Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Schematic libraries allow you to attach footprint, simulation and other models to components. Usually, each of these model links references a file somewhere outside of the schematic library. PCB footprints will be found in PCB library files; simulation models (with some exceptions) are contained in model or sub-circuit files. So the schematic library saves a link, that is, instructions on where to find each model you attach.
Summary
This article introduces integrated libraries, describing how they are created, what they contain, and how they can be used.
Periodically, Altium Designer will need to locate these models when you run a board update, for example, the linking instructions will be followed for all current footprints in your design. The search sequence for matching models starts with libraries in the current project, installed PCB libraries, then any files found on the project search path. The management of these separate source libraries is left entirely in your hands, meaning that Altium Designer cannot offer any guarantees that your models will find matches. These links in schematic libraries are brittle, and easily broken by everyday management tasks such as renaming folders on a hard drive, or reassigning labels to a central server.
The integrated library file is created when the package is compiled. Remember, what you have been working on until this point is the integrated library package (.LibPkg), not the actual integrated library file (.IntLib). No integrated library exists until the package is compiled.
Revision History
Date 9-Dec-2003 4-Aug-2005 29-Nov-2005 17-Mar-2008 16-Mar-2011 Version No. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Revision New product release Updated for Altium Designer 2004 Updated for Altium Designer 6.0 Updated PageSize to A4. Updated template.
Software, hardware, documentation and related materials: Copyright 2011 Altium Limited. All rights reserved. You are permitted to print this document provided that (1) the use of such is for personal use only and will not be copied or posted on any network computer or broadcast in any media, and (2) no modifications of the document is made. Unauthorized duplication, in whole or part, of this document by any means, mechanical or electronic, including translation into another language, except for brief excerpts in published reviews, is prohibited without the express written permission of Altium Limited. Unauthorized duplication of this work may also be prohibited by local statute. Violators may be subject to both criminal and civil penalties, including fines and/or imprisonment. Altium, Altium Designer, Board Insight, DXP, Innovation Station, LiveDesign, NanoBoard, NanoTalk, OpenBus, P-CAD, SimCode, Situs, TASKING, and Topological Autorouting and their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Altium Limited or its subsidiaries. All other registered or unregistered trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners and no trademark rights to the same are claimed.