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Project Releaser & Publishing Releases

  • Updated

Objective: To learn how to use the project releaser and publish releases from Altium to Duro.

Difficulty: Expert

In this article:

  1. Project releaser
  2. Publishing releases

The Altium Project Releaser automates the generation of project releases, utilizing outjob files from the default PCB project template to specify the outputs for packaging into a release zip file. Batching the generation of necessary files like Gerber Files, NC Drill Files, and Fabrication Drawings through the Projects window, significantly streamlines the production process for Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs). The Releaser menu, allows users to include various data types in the release, prepare and generate the release, and publish it directly to Duro.

Project releaser

In this section, we will demonstrate the Altium Project Releaser, which uses the outjob files located within the settings folder of the default PCB project template. These outjob files specify what outputs are generated to be packaged up into the release zip file. The outjob file contains the outputs to be generated during the release. Several outjob files may be used and each one may contain one or many outputs that are defined.

In the Projects window of Altium, you can view the assembly, documentation, and fabrication. Simply open the Settings folder, then subsequently open Output Job Files to view these files. A glance at the fabrication output job shows that it generates Gerber Files and NC Drill Files, ODB Files, and Fabrication Drawings. These are all the files that would be necessary to produce a Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Instead of generating these one at a time, an outjob file can be used to generate them in a batch to save time.

A file path is inserted into the release which is specified for each of the above-mentioned outputs. This file path is viewable in the Output Containers window; for the Fabrication Drawing, the file path is shown in the section under “Path in Server.” This data can be used to get an idea of the folder structure of the release that's generated, which can be edited and configured if needed through the Change button. If the folder structure is changed please ensure that the XML Publish Template is also updated to ensure the documents are sent from Altium to Duro. The option to remove outputs is also available within the Output Containers window across from the Change button.

Altium: accessing the releaser menu

To access the Releaser menu, follow the below steps:

  1. Click on either the schematic or the board for the project.
  2. Click on the Project
  3. Click on Project Releaser.
  4. Click on Release and Publish to PLM (OOTB).

The Release Demonstration window contains the following settings:

  • Configure Server Release
  • Validate Project
  • Generate Data
  • Review Data
  • Upload Data
  • Execution Report
  • Publish to PLM

Under Configure Server Release, you are granted options to Include Source Data, Include Fabrication Data, or Include Assembly Data for No Variant.

Altium: output job file selection

  1. Click on Options. This will populate the “Project Release Options” module.
  2. In the Source Data section, check the box for Documentation.
  3. In the Fabrication Data section, check the boxes for Assembly, Documentation, and Fabrication. The fabrication data is the object that the Duro integration uses to get the documents from Altium.
  4. In the Assembly Data section, check the box for Assembly.*
  5. Click OK.
  6. In the Release Demonstration Window, check the boxes for Include Fabrication Data and Include Assembly Data for No Variant.
  7. Click Prepare to start generating the release.
  8. In the “Item Creation” module that populates, click on Create Items.
  9. In the “Project Modified” module that populates, click on Save and Commit Changes.
  10. In the “Commit Version Control” module that populates, click on Commit and Publish. Altium has now begun generating the files specified in the output job files, a process that usually runs quickly.
  11. Click Release.
  12. Insert notes into the Release Notes field if needed.
  13. Click OK when complete.

*Note: These settings are not required but are rather the default settings used for this tutorial.

Now the release is uploaded and successfully generated so that our other team members can see it. This is where publishing the release into Duro is now possible. Since we've selected the option to release and publish in the PLM, the publish option is now immediately available in the bottom right-hand corner of the window.

Publishing releases

In this section, we will detail how to publish a release from Altium in Duro. If you haven't already, please ensure that you have generated a release using the Altium Project Releaser, which was discussed in the previous section. Publishing a release allows you to sync your project and its components from Altium into Duro. Complete this process after generating a release using the Altium Project Releaser.

Altium_-_Publishing_Releases.gif

  1. Click on the Project
  2. Click on Project Activities.
  3. Click on Publish to Duro.
  4. In the “Publish to Duro” module that populates, ensure that the project you would like to release is selected.
  5. Click Start.
  6. In the “Select Data to Publish Module” that populates, select the release that you wish to publish.
  7. Click Submit.

The Duro integration will begin processing the release.

Altium: monitoring the status

You can monitor the status of this process from the task list panel through the following steps:

  1. Click Panels.
  2. Click Tasklist.
  3. To show current tasks, click the Refresh button in the Tasks section.
  4. To show current activities, click the Refresh button in the Activities section.
  5. The published task has shown up and is still processing as can be seen by the state. Under the State column, hover your cursor above the circle icon, which will show that it is “On Hold.”
  6. Once this process finishes, it will be shown under the show closed section. To view this, click on the settings icon within the module.
  7. Check the box for Show closed which will show the process once it closes. 

If your process finishes with an error, view the log info within the Data tab.

Altium: checking revisions

Before switching platforms and opening Duro, it is advisable to check the revisions of the PCBA, PCB, and EBOM in Altium. Utilizing the Altium-based revision copies the revision from Altium into Duro. If you do not want your revisions to be linked in this manner, ensure that you use the Duro-based revision configuration file in your connection setup. For more information on this process, refer to the Connection Setup section.

  1. Inspect the project parameters by right-clicking on the project in the Projects Window.
  2. Select Project Options.
  3. In the module that populates, select
  4. Click the Refresh button to make sure you have the most up-to-date copies. The parameters of “ProjectRev” correspond to the PCBA revision in Duro. Similarly, the “SCH_REV” corresponds to the schematic revision in Duro. Finally, the “PCB_REV” corresponds to the PCB revision in Duro.
  5. Click OK.

Altium: checking CPN generation

We'll also check to see where the CPNs that are generated by Duro show up in Altium.

  1. Double-click on a component in the process designer workspace. This activates the Properties tab.
  2. In the General section of the Properties tab, click the Refresh icon to generate the most up-to-date values from the server.
  3. In the Parameters section of the Properties tab, click on Show More. This shows that the selected part now has a property of “PlmPartNumber.” This corresponds to the CPN that is generated by Duro. If you type this CPN into the Search Bar in Duro, this component data will generate there as well.

Duro: checking component generation

By pulling up your project in Duro, we can verify the revision values that we just checked in Altium. Simply refresh the component page to ensure updated values are visible. As evidenced above, the Assembly tab accurately reflects the updated workflow state and revision number of the project and any BOMs that may be included. Likewise, opening the assembly tab reveals that all the components from the schematic have been added to any associated BOMs. The revision, state, quantities, and reference designators (REF DES) that were used in the schematic within Altium have been pulled into Duro.

Now we'll switch back to the project and we'll click over to the documents tab.

In this example, you can see that there's a PDF drawing of the schematic as well as a step file of the board assembly that has been added. This project has a set of assembly drawings, the Gerber files, the NC files, the ODB files, and a fabrication print, which comprise all the files required to produce this circuit board. This data is conveniently uploaded into Duro on the PCB object when the release is published. Your project has been successfully synced from Altium to Duro, and you can share the design in Duro with any of your teammates and track revisions and statuses. For future reference, repeat this process whenever Altium releases need to be pushed into Duro.

 

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