Output Job Templates in a Workspace Connected to Altium NEXUS

Parent page: Workspace Content Types

Altium NEXUS, in conjunction with your connected Workspace, caters for the ability to create and manage outputjobs (Outputjob Items) in that Workspace. Such outputjobs can be created:

• Through Direct Editing.
• By uploading the relevant Output Job Configuration file (*.OutJob) to a revision of a target outputjobs.

Once an outputjob has been created (and data saved into a revision of it), it can be reused in future board-level design projects.

In addition, an Outputjob Item can be used as a configuration data item in one or more defined Environment Configurations. An environment configuration is used to constrain a designer's Altium NEXUS working environment to only use company-ratified design elements. Environment configurations are defined and stored within the Team Configuration Center – a service provided through the Workspace, and the facilitator of this concept of Environment Configuration Management. For more information, see Environment Configuration Management (for an Altium 365 Workspace or a NEXUS Server Workspace).

Folder Type

When creating the folder in which to store outputjobs, you can specify the folder's type. This has no bearing on the content of the folder – saving an Output Job Configuration file will always result in a corresponding Outputjob 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 outputjobs, set its Folder Type as Output Jobs, 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 Outputjob Item in which to store your Output Job Configuration, ensure that its Content Type is set to Outputjob, in the Create New Item dialog. If you are creating the Item in an Output Jobs type folder, this content type will be available from the right-click context menu when creating the Item.

Creating an outputjob within an Output Jobs folder – the correct Content Type is available on the context menu.

Saving an Output Job Configuration

Related page: Creating and Editing Content Directly through a Workspace

So far, we've discussed the support for an outputjob in the Workspace, in terms of related folder and content types. Saving an actual defined Output Job Configuration into a revision of an Outputjob Item can be performed in a streamlined way.

An Output Job Configuration can be edited and saved into the initial revision of a newly-created Outputjob 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 a temporary editor loaded with the latest source 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, and the temporary editor closed. 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 an Outputjob Item, you have the option to edit and save an Output Job Configuration 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 temporary Outputjob Editor will open, presenting a .OutJob document as the active document in the main design window. This document will be named according to the Item-Revision, in the format: <Item><Revision>.OutJob (e.g. OUT-0006-1.OutJob).

Example of editing the initial revision of an outputjob, directly from the Workspace – the temporary Outputjob Editor provides the document with which to define your configuration.

Use the document to define the Output Job Configuration as required. For more information on doing this, see Streamlining Generation of Manufacturing Data with Output Jobs.

There are three relevant controls when direct editing, readily available from the Quick Access Bar (at the top-left of the main application window), or from the Job Manager Toolbar toolbar:

• – Save Active Document. Use this button to locally save any changes made to the document. 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 Workspace. Use this button to save the defined configuration to the Workspace, storing it within the initial (planned) revision of the target Outputjob Item. The Edit Revision dialog will appear, in which you can change Name, Description, and add release notes as required. The document and editor will close after the save. The document containing the configuration, *.OutJob, will be stored in the revision of the Item.

  A Save to Server control is also conveniently provided to the right of the outputjob's entry, within the Projects panel.
• / – Discard Local Changes. Use this button if you wish to cancel editing and discard any changes made. The document and editor will close, and nothing will be saved to the target Outputjob Item.

These controls are also available as commands – Save (shortcut: Ctrl+S), Save to Server (shortcut: Ctrl+Alt+S), and Discard Local Changes – from the main File menu and from the right-click menu of the outputjob's entry in the Projects panel.

The saved data stored in the Workspace consists of the Output Job Configuration, defined in the Output Job Configuration file (<Item><Revision>.OutJob). In the Explorer panel, switch to the Preview aspect view tab to see the outputs defined within the configuration.

Browse the saved revision of the outputjob, back in the Explorer panel. Switch to the Preview aspect view to see the outputs contained within the configuration.

Saving the Current Output Job Configuration File

You can also save the current Output Job Configuration file to your Workspace, directly from within the Outputjob Editor. To do so, choose the File » Save to Server command from the main menus. The Choose Planned Item Revision dialog will appear – use this to choose the next planned revision of an existing Outputjob Item, or create a new Outputjob Item on-the-fly.

After clicking OK, the Edit Revision dialog will appear, in which you can change Name, Description, and add release notes as required. Click OK when ready – the saving will proceed, with the resulting output job configuration, stored in the revision of the target Outputjob Item, available for preview through the Explorer panel.

Saving the currently opened Output Job Configuration file to a planned revision of a target Outputjob Item in the connected Workspace.

Uploading an OutJob File

You can also upload an Output Job Configuration file into the revision of an Outputjob Item. This can be performed in a couple of ways.

Upload Menu

An Output Job Configuration file can be uploaded by right-clicking on the required Outputjob Item in the Explorer panel, and choosing the Upload command from the context menu. The Create New Revision dialog will appear, in which you can change Name, Description, and add release notes as required. Use the Sources region of the dialog to load the required OutJob file. This can be performed by dragging and dropping the file from Windows Explorer, onto the region. Alternatively, click the button – the Add Files dialog (a standard Windows open-type dialog) will appear. Use this to browse to, and open, the required file (*.OutJob).

