Working with the Vaults Panel - Feature How-Tos_AD

Parent page: Working with an Altium Vault

Altium Designer's Vaults panel provides a direct interface to your connected Altium Vaults. From the Vaults panel you can perform many activities, including:

• Create and manage the organizational structure used in the Vault.
• Create any number of Items, each representative of a design-side object.
• Review and manage the lifecycle of Item revisions.
• Interrogate the usage of a particular Item revision (Where-Used).
• Browse and manage supply chain information for Component Items.

This page simply pulls together some tips, tricks, and cool functionality that may otherwise be missed amongst the feature-rich environment of the panel. Think of this page more as a 'crib sheet', presenting a collection of features that can really enhance your productivity when working with the Vaults panel.

The Vaults panel provides the user interface to an Altium Vault, directly from within Altium Designer.

Changing the Working Vault

The Vaults panel can only interface to one Altium Vault at a time. The field at the top-left of the panel indicates the currently open Vault - the Vault whose content you will be able to browse and modify. To select a different Vault, click the  icon to the left of the Vault name (or on the Vault name itself), and choose a different Vault from those currently connected.

Access controls for changing the working Vault. The current Vault
appears in bold.

Folder Content Paging

When you click on any folder within the Vault Folders structure region of the Vaults panel, the content of that folder will be split over a number of pages, where applicable to do so. This greatly decreases the folder's load time. Controls for browsing through the pages are presented at the top-right corner of the Item listing, as illustrated in the subsequent image, and described thereafter.

Paging of folder content speeds access to that folder, especially if it contains a sizeable number of Items.

The following controls are available for browsing through the paged-content of a target folder:

Control	Description
	Page Forward - click once to step forward to the next page of folder content. Click repeatedly to step forward sequentially through subsequent pages of content.
	Page Back - click once to step back to the previous page of folder content. Click repeatedly to step backward sequentially through previous pages of content.
	Setup menu - click this control and use the Load all pages option on the associated menu to switch from folder paging (option disabled) to single content view (option enabled), the latter showing all Items in the chosen folder as a single-page list.

Moving Folders and Items

One or more Vault folders, or Items within a folder, can be quickly moved using the drag and drop technique:

• Folders - simply select the folder(s) to be moved (using standard Ctrl+click, or Shift+click techniques), then click, drag, and drop the selected folder(s) onto a different folder in the structure. Upon dropping, the folder(s) will become sub-folders of that target folder, slotted in alphabetically.

• Items - simply select the Item(s) to be moved (using standard Ctrl+click, Shift+click, or Ctrl+A techniques), then click, drag, and drop the selected Item(s) onto a different folder in the structure.

Quickly organize your Vault folders and Items using drag and drop functionality.

Deleting a Folder

Vault data is valuable and cannot be recovered once it is deleted. For this reason you must first delete all included Items before you can delete the containing folder. Once that is done, you can delete the empty folder using the right-click Delete Folder command.

Further streamlining the organization of your Vault folder structure, support is provided for deleting multiple empty folders in a single action:

• Selected Folder Deletion - simply select the empty folders (using standard Ctrl+click, or Shift+click techniques), then right-click on the selection and choose the Delete Folders command.
• Recursive Folder Deletion - delete a tree of empty folders using the right-click Delete Folder command at the parent folder level. Both the parent and all descendant child sub-folders will be included in the deletion.

Toggling Displayed Content

Use the following controls, located at the right-hand end of the Address Bar, to configure what information is presented in the panel:

 - click to toggle display of the Revision Details region of the panel.

 - click to toggle display of the Vault Folders region of the panel.

Tailor the presentation of information in the Vaults panel to suit your working preferences.

Drag & Drop Placement

Placement of certain Vault Items into a PCB design project in Altium Designer is streamlined with the ability to drag & drop revisions of these Item types onto the active (and applicable) document, directly from the Vaults panel. Support is available to drag:

• A revision of a Component Item onto the active schematic document (or PCB document). The applicable model for the chosen domain will appear floating on the cursor accordingly.
• A revision of a Managed Schematic Sheet Item onto the active schematic document. A sheet symbol that references the sheet will float attached to the cursor.
• A revision of a 3D Model Item onto a PCB or PCB Library document, creating a 3D Body object that references that Item Revision.

