Accessing a Server from Altium Designer_AD

This page takes a look at accessing your managed content server from within Altium Designer.

Signing in to Your Server

Sign in to your managed content server from within Altium Designer by clicking the  button, at the top-right of the main application window, then choosing the Sign in command from the associated menu. The Sign in to Server dialog will appear, with which to sign in to the target server. Enter the URL for the Server, and your Server access credentials, then click the  button.

Signing in to your managed content server (an Altium NEXUS Server) from within Altium Designer.

Checking Sign-in Status

You can check whether you are currently signed in to your managed content server from the following places:

• The current user button (e.g. ), at the top-right of the main application window. This reflects the user that is currently signed in to the active managed content server.
• The current server information - reflected on the menu associated with the current user button. The name of the server to which you are currently signed in is presented, along with its URL. Clicking the entry provides access to browse the content of that server through the Explorer panel.

Verification of being signed in to your managed content server.

• The Data Management - Servers page of the Preferences dialog. When signed in to the Server, that Server will be presented as the Active Server, reflecting that you are both connected to that Server (On) and that it is Active (you are actively signed in to it rather than just connected). Remember that while it is possible to have connections to different Servers (these are listed as Known Servers), you can only be actively signed in to one managed content server through the software at a time.

Once signed in to the target server, it will become the Active Server, as can be seen here.

• The Explorer panel. When signed in, the relevant Server will be available from the menu associated with clicking on the name of the Server currently being browsed.

Note that all connected Servers will be listed, but only one will be active - the one that you are currently signed in to - and is distinguished by the  icon.

Browsing the Active Server through the Explorer panel in Altium Designer.

Managing Your Servers

Management of the connections to servers is performed from the Data Management - Servers page of the Preferences dialog. The Servers region of the page is broken down into two areas:

• Active - presenting the active Server to which you are currently connected AND signed in.
• Known Servers - lists all Servers that you are connected to (or have connected to in the past) from that instance of Altium Designer.

In addition, you can connect to the Altium Content Vault - Altium's very own cloud-based managed content server, offering design collateral (including board templates, vendor-specific families of components, as well as generic components including capacitors and resistors). You can even setup the software to automatically connect to this server by enabling the Automatically connect Altium Content Vault option (at the bottom of the Known Servers list).

Server Properties

Click the Properties control associated with a server to access commands for various aspects of server management. The following is the full list of commands, when accessed for the active server:

• Server - use this command to access the server's browser interface in your default Web Browser.
• Lifecycles - use this command to access the Edit Lifecycle Definitions dialog, with which to manage the defined lifecycles for the server.
• Naming Schemas - use this command to access the Edit Revision Naming Schemes dialog, with which to manage the defined revision naming schemes for the server.
• Operations - use this command to access the Edit Operation Permissions dialog, with which to define and manage global operation permissions for the server.
• Connection - use this command to access the Connection Properties dialog, with which to configure your connection to the server.

Signing Out from Your Server

You can sign out from your managed content server from within Altium Designer, in the following ways:

• By clicking the button that displays the currently signed in user (e.g. ), at the top-right of the main application window, then choosing the Sign out command from the associated menu.
• By clicking the Off button, associated to the Active Server, on the Data Management - Servers page of the Preferences dialog. A confirmation dialog will appear - click Yes.

Working in the Server

Related page: Working with the Explorer Panel - Feature How-Tos

Once you are signed-in to your managed content server, you can access and create content. The primary interface to the Server from Altium Designer is the Explorer panel.

To display the Explorer panel:

• Click the  button at the bottom-right of Altium Designer, and select Explorer from the menu that appears.
• Click the button that displays the currently signed in user (e.g. ), at the top-right of the main application window, then click the entry for the Server on the associated menu.

• Choose View » Panels » Explorer from the main menus.

Click the text at the top-left of the panel (the name of the Server currently being browsed) to display a menu listing all currently connected Servers. The active Server- the one to which you are currently signed in - is distinguished by the  icon.

When you are working in Altium Designer, you access Server content through the Explorer panel.