Browser-based Web Review

The Altium Web Review feature provides universal access to PCB project documents through a standard web browser. Much more than just a web-based viewer, the Web Review's advanced browser technology allows users to navigate through the project structure, interact with design documents, extract information about elements in the design and highlight areas or objects for commenting notes.

When viewing documents the visual quality of schematics and PCBs are not compromised by its web format, which also provides full pan and zoom capabilities, and in the case of PCB documents, a high-quality interactive 3D view of the board.

As an independent browser based view platform, the Web Review feature offers interactive read-only access to design documents without the need to open the project in the design editing environment. Others that are working on the design, such as the engineer who 'owns' it, will not be affected by actions in the Web Review space – except for any related comment notifications.

The Web Review feature can be accessed from both the NEXUS design space (client) and from the NEXUS Server's own browser interface. Any user that has access rights (suitable sharing permissions) to open a project may select it for viewing in the Web Review interface, whether it's opened from the design or server side. This allows users without access to the NEXUS design client, such as a team manager or a librarian for example, to interact in detail with project documents and also view a range of important data – all that's required is a NEXUS Server user account and appropriate privileges.

Web Review Access

In the Atium NEXUS design-side client the Web Review feature is available via the Explorer panel when a Project is selected from the Folder tree. The availability of a project to users and teams is determined by its Sharing Permissions.

Click the button to open the Web Review for that project in the system's default web browser. Use the button if you wish to access the NEXUS Server browser interface directly .

In the Altium NEXUS Server's browser interface the Web Review feature is available via the Project Management page when a project has been selected from the list, or opened with its associated icon. Click the button to open the Web Review for that project.

Web Review Features

The Web Review interface, regardless of how it has been accessed, offers a range of integrated capabilities that allow detailed access to the design's data and layout. Other features such as the Comments system communicate directly, and in real-time, with the NEXUS design client.

Navigation

The Web Review's Navigator panel on the left allows the selection of project design document for display and analysis. Click its associated icon to collapse/expand the Navigator panel.

The rendered document display itself can provide interactive navigation through lower levels in the project structure hierarchy. Double clicking on a schematic Sheet Symbol object for example will load the target schematic document. Hover the mouse over any object to see a pop-up information summary or hints for optional actions.

To navigate within the design document display, hold the right mouse button and drag to pan, use the mouse wheel to zoom and select the icon in the top border to fit the document within the window. When viewing a PCB in 3D mode, toggled to using the icon in the top border, hold the left mouse button and drag to alter the view angle.

Select the icon at the upper right of the screen to access the Web Review's Settings menu, where you can choose between the GUI's Light and Dark contrast themes or log out of the server.

Object data

Along with pop-summary information associated with a selected design object, Web Review also provides a more comprehensive data listing in its Properties panel, opened (if not already) from the icon in the right-hand border area.

In the schematic view the panel lists the available properties data for a selected object such as a component, or its pin information when the switched to Pin mode by the icon at the top.

When viewing a PCB document the panel will show the properties of selected board layout objects such as pads, fills and nets. Where PCB objects typical overlay each other, such as when they occupy the same 2D space on different layers, clicking on the layout will open an annotated drop down list so the desired object may be selected.

When viewing a PCB layout select the icon to open the list of PCB layers used in the board design. Click on a layer entry in the list to toggle its visibility.

Object Search

Web Review includes an advanced search capability that can be used to find any object in the design, including objects with a specific parameter.

Select the icon in the left border to change the panel into Search mode. Click in the search field to see the list of object types that are included in a search, or select an item type from the list to include it as a prefix in the search string – and therefore constrain the search results to that object type. Click an entry in the results list to zoom to the selected object.

Use the panel's and icons to switch the search scope between the currently open document and all project documents. A selected results entry will open its target document automatically.

When clicking through a large number of search results of varying object types (indicated by their matching icons), the search system will automatically open the related document and then select and zoom to that object regardless of its type. Selecting a property type match in the search returns, indicated by the icon, will cause the object associated with that property to be opened – as indicated in the Properties panel listing. Conversely, performing a search such as property:resistor array will return all chip resistor array components where they are identified by a property Value that contains that string.

