Working with a Sheet Entry Object on a Schematic Sheet in Altium Designer

Parent page: Schematic Objects

A placed Sheet Entry

Summary

A sheet entry is an electrical design primitive that belongs within a sheet symbol. It is placed within a sheet symbol to designate input/output ports for the symbol. The sheet entries correspond to ports placed in the source schematic sub-sheet that the symbol represents.

Availability

Sheet Entries are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only. To place a sheet entry:

• Click Place » Add Sheet Entry from the main menus.
• Right-click in the schematic editor, then click Place » Add Sheet Entry.
• Click the Place Sheet Entry button () on the Wiring toolbar.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter sheet entry placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

1. Move the sheet entry attached to the cursor over a placed sheet symbol on the sheet.
2. Adjust the position of the sheet entry in relation to an edge of the sheet symbol, then click or press Enter to anchor the sheet entry to the required edge and complete placement.
3. Continue placing further sheet entries, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed sheet entry object directly in the workspace and change its location graphically.

Sheet entries can only be adjusted with respect to their shape by changing their I/O Type (accessed through the Sheet Entry dialog). As such, editing handles are not available when the Sheet Entry object is selected.

A selected Sheet Entry

• Click and drag to reposition the sheet entry within its parent sheet symbol as required.
• Hold Ctrl then click and drag the sheet entry to move it from the current sheet symbol to another sheet symbol on the sheet. Once the sheet entry has cleared the boundary of the source sheet symbol, the Ctrl key can be released.
• Clicking and dragging the sheet entry outside of the sheet symbol boundary will cause the sheet symbol to automatically resize to accommodate the entry's new location.

Non-Graphical Editing

Via an Associated Properties Dialog

Dialog page: Sheet Entry

This method of editing uses the following dialog to modify the properties of a sheet entry object.

The Sheet Entry dialog

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key (while the sheet entry is still floating on the cursor and while it is within the bounds of a sheet symbol).

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

• Double-click on the placed sheet entry object.
• Place the cursor over the sheet entry object then right-click and choose Properties from the context menu.
• Click Edit » Change from the main menus then click once on the placed sheet entry.

Via an Inspector Panel

Panel pages: SCH Inspector, SCH Filter

An Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

Via a List Panel

Panel pages: SCH List, SCH Filter

A List panel allows the designer to display design objects from one or more documents in tabular format, enabling quick inspection and modification of object attributes. Used in conjunction with appropriate filtering - by using the applicable Filter panel, or the Find Similar Objects dialog - it enables the display of just those objects falling under the scope of the active filter – allowing the designer to target and edit multiple design objects with greater accuracy and efficiency.

Right-click Sheet Entry Actions

Right-click over a placed sheet entry to pop-up a context-sensitive menu, from which the following commands are available (on the Sheet Entry Actions sub-menu) that act on that sheet entry (or all currently selected sheet entries, where applicable):

• Jump to Port <PortName> - use this command to jump to the sheet entry's corresponding port on the sub-sheet referenced by that entry's parent sheet symbol.
• Toggle Sheet Entry IO Type - use this command to toggle the I/O Type for the sheet entry. It is also available by clicking Edit » Move » Toggle Sheet Entry IO Type from the main menus.

Example of toggling sheet entry IO Type

The actual change depends on the current I/O Type as follows:

• Unspecified remains Unspecified.
• Output changes to Input.
• Input changes to Output.
• Bidirectional remains Bidirectional.

• Swap Sheet Entry Side - use to relocate the sheet entry to the directly opposite side of its parent sheet symbol. The sheet entry's I/O Type is not changed by the swap. It is also available by clicking Edit » Move » Swap Sheet Entry Side from the main menus.

Example of swapping sheet entry side.

• Place Harness Connector of Type <HarnessConnectorType> - use to quickly place a harness connector (complete with respective defined harness entries) for connection to the sheet entry.

• Reverse Selected Sheet Entries Order - use to reverse the order that selected sheet entries appear along a side of a parent sheet symbol. The I/O Type of a sheet entry is not changed by the reordering. It is also available by clicking Edit » Move » Reverse Selected Sheet Entries Order from the main menus. After launching the command, the reordering will take place. The reordering is achieved by mirroring the positions of the selected sheet entries - along a particular sheet symbol side - about an imaginary line at the mid-point of the distance between the extents of the two most-outer selected sheet entries.

Notes

1. When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Signal Harness, the Sheet Entry becomes a Harness object. By default, the Sheet Entry will change color to match the color of the Signal Harness. Disable the option, Sheet Entries and Ports use Harness Color on the Schematic - Graphical Editing page of the Preferences dialog to specify your own color for Sheet Entries, or to use the default color.
2. When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Harness Connector by a Signal Harness, the Harness Type in the Sheet Entry dialog is automatically populated with the Harness Type of the Harness Connector. When a Sheet Entry is connected to a Port by a Signal Harness and the Port has a Harness Type declared, the Sheet Entry will become a Harness object and change to the color of the Signal Harness. If you move the Sheet Entry away from the Harness Connector and the Harness Type field is not populated, the Sheet Entry will revert back to the default color.
3. Should you need to negate (include a bar over the top of) a sheet entry name, this can be done by including a backslash character after each character in the name (e.g., E\N\A\B\L\E\).
4. When instantiating multiple channels from the same sheet symbol, certain signals are repeated and sent individually to each instantiated channel. With respect to a sheet entry, a signal is repeated by using the Repeat keyword in the sheet entry's name (e.g., Repeat(Headphone)). The sheet entry is then wired to a bus, which in turn carries the individual signals to their correspondingly instantiated destinations.