Altium Vault - Browsing Content from a Web Browser
Parent page: Browser-based Access & Management
The VAULT page of the Altium Vault's browser-based interface gives you access to the content of the Altium Vault. From here, you can:
- Browse the folders and Items within the Vault. And although you can't create or edit Items from within the browser interface (you can remove them), you are able to create and edit folders, and so build the structure of the Vault, without having to be connected to that Vault through Altium Designer.
- Define folder-level and Item-level sharing - controlling who is able to see what content in the Vault and, at the folder level, whether other users can simply view a folder and its content, or also edit it (effectively releasing/committing/uploading design data into it).
- Download content.
The interface itself presents with a look and feel that is similar to that of the Vaults panel, when accessing Vault content through Altium Designer. A strong degree of consistency between the two interfaces means that if you are familiar with the panel, you'll be able to intuitively drive this browser-based variant without difficulty.
Managing Structure
Various commands are available to manage the overall folder structure in the Vault. What can be done depends on the access privileges you have:
- Administrators - full access to create top-level folders and sub-folders, and edit, share, and remove folders.
- Non-Administrators - can create sub-folders, but cannot create top-level folders. In addition, they can only edit, share, and remove sub-folders they have created.
Controls for managing the folder structure can be found on the right-click menu (with the mouse cursor over an existing folder entry). With the exception of adding a top-level folder, commands act on the currently selected folder in the structure.
Sharing Folders and Items
Related page: Controlling Access to Vault Content
The Altium Vault provides the following sharing capabilities:
- Folder-level Sharing - providing the ability to control who is able to see what content in the vault by sharing vault folders. This allows control over whether other users can simply view a folder and its content, or also edit it (effectively releasing/committing/uploading design data into it). A single vault can be partitioned into various effective 'zones' of content, but with controlled folder-level permissions, the content can be made selectively visible, or hidden, as required, giving the right people, the right access, to the right data.
- Item-level Sharing - providing the ability to control who is able to see which Items in a shared folder. Think of this as a finer level of sharing, in contrast to the coarser level of sharing provided through folder access control. Provided a user has access to the folder itself, they will then be able to view/edit (as permitted) Items within that folder that are shared with them.
Sharing controls are accessed by right-clicking over the entry for the folder (or Item), and using the Share Folder (or Share) command from the context menu. The Sharing Settings window will appear, from where the access permissions for the folder/Item can be modified as required.
The following levels of sharing are supported:
- Private - only users or roles explicitly granted permission can access or change according to their granted access rights.
- Anyone in my organization can view - any user signed-in to the Vault can view the folder (Read-only access rights).
- Anyone in my organization can change - any user signed-in to the Vault can view and change the folder and its content (Read/Write access rights).
Downloading an Item Revision
To download data from the interface, simply click the Download control () to the right of the entry for an Item Revision.
Navigating the Vault Structure
You can navigate the content in an Altium Vault - through the browser interface - in a couple of ways, as highlighted in the following image and described thereafter.
- By clicking on a folder name whose contents you wish to peruse.
- Using the search feature. Simply enter a keyword based on an Item's ID, Comment, or Description, and press Enter or click the magnifying glass icon (). The entire Vault will be scanned and results of the search listed, in terms of matching Items.
Additional Features
The following additional features can be found when browsing content through the Vault's browser interface:
- Navigate - this command, found on the right-click context menu for an Item, is used to quickly take you to that Item in the Vaults panel. Altium Designer will be opened in order to do this (you'll be prompted if you want to open dxp.exe - Altium Designer's source executable).
- Full item info - this command, found on the right-click context menu for an Item Revision, is used to present a view listing all detail for that Revision. In effect, it is simply a view that includes all of the various aspect views available for that Item Revision (except Summary).
- Follow/Unfollow - use the Follow command, found on the right-click context menu for a folder of Type Components, to follow the folder. Any activity within the folder being followed (component creation, release, revision state change, or deletion) will be flagged within your activity stream (STREAM page of the interface). Use the Unfollow command to stop following component activity within that folder.