Reports

Web Review provides interactive access to both ERC and DRC reports that have been generated in the design space, which are accessed from the button in the left hand border of the interface.

The Reports pane is populated with an ERC or a DRC Report listing as selected by the and icons, respectively.

• ERC Reports – the listed ERC results are those generated from the project's most recent compilation in the NEXUS design client.
• DRC Reports – the listed DRC results are those generated by the most recent batch DRC run in the NEXUS design client. These become available when the project has been committed to the server.

The included compiler violations are grouped by type in expandable row entries, where each row is associated with a color-coded violation status.

• – Fatal
• – Error
• – Warning
• – No Report

In both the ERC and DRC report listing, hover over an individual entry to see more detail or click or an entry to view the related schematic or PCB area. The document is opened and the violating area zoomed to and centered in the view. Use the document icons at the top of the pane to ensure that viewed reports are for the project () rather than the active document () only.

Cross-probing

As a further aid to navigating objects in a project design, Web Review supports cross-probing between Schematic and PCB documents.

Cross probing between schematic and PCB objects requires that both documents types are open in the browser interface. To open another document in a second browser tab, Ctrl-click the desired document entry in the Web Browser Navigation pane.

Cross probe by selecting an object in a schematic document to automatically select the corresponding object in a PCB document, or select a PCB object to also select that object in the schematic. The relevant object(s) on the target document will be zoomed to and centered (where possible) within the viewing area.

Examples of the object relationships between schematic and PCB documents are; Part ↔ Component, Pin ↔ Pad, Net (Wire, Port, etc) ↔ Net (tracks).

Cross-probing is enabled by default, and the function can be disabled/enabled in the Web Review's settings menu – accessed from the button (top right).

Design Variants

Web Review offers graphic support for project Design Variants, which is available when design variations exist in the project being reviewed. To view added variations of a project design, select a Variation from the drop down menu at the top of the Web Review page.

Data Status Alert

To ensure that the latest design data is available for review, the Web Review display provides a Data Status pop-up that is triggered by an update in the current project data.

When viewing the Web Review page, a coincident project update such as a new Commit or Release will cause the server to reprocess the design data. Since the currently viewed data is out of date, the Status pop-up alerts the user and provides a real-time indication of the reprocessing state, and then offers the option to open (reload) the page with the new data.

An alert will also indicate if project data is being processed when opening a Web Review. Select the button to view the updated page.

Comments

Web Review Comments correspond to, and interact with, the Comments system in the Altium NEXUS design client. A Comment is a user-added note that is assigned to a specific area, object or point in schematic documents, and may be replied to by other users or assigned to a specific user.

Comments promote collaboration between users without altering the project itself or its constituent documents because comments are stored by the NEXUS Server independently of the design project. In the Web Review interface Comments are accessed through the Active Comments pane, opened by the icon located in the right border.

A comment markup, which defines where or what the comment note applies to, is added by selecting one of the available types from their respective icons located in the top border:

• Comment on object: Select the icon and then click on a schematic object to automatically create a comment area that applies to that object.
• Comment on area: Select the icon and then hold the left mouse button and drag to define an area that the comment will apply to.
• Freehand comment: Select the icon and then use the mouse to draw line shapes on the schematic. Hold the left mouse button and drag to create a freehand line, and then repeat as needed. Right click to confirm the markup placement.

When a markup has been placed a blank text window will open in the Active Comments pane, ready for your comment note. When complete, click the button and choose to submit the comment (Post) or assign it to another user (Assign), where you choose from a list of registered server users. An assigned comment will generate a matching Task for the user it is assigned to. Comments can be edited or deleted by the user that added the comment.

To specify the comments that will be shown in the Active Comments pane and in the schematic, click the pane's icon to open the comments Settings menu. The menu's Context setting filters comments to those that apply to the current document or the whole project, the Comments setting restricts comments to those that are currently active or have been Resolved (closed) and the Visibility on canvas options set if comments are displayed in the schematic area.

Comments applied in the Web Review space become available in the NEXUS design client, and visa-versa, and all changes to comments are reflected in both spaces. Any comments that have been assigned to the signed-in user will be presented in the software's Tasklist panel as an active response Task.

► See Document Commenting and the Comments panel for detailed information on placing and working with comments.