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The Part Search panel showing the results of a 'coin cell holder' search.
The Part Search panel provides the interface to the live supplier data. It is a direct portal to parts databases provided through supplier web services.
The Part Search panel is accessible by clicking Panels on the bottom right-hand side of the editor then selecting Part Search or by clicking View » Panels » Part Search from the main menus.
Enter one or more keywords of the part you want to search for in the Keywords field. Click to the right of the Keywords field to access the Search Filters pop-up in which you can specify how many results per supplier are displayed on each page of results within the panel. You can filter parts further based on whether they are in stock, lead free, or RoHS compliant.
After defining the search criteria, click Search. The upper region of the panel will populate with all items matching the search criteria.
Items captured by the search will be listed in the results region of the panel.
Depending on the scope of the search and the number of suppliers enabled, multiple pages of results may be returned. For example, entering Resistor will return far more results due to its generic nature than 1K Res 1/4W, which is a narrower search and will return fewer results. Arrows on the bottom-left of the results region enable you to move back and forth through pages of results.
Once the results from a search are loaded into the results region of the panel, you have the ability to change the way the information is presented. The following is a summary of possible changes.
By default, three columns of information are displayed in the results region: Supplier, Description and Unit Price depending on how your system is configured. Right-click on a column header to access a pop-up listing of all available attributes that can be enabled for display in the panel. Clicking on an entry will add a column for that data into the results region.
You can create a Supplier Link by clicking on an item in the results region of the panel then drag and drop it onto the target component. The sections below describe where to "drop" for each type of component.
Use one of the following methods for dragging and dropping a schematic library component.
Drag and drop onto the required component record on the Table Browser tab of the relevant database library file or SVN database library file, ensuring the DbLib or SVNDbLib file is the active document in the main design window.
Drag and drop onto the schematic symbol of a placed component, ensuring the source schematic document is the active document in the main design window.
The information in the Parameters region of the panel can be imported into the current, active library document by selecting the information in the Parameters region you want to import into the document, then drag and drop the data onto the component's name.
Quantity or bulk pricing is a common concept with suppliers and distributors of electronic components. Suppliers will typically have different pricing based on the quantity of an item you want to purchase. The quantity levels required to access increasingly reduced unit price points differs not only between different suppliers, but also from item to item for the same supplier.
This 'quantity pricing' is readily found in the detailed information region of the panel (see Detailed Item Information below) – specifically the detailed Pricing section for the item currently selected.
By changing the entry in the Order Quantity field at the bottom-right of the results region, the displayed pricing in the Unit Price
column will change in accordance with supplier-specified quantity pricing levels for the displayed items.
Example of displayed Unit Price change based on the specified Order Quantity. In this example, changing the quantity to 99 attracts the supplier's quantity pricing level for that item.
To quickly display all Unit Price information within the results region of the panel in a single currency, choose the currency from the drop-down field available to the left of the Order Quantity field.
Enabling RUB (Ruble) price conversion, for example, is immediately reflected in the item's unit price.
The lower region of the panel provides detailed information for the item selected in the results region above.
Example of the detailed information available for an item.
Depending on availability, the region contains:
Any or all Part information (except the image) can be imported as parameters to an Altium Designer component. This can be achieved in a number of ways:
The Part Search panel has various right-click menus. A menu is accessible for the results region and for each section in the detailed information region. The content of a menu will change in accordance with the focused document (SchDoc
, SchLib
, DbLib
, SVNDbLib
).
The following commands are available when accessing the menu from the results region of the panel:
The following right-click command is available from the Parameters, Pricing and Stock sections.
The following right-click commands are available from the Documents section:
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