Controlling Item Revision Visibility and Applicability

When configuring each individual state for a lifecycle definition, you have the ability to define additional state attributes that control the visibility, and applicability, of an Item revision - using that lifecycle definition - that finds itself in that state. In terms of applicability, a project compiler violation can also be configured to detect and flag any Server items being used in a design, whose revisions are in non-applicable states - catching and averting issues prior to release.

Controlling Visibility and Applicability

Controls for determining whether an Item Revision in a particular state is visible and/or applicable, are available in the State Properties dialog. From within the Edit Lifecycle Definitions dialog, access this dialog for the required state, either by double-clicking on the state's entry within the parent lifecycle definition, or by selecting its entry and clicking the edit icon that appears ().

Use attributes defined at the state level to control the visibility and/or applicability of an Item Revision entering that state.

The two options are:

• Visible in Vault panels - with this option enabled, a revision of an Item using the parent lifecycle definition, will be displayed in the Explorer panel (and Libraries panel) when it is set to be in this lifecycle state. When this option is disabled, the revision will be hidden in both places. A hidden revision can, however, be displayed (overriding this option) by enabling the Show Hidden Revisions control (see Showing Hidden Revisions).

In Altium NEXUS, you will need to enable the use of the Libraries panel. You can restore this functionality by enabling the Legacy.LibraryPanel option in the Advanced Settings dialog - accessed by clicking the  button, on the System - General page of the Preferences dialog. You will need to restart Altium NEXUS for the change to this setting to take effect.

• Allowed to be used in designs - with this option enabled, an Item Revision in this state is permitted to be used in a design. It is deemed to be Applicable. If this option is disabled, an Item Revision in this state cannot be validly used, and is deemed Inapplicable (or non-applicable). It will be flagged as such in the Properties for Schematic Component dialog and the Item Manager dialog (see Flagging Inapplicable Revisions). The project compiler can also be configured to catch such occurences (see Detecting Inapplicable Revision States on Compilation).

Showing Hidden Revisions

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 both the Explorer panel, and the Libraries 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 (when browsing in the Explorer panel), or all loaded managed component libraries (when browsing in the Libraries panel), respectively.

• Explorer panel - to display all Item Revisions that are currently not visible, 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 Explorer panel. Hover over the image to see the result.

• Libraries panel - to display all Item Revisions of managed Components that are currently not visible, click the  control, at the bottom-right of the component listing for any currently loaded Server library, and enable the Show hidden revisions option, on the associated menu.

Displaying hidden Component Item revisions while browsing content in the Libraries panel. Hover over the image to see
the result.

Flagging Inapplicable Revisions

Typically, a lifecycle state that is set to be hidden (Visible in Vault panels option disabled) will also be made inapplicable (Allowed to be used in designs option also disabled). For example, a revision of a component that is currently Depracated or Obsolete should have no place on the latest design spin! Hiding revisions of Items that have entered such states is one thing - if you can't see a component for example, you can't place it. But you may already be using instances of such Item Revisions in a design. Or, even inadvertently placed an inapplicable revision of a component by virtue of having shown hidden revisions whilst browsing!

Not to worry. Aside from catching Component Item Revisions that are in inapplicable states upon compilation (see next section), you can manually interrogate the applicability of Item Revisions (components and managed sheets) directly in the workspace. This is achieved through the Properties panel, when browsing the item's properties, or through use of the Item Manager.

• Properties panel - when browsing the properties for a placed Component Item Revision, or a placed Managed Schematic Sheet Item Revision - through the Properties panel - indication is presented to the right of the Revision State field. If the revision is in an inapplicable state (not allowed for use in designs) the entry will display Not Applicable. If the revision is in an applicable state (allowed for use in designs) the entry will either reflect that the revision is the latest (Up to date) or not (Out of date).

Reflecting inapplicability at the properties level for a placed instance of a revision of a Component Item, and Managed Schematic Sheet Item.

• Item Manager - in the Item Manager dialog (Tools » Item Manager), indication is presented in the Revision Status field. If the revision is in an inapplicable state (not allowed for use in designs) the entry will display Not Applicable. If the revision is in an applicable state (allowed for use in designs) the entry will either reflect that the revision is the latest (Up to date) or not (Out of date).

Reflecting inapplicability through the Item Manager dialog for a placed instance of a revision of a Component Item, and Managed Schematic Sheet Item.

Detecting Inapplicable Revision States on Compilation

For placed instances of Component Item Revisions, the applicability of the states of those revisions can be checked as part of project compilation. At the heart of this checking is the Component revision has inapplicable state violation type, part of the category: Violations Associated with Components. Configure the reporting mode for this check on the Error Reporting tab of the Project Options dialog.

The default Report Mode for this violation type is . Modify to suit your design requirements.

The Project Compiler includes a check for violations concerning inapplicable revision states. A violation will occur if the lifecycle state of a placed Component
Item Revision has been specified as not being allowed for design purposes.

If compiler errors and warnings are enabled for display on the schematic (enabled on the Schematic - Compiler page of the Preferences dialog) an offending object will display a colored squiggle beneath it. A notification is also displayed in the Messages panel in the following format:

Component <Designator> <Comment>: Component revision has inapplicable state,

where:

• Designator is the component instance's Designator.
• Comment is the component instance's Comment.

Example violation (set to Fatal Error for impact).

Things to be aware of:

1. If a placed managed component loses connection with the managed content server from which it was placed - for example that Server is disconnected or you are signed out from your Server - it will violate the Component revision has inapplicable state check. This will also be reflected in the Messages panel, with an entry in the form: Component <Designator> <Comment>: Can't perform revision status validation: Failed to connect to server.
2. You can also catch components that are being invalidly used within a design, during the design release process. Simply add and configure Component State Checking to your overall release validation regemin. For more information, see Validating Component Status.