Simply browse your Vault for the required Item to be placed. Placement involves a specific revision of that Item, so be sure to expand the main Item entry to list all of its available revisions. Then simply click on the required revision and drag an instance of it onto the design document.

An example of dragging the required revision of a Component Item from the Vaults panel...and dropping it onto the active schematic document.

In addition, Altium Designer supports access to, and placement of Vault components from, the Libraries panel. For more information, see the section Placement from the Libraries Panel, in the page Working with Vault Components.

Batch Download of Items

The Vaults panel supports the ability to select multiple Items in an Altium Vault, and have the source entities for those Items downloaded, en masse, into a newly created (and linked) single source library, or folder as applicable. The following Item types are supported by this feature:

• Symbol Items - with the symbols for the selected Items downloaded into a linked Schematic Library (*.SchLib).
• Footprint Items - with the 2D/3D component models for the selected Items downloaded into a linked PCB Library (*.PcbLib).
• Component Items - with the component definitions for the selected Items downloaded into a linked Component Library (*.CmpLib).
• Simulation Model Items - with the released data applicable to each Item in the selection (*.SimModel, *.mdl, *.ckt, *.scb) downloaded to a separate sub-folder.

Batch Lifecycle State Changes

Related page: Item Lifecycle Management

All of the design Items stored in your Altium Vault have a Lifecycle State. The lifecycle state is used to reflect the readiness of that Item for use, for example an Item might be New From Design, In Production, or Deprecated. The lifecycle state of multiple Items can be changed in a single batch process.

To perform a batch change:

1. Select the required Items in the Vaults panel.
2. Right-click and choose the Operations » Change state command from the context menu.
3. The Batch state change dialog will open. The Next State column will default to the next (promoted) lifecycle state for each Item involved. This can be changed on an individual Item basis, but editing of multiple selected entries in the column is also supported, for quickly setting the required state across Items.
4. Once the Next State has been set as required, click the Process button to effect the lifecycle state changes.
5. A Confirm dialog will appear, enter a comment if required (this is stored as part of the Item History) and click Yes to complete the batch lifecycle state change.

An example of quickly changing the lifecycle state of multiple Component Items.

Clickable URLs

Further improving the usability of Altium Vaults, the Vaults panel supports clickable URLs. This functionality can be found in a variety of relevant areas, including:

• Clicking on a Component Item's ComponentLink parameter whose value is a URL, opening the target page in an external Web Browser.
• Clicking on a URL in the supply chain data for a Component Item, opening the target page in an external Web Browser.
• Clicking on a document in the Released Documents region - from the Preview aspect view for a revision of a PCB Fabrication Data Item, PCB Assembly Data Item, or PCB Project Design Item - to open that document.

Support for Multi-Part Components

When viewing the symbol for a multi-part Component Item, the Preview aspect view will present each part - each with its own distinct symbol graphic - as a separate tab. In addition, the Place menu will present a sub-menu of all applicable parts that can be placed for that Component Item.

Quickly Exploring to Downloaded Content

The Vaults panel supports the ability to quickly navigate to content you have downloaded from an Altium Vault. Simply download content in the usual way, then, in the subsequent Download from Vault dialog that appears to confirm the download, click the Explore button.

Quickly explore to the content you download from an Altium Vault.

Ability to Copy-Paste Vault Folder Structure

Adding greater flexibility to the management of your Vault content, the Vaults panel provides the ability to copy and paste a folder (and its descendant structure). This essentially allows you to quickly clone areas of your Vault folder structure, which can prove a real time-saver when readying your Vault for a deluge of component data, for example, where structure is similar, with a parent folder and sub-folders for the various domain models.

To use this feature:

1. Select a folder in your existing folder structure, whose structure you wish to copy.
2. Right-click and choose the Operations » Copy Folder Structure command from the context menu.
3. Select the folder under which you want the cloned folder structure to be pasted.
4. Right-click and choose the Operations » Paste Folder Structure command from the context menu.

