Project Templates in a Workspace Connected to Altium Designer

Parent page: Workspace Content Types

Altium Designer, in conjunction with your connected Workspace, caters for the ability to create and manage project templates (Project Template Items) in that Workspace. Such project templates can be created through Direct Editing.

Once a project template has been created (and data saved into a revision of it), it can be reused in the creation of future design projects.

Project templates stored in the Workspace can include the common document and file types that make up a project, as well as additional reference documentation and configuration files.

Folder Type

When creating the folder in which to store project templates, you can specify the folder's type. This has no bearing on the content of the folder – saving a project as a template will always result in a corresponding Project Template Item. It simply provides a visual 'clue' as to what is stored in a folder and can be beneficial when browsing a Workspace for particular content. To nominate a folder's use as a container for project templates, set its Folder Type as Project Templates, when defining the folder properties in the Edit Folder dialog.

Specifying the folder type – its intended use – gives a visual indication of the content of that folder when browsing the Workspace.

Content Type

When creating a target Project Template Item in which to store your project, ensure that its Content Type is set to Project Template, in the Create New Item dialog. If you are creating the Item in a Project Templates type folder, this content type will be available from the right-click context menu when creating the Item.

Creating a project template within a Project Templates folder – the correct Content Type is available on the context menu.

Saving a Project as a Template

Related page: Creating and Editing Content Directly through a Workspace

So far, we've discussed the support for a project template in the Workspace, in terms of related folder and content types. Saving an actual defined project into a revision of a Project Template Item can be performed in a couple of ways.

Direct Editing

A project can be edited and saved into the initial revision of a newly-created Project Template Item, courtesy of the Workspace's support for direct editing. Direct editing frees you from the shackles of separate version-controlled source data. You can simply edit a supported content type using the latest source loaded direct from the Workspace itself. And once editing is complete, the entity is saved (or re-saved) into a subsequent planned revision of its parent Item. There are no files on your hard drive, no questioning whether you are working with the correct or latest source, and no having to maintain separate version control software. The Workspace handles it all, with great integrity, and in a manner that greatly expedites changes to your data.

When you create a Project Template Item, you have the option to edit and save a project into the initial revision of that Item, after creation. To do so, enable the option Open for editing after creation, at the bottom of the Create New Item dialog (which is enabled by default). The Item will be created and the initial revision opened as a temporary editable project in the Projects panel (under an entry for the Workspace you are currently connected to). The project will be named according to the Item-Revision, in the format: <Item><Revision> (e.g. PRJT-0002-1).

Example of editing the initial revision of a project template, directly from the Workspace – the temporary editable project is opened in the Projects panel, ready for you to add documents and configure as required.

Define project content and options as required, as befitting its use as a template from which future design projects will be fashioned.

When preparing the project for saving to the Workspace as a project template, it is worth noting that all major files in that project will become source files in the project template. This includes all design documents and the objects or content they contain, and other files held in the project’s host folder – including any common files that are unused. As such, it is worthwhile taking the time to review and fine tune the source project, so that the final project template will only contain the files, content and settings required for the desired template.

The advantage of this approach is that a template can contain, if required, a full set of common project files (including Output Jobs), and ratified project/document options, design rules, parameters, units settings, document title blocks, grid settings, and much more.

There are three relevant controls when direct editing, available from the right-click context menu for the project's entry in the Projects panel:

• Save – use this command to locally save any changes made to the project. This allows you to save current changes, should you wish to come back at a later stage to make further changes before ultimately saving to the Workspace.

• Save to Server – use this command to save the project to the Workspace, storing it within the (planned) revision of the target Project Template Item. The Edit Revision dialog will appear, in which you can change Name, Description, and add release notes as required. The project will close after the save. The project and all associated source files will be stored in the revision of the Item.

  A Save to Server control is also conveniently provided to the right of the project's entry, within the Projects panel itself.
• Discard Local Changes – use this command if you wish to cancel editing and discard any changes made. The project will close and nothing will be saved to the target Project Template Item.

The saved data stored in the Workspace consists of the project file itself, the project structure file, and all associated source files. In the Explorer panel, switch to the Preview aspect view tab to see the template files.

Browse the saved revision of the project template, back in the Explorer panel. Switch to the Preview aspect view tab to see the template files.

