Make Like Options

The Parts Frontend Application includes a Make Like command.

Make Like includes options to reuse Symbols and Footprints.

Make Like can be used to create new parts which are similar to existing parts.

Make Like is very useful when you want to create additional common parts such as capacitors, inductors or resistors which share the same schematic symbols and footprints.

Typically 80% of the parts in a design are capacitors and resistors, which can be created quickly using Make Like.

That's it !

Integrated Libraries - Component Integrity

Compiling an Integrated Library from a DBLIB.

You can open a DBLIB or SVNDBLIB file and use the Offline Integrated Library Maker to compile your DBLib to an Integrated Library.

You can run the Integrated Library maker to determine the health of a DBLIB or SVNDBLIB.

In Altium select Tools > Offline Integrated Library Maker 

The library compiler will check each symbol and footprint for matching pins.  Also symbols with Normal and Alternate parts are checked for consistent pin names.

Below is an example of compiler errors thrown while creating an Integrated Library.

The above compiler error occurred because pin names of pins 21,22 and 23 of the Normal and Alternate symbols were not an exact match.


Normal Mode Part

Alternate 1 Part

Fix: Rename Alternate 1 and Normal Parts using same pin function names.

The Normal and Alternate parts must have the same number of pins and the same pin numbers must have exactly the same pin function names, or the Integrated Library compiler will throw a warning message.

Note:

Using an Integrated Library for your CAD library is NOT recommended. 

Maintaining a shared Integrated Library is not practical. The integrated library can not be compiled while users are connected to the library.

I recommend using DBLIB or SVNDBLIB.

DBLIB

Use DBLib for speed and simplicity. I recommend using single part libraries. 

SVNDBLIB

For version controlled libraries single part libraries are required.

That's it.