Once pasted, you can make adjustments to the cloned folder structure as required.

Remember that when pasting, two folders cannot have the same name in the same area of the folder structure. Trying to do so will result in a Duplicate Folder HRID error. And while the parent folder will not be pasted, its descendant structure will be, and at the top level of the folder structure. So if you are trying to quickly create a set of cloned folders under the same parent area of the 'tree', what you can do is paste the folder structure to another temporary area of the main Vault folder structure. Then simply rename the top level folder, make any other adjustments, then drag and drop back to where you really want the folder to be.

Quickly build your Vault's folder structure with the ability to copy and paste branches of the structure.

Item Revision Comparison

Using the power of Altium Designer's native file format comparison technology, the Altium Vault supports the visual comparison of two revisions - of the same, or different Items - for a range of supported content types, directly from within the Vaults panel. Revisions of Items of the following content types can be compared:

• Component Item
• Symbol Item
• Footprint Item
• Managed Schematic Sheet Item
• Schematic Template Item
• PCB Fabrication Data Item
• PCB Assembly Data Item
• PCB Project Design Item

Within the Vaults panel, browse to the relevant folder, select the two Item-Revisions that you wish to compare, then right-click and choose Operations » Compare from the context menu.

Ability to Clone Vault Items

The Vaults panel provides the ability to clone component- and schematic sheet-related Vault Items. So rather than creating that component, related domain model, schematic sheet, or associated template from scratch, you can simply clone it. Direct 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 facing a blank canvas.

The following Item types can be cloned:

• Component Item
• Footprint Item
• Symbol Item
• Simulation Model Item
• Component Template Item
• Managed Schematic Sheet Item
• Schematic Template Item

The command to clone one of the supported Item types is accessed from the Vaults panel in the following ways:

• By right-clicking over the entry for the source Item-Revision, and choosing the Operations » Clone command from the context menu.
• By selecting the entry for the source Item-Revision and using the Ctrl+D keyboard shortcut.

The Clone command is available throughout the Vaults panel, wherever the applicable Item-Revision is presented, including:

• The main Item listing within a folder.
• Children aspect view (when viewing a Component Item, or Managed Schematic Sheet Item).
• Where-used aspect view (when viewing a Component Item, Symbol Item, Footprint Item, Simulation Model Item, Component Template Item, or Schematic Template Item).
• Preview aspect view (when viewing a Component Item, Managed Schematic Sheet Item, or Schematic Template Item).

Accessing a Parametric View of Your Components

The Components type folder supports two viewing modes - the Classic View and the Components View. The latter, which is the default view for this folder type, 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.

To toggle between these two viewing modes, simply browse to a Components folder in the Vaults panel, click the  button at the top-right of the components listing, and choose either the View » Classic View, or View » Components View command from the associated menu.

Access the Components View for a Components-type folder, presenting the Component Items in terms of their parametric data. Hover over the image to see the result of
switching back to the Classic View.

Take a look at the following sections for more information on working with the Components View.

Showing only the Latest Component Revisions

Over time, Vault components may undergo many changes as they evolve, with each change resulting in a new revision to accommodate the massaged data. When browsing components for use in designs, it is typically only the latest revision that is required. All other previous revisions tend to become a level of noise, cluttering the designer's field of view. To alleviate this, the Vaults panel provides the ability to hide this clutter, leaving only the latest revisions 'on show'.

To display only the latest revisions of Items in the Vaults panel, simply click the  control, at the top-right of the Items region of the panel, and enable the Show only latest option from the associated menu.

Declutter the Vaults panel by showing only the latest revisions of Items. Hover over the image to see the command applied.

Showing Hidden Revisions

Related page: Controlling Visibility and Applicability of an Item Revision

For an Item Revision entering a lifecycle state that has its Visible in Vault panels attribute disabled, that revision will, by default, not be displayed in the Vaults panel. And if it is the latest revision of the Item, then the entire entry for that Item will effectively be hidden from view. This visibility state - defined at the state level - can be overridden globally for all Items.