Saving an Existing Project to the Workspace as a Template

While direct editing is the preferred approach for most design content that can be stored in a Workspace, when it comes to existing design projects you also have the ability to save a project directly to the Workspace, to be used as a template. The process is as follows:

1. Open the existing design project within Altium Designer, ensuring that one of its source documents is open as the active design document.
2. Make changes as required to ready the project for use as a template. It can be a good idea to create a dedicated project, with its content and configuration specifically arranged for use as a project template, but this is not essential. You can take an existing fully defined project and run with that, editing it at a later date to fine tune the template configuration and content.
3. Choose the File » Save Project As Template to Server command from the main menus. A confirmation dialog will appear, letting you know where in the connected Workspace's folder structure, and with what name (that of the original project), the project template will be saved.
4. After clicking OK, the project will be saved to the connected Workspace. An information dialog will inform you of the successful save.

Example of saving an existing project to the Workspace to which you are actively connected to.

Reusing a Project Template

Related page: Controlling Access to Workspace Content

Once a project template has been saved to a Workspace, 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 the creation of future design projects.

Through Altium Designer

When you are connected to your Workspace, the use of available project templates in Altium Designer is automatic. If there are saved revisions of project templates, then those available templates – shared with you – will be presented when creating a new project through the Create Project dialog.

Choose from the latest revisions of project templates, shared with you, when creating a new project. In this example, a new PCB project is being created, using one of the available Workspace project templates – PCB_TMPL_SIMPLE. Notice that some of the resulting new project's document names use the supplied project Name, courtesy of the template documents having been named using the [ProjectName] syntax discussed previously.

Through the Workspace's Browser-based Interface

Saved revisions of project templates can also be reused directly through the Workspace's browser interface. When adding a new project – from the Projects page of the interface – the templates available to you will be listed in the subsequent window. All project templates available to you will be listed, and across all supported project types. The newly created project structure, which can be subsequently edited in Altium Designer, is based on the selected project template.

Re-Saving a Project Template

At any stage, you can come back to any revision of a project template in the Workspace, and edit it directly. From the Explorer panel, right-click on the revision and choose the Edit command from the context menu. Once again, the temporary editable project will be opened in the Projects panel, ready for editing. Make changes as required, then save the project into the next revision of the project template.

Accessing the command to launch direct editing of an existing project template revision.

Downloading Saved Data

Download the data stored in a revision of a project template by right-clicking on that revision and choosing the Operations » Download command from the context menu. The project and associated source files will be downloaded into a sub-folder under the chosen directory, named using the Item Revision ID. The files can be found in the Released folder therein.

Opening a Project Template File

To open a file that is stored in a revision of a project template, click on that file – on the Preview aspect view tab for the revision. The file will be opened within Altium Designer.

Soft Deletion

When connected to a Workspace, flexible functionality is available for removing a project template directly from within Altium Designer:

• From the Explorer panel – right-click on the project template's entry in the panel and choose the Delete Item command from the context menu.
• From the Templates tab of the Data Management – Templates page of the Preferences dialog – right-click on the project template's entry in the dialog and choose the Delete command from the context menu.

The Delete Items dialog will appear, in which to confirm the deletion. The action is actually a 'soft delete', whereby the template will be moved into the Trash area of the Workspace. The Trash is essentially a recycle bin into which any content within your Workspace can be moved (through a soft delete action). It is isolated from the rest of the Workspace.

Soft deletion of a project template from within the Explorer panel. The template will be moved to the Workspace's Trash area.

To proceed with the deletion, click the button. The template will be removed and a Deletion Summary dialog will confirm successful deletion. If there was an issue with deletion, this will be flagged to you.

All content deleted in this manner can be found on the Trash page of the Workspace's browser interface. Note that you can only view content that you have personally soft deleted. Administrators will be able to see the full content of the Trash page – so all content that has been soft deleted.

Things to consider in relation to a soft deleted project template:

• The project template will not be available from your design software, or from within the Web interface.
• Anywhere the project template was being used will reflect that the template has been deleted.
• A project template can be restored, or permanently deleted from the Trash page, provided you have editing rights. Permanent deletion is only possible provided it is not being used by a parent Item.