Extracting Data after Subscription Expiration

Parent page: Altium Concord Pro

Altium Concord Pro is sure to become a welcome part of your design arsenal - your single source for component data, real-time sourcing information, component traceability within designs, and collaboration with your mechanical design team. However there may be a time, for whatever reason, that you can no longer continue your design journey with Concord Pro, and need to come off subscription.

Data can be extracted from your instance of Concord Pro in the following ways:

• Batch download of components and models. For components, they are essentially exported to IntLib format. Components can also be acquired into an IntLib through use of the Content Cart.
• Checking out designs (if fully managed in Concord Pro and you don't have a local working copy already).
• Downloading release packages.

The following sections take a look at how these various actions are performed.

Batch Download of Items

Altium Designer's Explorer panel supports the ability to select multiple Items in your Concord Pro instance and have the source entities for those Items downloaded, en masse, into a newly created single source library or folder, as applicable. The following Item types are supported by this feature:

• Component Items - with the selected Component Items downloaded into a Zip archive file containing source symbol and model libraries, and a source Integrated Library Package (*.LibPkg).
• Symbol Items - with the symbols for the selected Items downloaded into a Schematic Library (*.SchLib).
• Footprint Items - with the 2D/3D component models for the selected Items downloaded into a PCB Library (*.PcbLib).
• Simulation Model Items - with the released data applicable to each Item in the selection (*.SimModel, *.mdl, *.ckt) downloaded to a separate sub-folder.

Component Extraction using the Content Cart

You also have the ability to acquire components from Concord Pro into an Integrated Library (*.IntLib). The vehicle through which this is done - your interface to Concord Pro's Data Acquisition Service - is the Content Cart. Access to the Content Cart dialog is made from within the Explorer panel. While browsing your Concord Pro instance from which you wish to obtain data, right-click on an Item Revision that you wish to acquire and choose the Operations » Add to Content Cart command from the context menu.

From the Content Cart dialog, the process to acquire into an IntLib is as follows:

1. Click on the Select target server link and choose IntLib file from the menu.

Set the target of the Content Cart to be an IntLib file.

2. Specify the name, and location, for the generated IntLib file. By default, the file will be named in the format Integrated_Library - <Date> - <Time>.IntLib, and generated in the location \Users\Public\Documents\Altium\AD<Version>\Library\ExportCmpLib. Modify this as required through the Save As dialog - accessed by clicking the Change link.

Accept the default target folder and filename, or change as required.

3. If you need to acquire additional components into the same IntLib, click the Add More Items link, and choose the Select entry to access the Choose Item dialog. From here you can browse the source server for more Items. Alternatively, choose the Add manually entry to access the Add new items dialog. This dialog allows you to paste an external list of items that you require (one item per line), and which can then be searched for within the source server, using a chosen search criteria (GUID, Item ID, Name, or MPN).
4. Once ready, click the button to proceed with generation of the IntLib. A temporary Integrated Library Package (*.LibPkg) will be created, with source SchLib (with symbols, parameters and model links) and PcbLib (with footprint models) files generated and added. This is then compiled to produce the IntLib file, which is generated in the specified folder. An information dialog will confirm successful generation of the file.

Deliver the cart to the target folder, which will contain the required Integrated Library file.

After generation, the IntLib can be added as part of the available file-based libraries for the software (through the Installed tab of the Available File-based Libraries dialog). It will then be available for use from the Components panel. Place components from the IntLib into your design as required.

Checking Out Fully Managed Designs

For a fully managed design project - created and stored within Concord Pro's Versioned Storage Git design repository - extraction from your instance of Concord Pro is simply a case of checking out the design as a local working copy. This is performed directly from within Altium Designer using the File » Open Project command. The Open Project dialog will appear, from where you can choose which managed project to open from your instance of Concord Pro - when signed in to Concord Pro, the server will appear in the Locations region of the dialog, distinguished by the  icon, and appearing with the name given to the server.

You have the option to open the project to the default checkout path, or use the  drop-down menu to specify a custom path. The default checkout path is defined as a property of the design repository in which the project resides. For a Git repository (e.g. the Versioned Storage repository that is native to the Workspace), this is the Local Path field found in the Git Repository dialog. For an SVN repository, this is the Default Checkout Path field found in the SVN Design Repository dialog. Access the properties dialog by selecting the entry for the repository - on the Data Management - Design Repositories page of the Preferences dialog - and clicking the  button.

Once opened, the project will appear under an entry for your Concord Pro instance, in Altium Designer's Projects panel.

Obtain a local copy of a managed project by opening it (essentially checking it out of your Concord Pro instance).

Downloading Release Packages

Extraction of any and all releases of design projects - released into your Concord Pro instance using Altium Designer's Project Releaser - is simply a case of downloading those release packages from within Concord Pro's browser interface.

Release packages are presented in the Manufacture view, when browsing a specific design project through the Projects Management page - an advanced, manufacturing orientated CAD-centric view of the project.

The Projects Management page is opened from Concord Pro's Projects page by selecting the required project, clicking the  control above the listing of projects, and choosing the Open entry on the associated menu. Alternatively, double-click directly on the required project entry in the list (or click on its name). The page will open in a new browser tab.

Any and all of the data sets included in a release can be downloaded. Click the  button associated to the release to access a window in which to define which of that release's data sets to download. After clicking the  button a single Zip archive containing a folder for each included data set will be downloaded to your Web browser's default downloads folder.

Click the Show Files control to browse the files involved with each data set that is part of the release. Download is supported at all levels of granularity - from the whole data set, to a particular folder/type of output, down to the individual file level. Hover over an entry and click the  button to start the download. For a data set or specific folder of output, a Zip archive will be downloaded. For an individual file, that file (not zipped) will be downloaded.

The Manufacture view gives you access to the released data packages, with the ability to download released data at varying levels of granularity.

Data can also be downloaded when viewing a release package. To open a release package for viewing click on its associated  button to open the full release package. Alternatively click the  button and choose what to view - either the full release package (All Release) or a specific assembly (variant). An opened project release is presented in a new Manufacturing Portal browser tab.