Use the Advanced View option to switch the view of the Component Variants Properties and Component Variant Spreadsheet between the standard view and the Advanced View.
The Advanced View option is available on the context menu after right clicking in one of the cells of the dialog.
The Advanced View opens up the Shared Identifiers view for Attributes and Instances.
What are Shared Identifiers?
Under normal use of variants, Shared Identifiers would generally not be required. If you require more sophistication from your component variants, then using Shared Identifiers provides you with a more advanced mechanism. These would be used when standard variants do not sufficiently cover your requirements.
For example, you may wish to have the same attributes across all variants for the same component but have a different component position. You may need to move the component in order to position another that has a different, larger footprint next to it. You would only be able to achieve this by having a different Shared Identifier in order to create a separate instance of the component.
You may want the component to have different attributes but still be represented by the same physical footprint. Alternatively, you may want a completely different part with a different symbol or footprint, this can be positioned and connected independently.
The advantage of using shared identifiers is that where you wish to make a change to the footprint or Attribute for multiple components, provided they use the same shared identifier, you only need to make the change in one entry. For example, if you have a component in four variants and wish two of the four to be the same values but different positions, then having unique instances for the footprint identifiers (Shared Identifier Instance) will allow this configuration.
Shortcuts
Default Keys: None
Default Menu: Edit
Command: Component Properties Variants
Locating this option
Available from:
Edit menu > Component Variant Spreadsheet > Context menu
Edit menu > Properties (Component) > Variants tab Context menu
How to use the Variant Manager dialog
From the within Component Properties Variants tab, right click to reveal the menu.
Once selected, the view now shows advanced information for Shared Identifiers of Attributes and Instances.
Instances in Variants
With the Advanced View displayed, you can now change the Shared Identifiers to create the situation required.
To do this, you need to assign a Shared Identifier (Variant Id), this can be any character or word. There are two columns under the Shared Identifier heading. You can share Attributes by entering the same identifier in the first column, and you can share Instances (symbols) by entering the same identifier in the second column. A blank Id is a valid identifier and initially, by default, all columns are blank indicating the same instance and attributes are shared across all variants. You cannot share attributes without also sharing instances across the same variants. Instances can be shared provided they have compatible parts and footprints in the variants in which they are to be shared.
For each Identifier, there must be at least one variant where the Attributes and Instance Identifiers are the same.
To help relate the component instances shown in the variant rows to the one selected in the design the text is colour coded.
- The rows for the component instances represented by the symbol or footprint currently selected in the design are shown highlighted in blue text.
- Instances that share the same symbol or footprint currently selected in the design but have different attributes are shown in green text.
- Instances that use a different symbol or footprint to the one currently selected in the design are shown in dark grey.
- Instances that are not fitted for the component currently selected in the design are shown in light grey.
The example below shows one of each of the colour states listed above:
One point to note is that components marked as Not-fitted cannot have a unique shared identifier. For this to happen, the component must be fitted.
Part Variants
Part Name - This column shows the part used for the current component in that variant. You can use this column to change the part used for this component. Changing the part for a particular variant will also change it for all variants that have the same shared attributes identifier. Double-click in the cell to change the part used by a component. The Change Part dialog will be presented for you to choose the required part. If the chosen part for a particular variant uses a different symbol or footprint to the components part in the current variant, then you will also have to change the shared instance identifier to a different value before updating the spreadsheet.
Component Variant Attributes
As an aid to identifying the component instances displayed in the design you may find it useful to add
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Using the Database with Part Variants and Shared Identifiers
To be able to use different database parts as part variants the component must be at least set up to have a different Attributes Shared Identifier in each variant. This is because the database information is stored as attributes on the component and needs to be different for each variant. However if you wish the database information for a component to be shared in the same way as the shared instances defined for variants, the Attributes Shared Identifier should match the Instance Shared Identifier for each variant. In this case, changing the database record for one instance will change it for all of it’s shared instances also.
If the component is already using different symbols or footprints and is set up with a different Instance Shared Identifier, using database parts will be no different to using parts directly from the Pulsonix Library as there will be a different symbol for each variant to which to attach the database attributes.
Related Topics
Variants | Component Variant Spreadsheet | Component Variants Properties | Attribute Position