no defined Schematic Templates, you are free to use local, unmanaged Schematic Templates in addition to using those from a vault, should this be required.

Reuse as Part of an Environment Configuration

Once you have signed in to the Altium Vault, and chosen (if applicable) from the selection of environment configurations available to you, Altium Designer will be configured, with respect to use of Schematic Templates, in the following areas.

If the chosen environment configuration applicable to you does not have any Schematic Template Items specified/added, then these will remain manually definable. In other words, you are free to use local templates, or manually reuse a vault-based Schematic Template.

Creating a New Schematic Document

When creating a new schematic document, either using the File » New » Schematic command, or right-clicking on a project's entry in the Projects panel and choosing Add New to Project » Schematic, the Select configuration item (Schematic Templates) dialog will appear. Use this dialog to choose which template to use for the new sheet, from the list of templates defined as part of the environment configuration currently in-force.

Choose from the environment configuration's defined Schematic Templates, when creating a new Schematic document.

Document Options Dialog

The Template tab of the Document Options dialog will reflect the Schematic Template Item chosen - either at the time of document creation, or when applied at a later stage - in terms of:

  • Item Revision ID
  • The source Altium Vault
  • The Item Revision's comment and description.
  • The current state of that revision.

The chosen Schematic Template Item is reflected on the Template tab of the Document Options dialog.

The Choose button will be disabled – since you are under the enforcement of an environment configuration, you cannot freely traverse the vault to manually select a Schematic Template Item. The Show in Explorer button will still be available though, allowing you to quickly navigate to the Schematic Template Item in its source Altium Vault.

To apply a different template, choose from the templates available to you (defined as part of the environment configuration) on the Design » Configuration Templates sub-menu.

Design Menu

On the Schematic Editor's main Design menu, the ability to freely select a different Project or General template will be disabled. Instead, the Configuration Templates sub-menu will present all Schematic Template Items defined for the environment configuration currently in-force.

Only those Schematic Templates defined for the environment
configuration will be made available for use.

 

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