Manually specifying the OutJob file to be uploaded to the target Outputjob Item.

Once the desired file is dropped in, or selected and the Open button clicked, an entry for it will appear back in the Sources region. Proceed with the upload by clicking the OK button. Switch to the Preview aspect view tab to see the outputs defined within the configuration, in the Explorer panel.

The content of the uploaded file can be inspected on the Preview aspect view tab for the revision of the outputjob.

Drag and Drop from Windows Explorer

An Output Job Configuration file can also be uploaded by dragging the selected file from a source folder in your Windows Explorer, and dropping onto the required target Outputjob Item in the Explorer panel. The Create New Revision dialog will appear, with the dragged file listed in the Sources region. Modify Name (which will be the file name, including extension) and Description (which will be in the format Uploaded from <FileNameandPath>, Size <FileSize>, Created on <FileCreationDate>), and add any Release Notes as required, and then click the OK button.

Uploading an OutJob file using the drag and drop method.

Reusing an Outputjob

Related page: Controlling Access to Workspace Content

Once an Output Job Configuration 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 configuration can be reused in future board-level design projects.

When you are connected to your Workspace, you are free to manually reuse the revisions of any outputjobs that have been shared with you.

Choose a revision of an outputjob to use from the Managed OutputJobs tab of the Project Options dialog. Click the button – the Select configuration item (Output Jobs) dialog will appear, listing the latest revision of all outputjobs in the Workspace that are available to you (shared with you). Choose the required outputjob and click OK.

Manually choosing a revision of an outputjob from within the Managed OutputJobs tab of the Project Options dialog.

Continue adding further revisions of different outputjobs as required. After clicking OK to exit the Project Options dialog, the chosen outputjob(s) will appear in the Projects panel.

A Workspace-based OutputJob is distinguished in the Projects panel by the icon.

The added revisions of outputjobs will be reflected in the Projects panel.

Reuse as Part of an Environment Configuration

A released Output Job Configuration can also be used as a configuration data item in one or more defined Environment Configurations. An environment configuration is used to constrain a designer's Altium NEXUS working environment to only use company-ratified design elements. Environment configurations are defined and stored within the Team Configuration Center – a service provided through the Workspace.

Once you have connected to the Workspace, and chosen (if applicable) from the selection of environment configurations available to you, Altium NEXUS will be configured, with respect to use of Output Job Configurations. If the chosen environment configuration has one or more defined outputjob revisions, then only those defined configurations can be used. If the chosen environment configuration applicable to you does not have any outputjob revisions specified/added, then these will remain manually definable. In other words, you are free to manually reuse a Workspace-based Output Job Configuration and/or use local templates. For more information, see Environment Configuration Management (for an Altium 365 Workspace or a NEXUS Server Workspace).

Under the enforcement of an environment configuration, Altium NEXUS will be configured, with respect to use of Output Jobs, in the following areas.

OutputJob Editor

The OutputJob Editor – accessed when opening a Workspace-based OutJob – will reflect that the file is a Managed OutputJob Document, with an indication of the Item Revision, its description, and the parent Workspace in which that outputjob resides.

The Output Job Editor when viewing a Workspace-based Output Job.

Since the OutJob is Workspace-based, any controls that would otherwise effect its modification in some way, are disabled. So the following abilities ARE NOT available:

• Addition of new Output Generators.
• Configuration of existing Output Generators.
• Cut, copy, paste, duplication or deletion of an existing Output Generator.
• Addition of new Output Containers or Hard Copy Jobs.
• Configuration of an existing Output Container or Hard Copy Job.
• Cut, copy, paste or deletion of existing Output Containers or Hard Copy Jobs.
• Toggle the inclusion state of an Output Generator with respect to a valid Output Container or Hard Copy Job.

You can, however, still determine variant usage for the OutJob.

Re-Saving an Outputjob

At any stage, you can come back to any revision of an outputjob in the Workspace, and edit it directly. Right-click on the revision and choose the Edit command from the context menu. Once again, the temporary editor will open, with the configuration contained in the revision opened for editing. Make changes as required, then save the document into the next revision of the outputjob.

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

Updating an Outputjob

If you need to change the output job configuration stored in an Outputjob Item, and you have the updated OutJob file, you can upload that file to that Item – the new file will be stored in the next revision of that Item.

Downloading Saved Data

Download the data stored in a revision of an Outputjob Item by right-clicking on that revision and choosing the Operations » Download command from the context menu. The Output Job Configuration file will be downloaded into a sub-folder under the chosen directory, named using the Item Revision ID. The file can be found in the Released folder therein.

Soft Deletion

When connected to a Workspace, flexible functionality is available for removing an Output Job Configuration directly from within Altium NEXUS:

• From the Explorer panel – right-click on the Output Job Configuration'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 Output Job Configuration'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 an outputjob. The outputjob will be moved to the Workspace's Trash area.

To proceed with the deletion, click the button. The outputjob 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 the 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 outputjob:

• The outputjob will not be available from your design software, or from within the Web interface.
• Anywhere the outputjob was being used will reflect that the outputjob has been deleted.
• An outputjob 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.