Description Field

In Altium the Description parameter in the Symbol can be used to describe the Symbol or Component. 

The Mfr Part Description parameter may be used describe the part (component). 

Or the Description parameter in the Symbol can be used to describe the symbol, i.e Resistor, Capacitor, Inductor, Diode, or P/N (like J-TSW-102-07-S-S) etc . . .  

The symbol (Library Ref) will get reused for many components in a database library (DBLIB or SVNDBLIB).  Examples: Resistor, Capacitor and Inductor.

Users can copy the Library Ref to Description as shown below. 

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In Altium the Library Ref in the database is not displayed in properties panel for parts that have been placed in the schematic as shown below.  

When using a database library the Primary Key (single lookup field) will be displayed in the Design Item ID field.

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Parts includes a configuration option to copy the Library Ref to the Description parameter. This feature was added in the 10/14/2019 release.

The single key lookup that links the placed symbol to the database is displayed in the Design Item ID.

When parts are placed from a Database library existing parameters defined in the symbol may be over written if parameters in the database have the same name.

User Preferences and DBLib options can be set to achieve the desired results.

Related Topics:  Linking Parts and PLM


That's it !

MySQL - Views

Views can be created in MySQL databases to categorize parts.

Example using MySQL Workbench to create a view (category) for inductors.

1) Create the View in the MySQL database.

Select the parts database as shown below

Select +SQL in the ribbon bar below. 

It's below File on the menu.

In the SQL Query Tab enter and execute each query separately..

CREATE VIEW `Resistors` AS select * FROM

`parts`

WHERE

(`parts`.`Part_Type` = 'Resistor')

CREATE VIEW `Capacitors` AS select * FROM

`parts`

WHERE

(`parts`.`Part_Type` = 'Capacitor')

CREATE VIEW `Inductors` AS select * FROM

`parts`

WHERE

(`parts`.`Part_Type` = 'Inductor')

2) Edit the DBLib in Altium. 

Enable the Views and set the Single Key Lookup for each View.

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Install the DBLib Library in Altium

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Start placing parts . . .

That's it !