Project Management Improvements

New parameter, search and preview capabilities have been added to the Altium NEXUS server that improve the accessibility of project information available through the server’s browser interface. The information features are available through new tabs in the Projects page, and in the Parameter search and management functions accessed from the main Project listing.

Managed Project Parameters

In the list of available Managed Projects, select a project’s name or its open icon () to view the project details. Select the Parameters tab to view all available parameters for the project.

The project Parameter types include:

• Project file – the list of Project Parameters that have been added to the project in the design environment. These parameters are stored in the project file (*.PrjPcb). In Altium NEXUS, select Project » Project Options and the Parameters tab in the Options for [project] dialog to access project parameters.
• Managed project – the list of Server Parameters associated with the Managed Project. These parameters are stored in the server and added in different ways:
  • When creating a new Managed Project from Altium NEXUS, any parameters added to the Parameters list in the Create Project dialog will be saved as Server Parameters.
  • In the server’s browser interface, select a project entry’s Edit function () to add or change a Server Parameter in the Parameters section of the Edit Project dialog. If a project is open (as shown above), the Edit Project dialog is available from the Edit option in the menu.
    
  • During advanced server functions, such as when interfacing with a remote enterprise system, related Server Parameters are automatically generated and added to the project.
• Analytics – the server automatically generates a detailed list of statistics and information that is extracted from the Managed Project. The project metadata are stored as accessible Parameter/Value pairs, which are automatically refreshed when the project is first opened or updated. Note that a refresh may be requested.
  

On the design side, all Parameters may be viewed in the Explorer panel – under the Parameters tab when a listed Project is selected. Both Project file (Project) and Managed project (Server) type parameters may be used as Special Strings.

Parameter based Project Search

Enhanced search capabilities are available through the Projects listing Search box, which along with the existing project Name and Description search, will now return results based on the abovementioned parameters and their values.

The search will return a list of projects based on simple or specific search strings. Parameter Value searches are case-insensitive, whereas Parameter names are referred to in full and are case-sensitive. A space in the search string indicates a boolean AND, and quoted (literal) searches are valid.

• Enter abc to list projects that include a parameter value which contains the character string abc
• Enter abc 123 to list projects that include a parameter value which contains abc AND 123
• Enter “abc 123” to list projects that include a parameter value which (literally) contains abc 123
• Enter MyParameter=123 to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter with a value that contains 123
• Enter “My Other Parameter”=abc to list projects that include the My Other Parameter parameter with a value that contains 123. Most project parameter names include spaces, so a quoted (literal) name is needed.
• Enter MyParameter=abc 123 to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter with a value that contains abc, and also have any parameter with a value containing 123.
• Enter MyParameter= to list projects that include the MyParameter parameter, regardless of its value.

The new search capability is also available in the design software when browsing Managed Projects in the Open Project dialog.

Project Previews

The project document graphical preview is now available from the Projects page and may be viewed at any stage during a project's development. Its accessibility is no longer restricted to under Releases tab, which is enabled only after a Managed Project has been Released to the server.

Open the Projects page by selecting the name of a project listed in the main Projects view, or by using its open icon (), and then select the Preview tab to see the graphical representations of the project’s current design documents. Similarly, the project Part List tab is also available on the Projects page, which will list the Managed Components used in the currently saved version of the design.