Working with an Off Sheet Connector Object on a Schematic Sheet in Altium Designer
Parent page: Schematic Objects
Summary
An off sheet connector is an electrical design primitive. Off sheet connectors are used to connect nets across multiple schematic sheets that are descended from the same parent sheet symbol.
Availability
Off sheet connectors are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only, by choosing Place » Off Sheet Connector from the main menus.
Placement
After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter off sheet connector placement mode with an off sheet connector floating on the cursor:
- Press Tab to open the Off Sheet Connector dialog, the Net property will be the active control in the dialog and the existing text selected ready for editing, simply type in the new name and press Enter to close the dialog.
- If the off sheet connector requires rotation, press the Spacebar to rotate it in 90° steps. Press the X or Y keys to flip the off sheet connector along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.
- Position the off sheet connector so that its electrical hotspot (the end held by the cursor) touches the wire to which you want to connect it to, then click or press Enter to effect placement.
- Continue placing further off sheet connectors, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.
Graphical Editing
The off sheet connector can be edited graphically, using what is known as in-place editing. To edit an off sheet connector string in-place, click once to select, pause for a second, then click a second time to enter edit mode.
Click once to select the string.
Pause, then click a second time to enter in-place edit mode.
Here the string has been selected, ready to type in a replacement string.
Once editing is complete, press Enter or click away from the string to exit in-place editing mode.
Non-Graphical Editing
The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:
Via an Associated Properties Dialog
Dialog page: Off Sheet Connector
This method of editing uses the Off Sheet Connector dialog to modify the properties of an off sheet connector object.
The Off Sheet Connector dialog can be accessed prior to entering placement mode, from the Schematic – Default Primitives page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the off sheet connector object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent off sheet connectors.
During placement, the dialog can be accessed by pressing the Tab key.
After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:
- Double-clicking on the placed off sheet connector object.
- Placing the cursor over the off sheet connector object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.
- Using the Edit » Change command and clicking once over the placed off sheet connector object.
Via the SCH Inspector Panel
Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCH Filter
The SCH Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the SCH Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.
Via the SCH List Panel
Panel pages: SCH List, SCH Filter
The SCH List panel allows the designer to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the SCH Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing the designer to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.