WorkspaceManager_Cmd-ShowProjectReleaseViewShowProjectReleaseView_AD

Applied Parameters: None

Summary

This command is used to access the Release view. This is the user interface to Altium Designer's Project Releaser. With an intuitive user interface, you are able to generate all manufacturing data for your project simultaneously - fabrication data, assembly data, design source, etc. The releaser also provides the ability to generate the assembly data for multiple detected variants of your board design at the same time. You don't even have to worry if you haven't created Output Job files - it'll do that for you if you ask it to!

Access

With a document for the required project open as the active document, this command can be accessed from any editor by:

• Choosing the Project » Project Releaser command, from the main menus.
• Right-clicking on the entry for the required project, in the Projects panel, and choosing the Project Releaser command, from the context menu.

Use

After launching the command, the Release view will become the active document view in the main design window. The Project Releaser caters for all types of PCB project - unmanaged/non-version-controlled, under external VCS control, or managed through an Altium Vault - by offering two modes of operation:

• Online Mode - releasing all generated data to revisions of Items in a target Altium Vault. You don't even have to remember to increment Item Revisions, it is all handled for you.
• Offline Mode - releasing all generated data into a folder-based structure, all wrapped up in a single Zip file.

With the Release view in Online Mode, the release process is a staged flow, with the entries on the left-hand side of the view showing you at-a-glance, which stage you are currently at.

• Configure Vault Release - this stage of the release process is where you specify the type(s) of data that you wish to generate (Source Data, Fabrication Data, Assembly Data (for base design and each detected variant)).
• Validate Project - this next stage of the release process is run automatically when one or more Validation-type reports are detected in assigned OutJob file(s). All defined validation output generators, defined in an Output Job file assigned to the data item being released, are run. This includes running any of:
  • Differences Report – using the comparator to determine if the source and PCB design documents are correctly in-sync.
  • Electrical Rules Check – checking the electrical/drafting validity of the captured source design.
  • Design Rules Check – checking the validity of the PCB document in relation to specified board-level design constraints.
  • Footprint Comparison Report – comparing footprints on the board against their source library to ensure they are up-to-date, and matched.
  • Component State Checking - checking for components that are in restricted states. As part of configuration, you determine the action to be taken for each currently defined state, of each currently defined Lifecycle Definition in the target vault; no action, a warning, or generate an error. The latter will prevent release of the design. In addition, running the check will generate a handy HTML-based report, allowing you to see at-a-glance which design components are not in valid states.
  • Environment Configuration Compliance Check – checking that only data items permitted through the environment configuration available for use by your assigned role (if applicable), are being used. This check can also ensure that all design items are sourced from an Altium Vault.
• Generate Data - this next stage of the release process is run automatically. This is where all other outputs - defined in the OutJob file(s) assigned to the included Data Items - are run, to generate the data to be released into the relevant target items in the vault.
• Review Data - with all validation checks passed, and output data generated, this stage of the release process allows you to review the generated data.
• Upload Data - after confirming the release in the previous stage, this next stage is automatically entered. It simply presents progress of data upload into the revisions of the relevant data Items in the target Altium Vault.
• Execution Report - this is the final stage of the process, providing a summary of the release. Navigation links are provided to quickly browse to the generated Item Revisions in the Vaults panel.

Tips

1. If your project currently has no Output Job file(s) associated to it, the Project Releaser will detect this, and you will be asked if you wish to create default ones.
2. A very powerful aspect of the Project Releaser, is that it will detect defined variants for your design and create Assembly Data sets for each, ready for release.