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Selectively Waiving DRC Violations

Created: March 09, 2017 | Updated: June 12, 2017 | Applies to version: 17.1

This document is no longer available beyond version 17.1. Information can now be found here: Selectively Waiving DRC Violations for version 24

Altium Designer has a powerful and flexible Design Rule Checking system. While it is highly configurable and flexible, there will still be situations where it flags a violation, which, in this specific design situation, is not an issue.

Perhaps you have a connector that hangs off the edge of the board; or perhaps there is an unusually shaped component, that creates a violation with the component next to it, but there is no issue.

In the past, this would be resolved by creating a design rule to target that specific design situation, allowing it to occur. As a busy designer, you might consider this a frustrating time-waster, a special, complicated rule, just for this one situation.

Rather than creating a custom rule, Altium Designer includes a Waive DRC Violation feature, that allows the designer to selectively waive any DRC violation.

definition: Waive - refrain from demanding compliance with (a rule or fee).

Waiving a DRC Violation

DRC violations can be waived by:

  • Right-clicking on a one or more violations selected in the Messages panel.
  • Right-clicking on one or more violations selected in the Violations region of the PCB Rules and Violations panel.
  • Enabling the Waive this violation checkbox in the Violations Details dialog. This dialog appears when you double-click on a violation (or a waived violation) in the PCB Rules and Violations panel.

Violations can be waived and unwaived (see below) in the PCB Rules and Violations panel.    Violations can be waived and unwaived (see below) in the PCB Rules and Violations panel.

When you select the Waive Selected Violations command, the Waived Violation Info dialog will open. Edit the Author field, if required, and enter a Reason. Note that these edits apply to all of the selected violations that are being waived.

Against each waived violation, the software records:

  • Created At - date and time that the violation was waived.
  • Author - if you are signed in to an Altium Vault, this field is automatically populated with the first and last names from the Account of the user currently signed in (System - Altium Vault page of the Preferences dialog), and the value cannot be edited. If you are not currently signed in to an Altium Vault, this field is populated with the first and last names of the Sign In Account currently being used for this seat of Altium Designer (System - Account Management page of the Preferences dialog). In this situation the Author field can be edited.
  • Reason - enter a user-defined string of up to XXX characters.

Design Rule Checking is peformed on the primitive objects - that means a single design choice, such as positioning a connector over the edge of the board, can result in multiple objects in violation. For example, if a connector's component overlay projects outside the edge of the board, there will probably be a number of overlay tracks in error. The violations on all of these tracks must be waived to resolve this design situation, the most efficient way to do this is to select them all in the PCB Rules and Violations panel, and right-click to waive the violations on all of them, in a single action.

Working with Waived Violations

Waived violations are listed in the lower section of the PCB Rules and Violations panel, as shown in the image below. Note that this section only appears when there are waived violations present in the design.

Waived violations are unwaived in the PCB Rules and Violations panel.Waived violations are unwaived in the PCB Rules and Violations panel.

To work with a wavied violation in the PCB Rules and Violations panel:

  • Single-click to jump to that violation, if the Zoom option at the top of the panel is enabled.
  • Double-click to jump to that violation (if Zoom enabled), then open the Violation Details dialog, as shown below.
  • Right-click to unwaive a waived violation(s), or, double-click to open the Violation Details dialog, and clear the Waive this violation checkbox.

The Violation Details dialog includes information about the violation, as well as options for waiving it.The Violation Details dialog includes information about the violation, as well as options for waiving it.

All violations are always detected during a Design Rule Check, the software keeps track of which violations you have chosen to waive, re-applying the status after a design rule check is performed. The waived status can be revoked at any time, right-click on it in the Waived Violation section of the PCB Rules and Violations panel.

Documenting Waived Violations

Along with the Creation date and Author details, each waived violation can have a Reason recorded in the Waved Violation Info dialog. This detail is included in the Design Rule Verification Report, as shown below.

All the detail for each waived violation is recorded in the Design Rule Verification Report.All the detail for each waived violation is recorded in the Design Rule Verification Report.

Note

The features available depend on your level of Altium Designer Software Subscription.