To display all Item Revisions that are currently not visible, simply click the  control, at the top-right of the Items region of the panel, and enable the Show Hidden Revisions option, on the associated menu.

Displaying hidden Item Revisions while browsing content in the Vaults panel. Hover over the image to see the result.

Controlling Parameter Visibility when Placing Vault Components

When placing components directly from the Vaults panel, control over the visibility of parameters associated to those components - or more specifically, their values - is performed from within the properties dialog for the parent folder.

Simply right-click on the parent folder and choose the Properties command. The Edit Folder dialog will appear. Enable the Configure Parameters Visibility on Add option on the right-hand side. The parameters, taken from all components in the folder, will appear listed in the region. Use the Visible On Add checkbox associated with each parameter to control its visibility, when a component that has that parameter is placed on a schematic sheet.

Determine, at the folder level, which parameters should be visible when components that use them are placed in a design.

Controlling the Display of Component Parameter Information

When browsing Component Items in the Vaults panel, switching to the Preview aspect view will present detailed information relating to a component, including its referenced domain models (symbol and footprint model), and any defined parameters. To aid in the display of parametric information, the parameter names and their values are treated as distinctly separate columns, with resizing controls provided to change column width as desired.

Simply hover the cursor between the columns to access the  icon, then click and drag to resize. In conjunction with resizing of the symbol and footprint model preview windows, you can set the parameters region to fully appreciate the content it delivers.

For the parameter values column, you may need to fully expand the column to reveal the full values. Simply position the cursor to the right of the values until the  icon appears, then double-click to effect expansion. The column will expand to fit the longest parameter value.

Getting at the parametric information for a Component Item, by resizing the width of the columns.

Copying Component Parameter Information to the Clipboard

Parametric information for a Component Item can be copied to the clipboard, for subsequent use elsewhere in the design, or for pasting to an external application (such as Microsoft Excel). When browsing the Preview aspect view for a Component Item, simply select the required parameters - in the Parameters region of the view - and either use the Ctrl+C keyboard shortcut, or right-click in the region and use the Copy command on the context menu.

Copy a Component Item's parameteric information to the clipboard, for use elsewhere as required.

Export of Grid Data

The Vaults panel supports the export of data from grid views, to a csv- or xls-formatted file. Examples of where this functionality is available, include:

• Component Items grid (both Classic and Component views).
• Items grid.
• Linked models grid in the Preview aspect view (for a selected Component Item).
• Search results grid.
• Item grid in the Where-Used aspect view.
• Item grid in the Children aspect view.

Simply right-click within a grid and choose the Operations » Export Data command from the context menu. The Select columns for data export dialog will appear. Use this to determine the data you wish to export. The dialog contains all possible columns for the grid, with those that are currently displayed in the panel enabled for export by default. After clicking OK, the standard Windows Save As dialog will appear. Use the dialog to define where, and with what name, the exported file is to be saved. Use the Save as type field to choose the format of file - either a Comma-Separated Values file (*.csv), or a Microsoft Excel file (*.xls).

An example of exporting data - the linked models for a selected Component Item - to an Excel-formatted file.

Vault Folder Naming Scheme Inheritance

The Item Naming Scheme defined for a parent Vault folder will be inherited by its child folders by default. This can of course be overridden with a manually-set naming scheme for a child folder at time of creation, or anytime thereafter.

When creating a child folder, the naming scheme entry will initially be bold-grey, to highlight that it will be inheriting that scheme from its immediate parent. Simply run with that scheme, or change it using a different scheme from the drop-down field, if required.

Item naming scheme inheritance from the parent folder - roll over to see the created child folder.

Changing a Released Component Type On-the-Fly

It is possible to change the component type for one or more components after release to a completely different type, on-the-fly. In the Vaults panel, simply select the component revision(s) that you want to change, then right-click and choose the Operations » Change component type command from the context menu. The Component Type dialog will appear from which you can select the new component type.

An example of changing the component type for a selected revision of a Component Item that has already been released.