Working with a Sheet Entry Object on a Schematic Sheet in Altium Designer

Created: April 09, 2021 | Updated: Oktober 15, 2021 | Applies to version: 21

This document is no longer available beyond version 21. Information can now be found here: Sheet Entry for version 24

A placed Sheet Entry

Summary

A sheet entry is an electrical design primitive that belongs within a sheet symbol. It is placed within a sheet symbol to designate input/output ports for the symbol. The sheet entries correspond to ports placed in the source schematic sub-sheet that the symbol represents.

Availability

Sheet Entries are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only in the following ways:

Choose Place » Sheet Entry from the main menus.
Click the Sheet Entry button () in the graphic objects drop-down on the Active Bar located at the top of the design space. (Click and hold an Active Bar button to access other related commands. Once a command has been used, it will become the top-most item on that section of the Active Bar.)
Right-click in the design space then choose Place » Sheet Entry from the context menu.
Click the button on the Wiring toolbar.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter sheet entry placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

Move the sheet entry attached to the cursor over a placed sheet symbol on the sheet.
Adjust the position of the sheet entry in relation to an edge of the sheet symbol, then click or press Enter to anchor the sheet entry to the required edge and complete placement.
Continue placing further sheet entries or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

The coloring of the sheet entry will aid in its correct placement. While outside of a sheet symbol, the entry will appear grayed-out and you will be prevented from placing it. When over a sheet symbol, the entry will turn blue indicating it can be placed at that location. Once placed, the entry will revert to its true coloring as defined by its Fill Color property in the Properties panel.

While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to access the Properties panel), keep in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement unless the Permanent option on the Schematic – Defaults page of the Preferences dialog is enabled. When this option is enabled, changes made will affect only the object being placed and subsequent objects placed during the same placement session.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed sheet entry object directly in the design space and change its location graphically.

Sheet entries can only be adjusted with respect to their shape by changing their I/O Type in the Properties panel. As such, editing handles are not available when the Sheet Entry object is selected.

A selected Sheet Entry

Click and drag to reposition the sheet entry within its parent sheet symbol as required.
Hold Ctrl then click and drag the sheet entry to move it from the current sheet symbol to another sheet symbol on the sheet. Once the sheet entry has cleared the boundary of the source sheet symbol, the Ctrl key can be released.
Clicking and dragging the sheet entry outside of the sheet symbol boundary will cause the sheet symbol to automatically resize to accommodate the entry's new location.

Multiple sheet entries can be moved simultaneously by selecting all entries to be moved by holding Ctrl and clicking on one entry in the selection, then dragging the entire selection. Once you begin the drag, the Ctrl key can be released. Select multiple objects by holding Shift.

If the Enable In-Place Editing option is enabled on the Schematic – General page of the Preferences dialog, you can edit the name for the sheet entry directly in the design space. Select the sheet entry object then click once to invoke the feature. Type the new name as required and then click away from the sheet entry object or press Enter to effect the change.

If attempting to graphically modify an object that has its Locked property enabled, a dialog will appear asking for confirmation to proceed with the edit. If the Protect Locked Objects option is enabled on the Schematic – Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog, and the Locked option for that design object is enabled as well, then that object cannot be selected or graphically edited. Click the locked object to select it then disable the Locked property in the List panel or disable the Protect Locked Objects option to graphically edit the object.

Non-Graphical Editing

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available.

Editing via the Sheet Entry Dialog or Properties Panel

Properties page: Sheet Entry Properties

This method of editing uses the associated Sheet Entry dialog and the Properties panel mode to modify the properties of a sheet entry object.

The Sheet Entry dialog, on the left, and the Sheet Entry mode of the Properties panel on the right

After placement, the Sheet Entry dialog can be accessed by:

Double-clicking on the placed sheet entry object.
Placing the cursor over the sheet entry object, right-click, then choosing Properties from the context menu.

During placement, the Sheet Entry mode of the Properties panel can be accessed by pressing the Tab key. Once the sheet entry is placed, all options appear.

After placement, the Sheet Entry mode of the Properties panel can be accessed in one of the following ways:

If the Properties panel is already active, by selecting the sheet entry object.
After selecting the sheet entry object, select the Properties panel from the Panels button in the bottom right section of the design space or by select View » Panels » Properties.

If the Double Click Runs Interactive Properties option is disabled (default) on the Schematic - Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog, when the primitive is double-clicked or you right-click on a selected primitive then choose Properties, the dialog will open. When the Double Click Runs Interactive Properties option is enabled, the Properties panel will open.

While the options are the same in the dialog and the panel, the order and placement of the options may differ slightly.

The sheet entry properties can be accessed prior to entering placement mode from the Schematic – Defaults page of the Preferences dialog. This allows the default properties for the sheet entry object to be changed, which will be applied when placing subsequent sheet entries.

Editing Multiple Objects

The Properties panel supports multiple object editing, where the property settings that are identical in all currently selected objects may be modified. When multiples of the same object type are selected manually, via the Find Similar Objects dialog or through a Filter or List panel, a Properties panel field entry that is not shown as an asterisk (*) may be edited for all selected objects.

Editing via a List Panel

Panel pages: SCH List, SCH Filter

A List panel allows you 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 applicable 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 you to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Right-click Sheet Entry Actions

Right-click over a placed sheet entry to pop-up a context-sensitive menu, from which the following commands are available (on the Sheet Entry Actions sub-menu) that act on that sheet entry (or all currently selected sheet entries, where applicable):

Toggle Sheet Entry IO Type - use this command to toggle the I/O Type for the sheet entry. It is also available by clicking Edit » Move » Toggle Sheet Entry IO Type from the main menus.

Example of toggling sheet entry IO Type

The actual change depends on the current I/O Type as follows:

Unspecified remains Unspecified.
Output changes to Input.
Input changes to Output.
Bidirectional remains Bidirectional.

If multiple sheet entries are currently selected, the command will appear as Toggle Selected Sheet Entries IO Type. The command will apply to all selected sheet entries on the current schematic sheet.

Swap Sheet Entry Side - use to relocate the sheet entry to the directly opposite side of its parent sheet symbol. The sheet entry's I/O Type is not changed by the swap. It is also available by clicking Edit » Move » Swap Sheet Entry Side from the main menus.

Example of swapping sheet entry side.

If multiple sheet entries are currently selected, the command will appear as Swap Selected Sheet Entries Side. The command will apply to all selected sheet entries on the current schematic sheet.

Notes

When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Signal Harness, the Sheet Entry becomes a Harness object. By default, the Sheet Entry will change color to match the color of the Signal Harness. Disable the Sheet Entries and Ports use Harness Color option on the Schematic - Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog to specify your own color for Sheet Entries or to use the default color.
When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Harness Connector by a Signal Harness, the Harness Type in the Properties panel is automatically populated with the Harness Type of the Harness Connector. When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Port by a Signal Harness and the Port has a Harness Type declared, the Sheet Entry will become a Harness object and change to the color of the Signal Harness. If you move the Sheet Entry away from the Harness Connector and the Harness Type field is not populated, the Sheet Entry will revert back to the default color.
Should you need to negate (include a bar over the top of) a sheet entry name, this can be done by including a backslash character after each character in the name (e.g., E\N\A\B\L\E\).
When instantiating multiple channels from the same sheet symbol, certain signals are repeated and sent individually to each instantiated channel. With respect to a sheet entry, a signal is repeated by using the Repeat keyword in the sheet entry's name (e.g., Repeat(Headphone)). The sheet entry is then wired to a bus, which in turn carries the individual signals to their correspondingly instantiated destinations.

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