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WelcometotheAltiumDesignerEnvironmentSummaryGuideGU0112(v2.5)May22,2008AltiumDesignerbringsacompleteelectronicproductdevelopmentenvironmenttoyourPC’sdesktop,providingmulti-documenteditingandfullcustomizationofthedesignworkspace.ThisguideprovidesanintroductiontoAltiumDesignerandanoverviewofitsunique,singulardesignenvironment.AltiumDesignerprovidesaunifiedelectronicproductdevelopmentenvironment,cateringforallaspectsoftheelectronicdevelopmentprocess,including:•SystemDesignandCapture•PhysicalPCBDesign•FPGAHardwareDesign•EmbeddedSoftwareDevelopment•Mixed-SignalCircuitSimulation•SignalIntegrityAnalysis•PCBManufacturing•FPGAsystemimplementationanddebugging(whenworkingwithasuitableFPGAdevelopmentboard,suchasanAltiumNanoBoard.Allofthesedesignareasareintrinsicpartsofasingle,cohesivesystem,builtonAltiumDesigner'sDesignExplorer(DXP)integrationplatform.Theextentofthisunifiedsystem,intermsofthefeaturesandfunctionalityavailable,willdependonthespecificlicensingpurchased.UnderlyingAltiumDesigneristheDXPintegrationplatformwhichbringstogetherAltiumDesigner'svariouseditorsandsoftwareengines,andprovidesaconsistentuser-interfaceacrossallthetoolsandeditors.TheAltiumDesignerenvironmentisfullycustomizable,allowingyoutosetuptheworkspacetosuitthewayyouwork.AconsistentselectionandeditingparadigmacrossdifferenteditorsallowsyoutoeasilyandsmoothlyswitchbetweenvariousdesigntaskswithintheAltiumDesignerenvironment.GU0112(v2.5)May22,20081WelcometotheAltiumDesignerEnvironmentTheAltiumDesignerEnvironmentAltiumDesigneroffersauniquedesignenvironment,withallareasofdesign–fromcapturetogenerationofPCBmanufacturingoutput;fromembeddedsoftwaredevelopmenttoprocessinganddownloadofanFPGAdesignintoaphysicalFPGAdevice–broughttogetherintheoneenvironmentthroughtheunderlyingsupportoftheDXPintegrationplatform.Supportingthedisplayandeditingofmultipledesigndocuments,ofdifferingtype,thisenvironmentisfullycustomizable,allowingyoutotailortheworkspaceresources-includingmenus,toolbarsandshortcuts-inaccordancewithpreferreddesignhabits.Figure1summarizessomeofthekeyelementsoftheAltiumDesignerenvironment.SystemMenuAccesstofeaturesincludingenvironmentpreferences,licensingandserverinformationPanelAccessWorkspacepanelsareaccessibleusingthesebuttonsMainDesignWindowDisplay,arrangeandeditopendocumentsinthiswindowDocumentTabsEachopendocumenthasitsowntab.Clickonadocumenttabtomakeittheactivedocument.Right-clickonatabforfurthermanagementcontrolsWorkspacePanelsVariouspanelsprovidingfunctionalityspecifictoaparticulareditororatadesign/systemlevel.Panelscanbedocked,placedinapop-outmodeorleftfloatingMenus/Toolbars/ShortcutsResourceschangeaccordingtotheactivedocumenteditorNavigationProvidescontrolsforjumpingtoaparticulardocument,steppingbackandforththroughvieweddocumentsandaccessingtheintegratednavigationHomePageFigure1.AltiumDesignerThefollowingsectionstakeacloserlookattheseandsomeoftheotherkeyfeaturesandfunctionalitythatmakeupthisenvironment.WorkingwithDocumentsInAltiumDesigner,eachtypeofdocumentisopenedandeditedinanassociatededitor.Forexample,aschematicdocumentisopenedandeditedintheSchematicEditor,aPCBlibrarydocumentinthePCBLibraryEditor,andsoon.Asyoucreateanewdocumentoropenanexistingdocument,theassociatededitorforthatdocumenttypewillautomaticallybecometheactiveeditor.2GU0112(v2.5)May22,2008WelcometotheAltiumDesignerEnvironmentCreatingnewDocumentsNewdocumentscanbecreatedusingoneofthefollowingmethods:•selecttherequireddocumenttypefromtheFile»Newsub-menu•clickontherequiredentryintheNewsectionoftheFilespanel.Ifthispanelisnotopen,clickontheSystembuttonatthebottomrightofthemainapplicationwindowandchooseFilesfromthepop-upmenuthatappears•IfoneormoreprojectsarecurrentlyopenintheProjectspanel,thenewdocumentwillbeaddedtotheactiveproject.Alternatively,toaddanewdocumentdirectlytoanopenproject,irrespectiveofwhetheritistheactiveprojectornot,right-clickontheproject’sentryintheProjectspanelandchoosethedocumenttypefromtheAddNewtoProjectsub-menu.Themenuwilllistthesourcedocumentstypicallyaddedforthatprojecttype.GU0112(v2.5)May22,20083WelcometotheAltiumDesignerEnvironmentOpeningandDisplayingDocumentsWhenyouopenadocument,itbecomestheactivedocumentintheapplication’smaindesignwindow.Multipledocumentsmaybeopenedsimultaneously.EachopendocumenthasitsowntabatthetopofthedesignwindowontheDocumentBar.Onlyonedocumentmaybeactivewithinthemaindesignwindow.Figure2showsthreedocumentsopen–onePCBandtwoschematic–withthePCBdocumentcurrentlyactive.Figure2.MultipletabbeddocumentsopenTheactivedocumentisdistinguishedbyahighlightedappearancetoitstab.Tomakeanotheropendocumenttheactivedocument,clickonitstab.Alternatively,usetheCTRL+TABandCTRL+SHIFT+TABkeyboardshortcutstocycleforwardorbackwardthroughallopendocumentsrespectively.Ifyouhavealargenumberofdocumentsopen,youmaychoosetogroupthemintheDocumentsBar.Youcangroupthembydocumentkindorbyproject.Figure3showsmultipletabbeddocuments,groupedbyprojectontheDocumentsBar.Figure3.GroupedtabbeddocumentsontheDocumentsBarTochangeyourDocumentsBarsettings,navigatetotheSystem–ViewpageofthePrefer