Altium Pcb Footprint Not Updating

[Amilcar Labrosse]

Notethat if a placed footprint sourced from a Workspace library component has some "local" changes in the PCB design (for example, pad properties were changed or footprint primitives were unlocked and changed), the Update From PCB Libraries command can be used to detect the differences between the placed footprint and the footprint in the library and update the placed footprint (essentially, to remove the "local" changes).

To illustrate the use of this tool, consider the component footprints shown below. These are existing footprints on a PCB document. To the right are the modified footprints that exist in the source PCB Footprint library (*.PcbLib). The changes, although subtle - the top footprint has the ''sign moved"; the bottom has increased width for the ''sign and arc" - are sufficient for the purposes of our illustration.

Updates are performed from the PCB document using the Update From PCB Libraries command available from the main Tools menu. Launching this command opens the Update From PCB Libraries - Options dialog. Use this dialog to choose which layers of the PCB and library footprint you wish to compare using the Include checkboxes in the Layers To Include region or the commands of the Include All button drop-down. This is important, as in some designs, certain layers of the footprint may not be used, and extra comparisons will take extra time to process.

At this point, and if you want to update all footprints to match those in the source libraries, you can simply click the Update All Footprints (Create ECO) button, and implement the changes to the design through a subsequent Engineering Change Order. However, should you wish to inspect differences that are detected in detail, and determine which footprints to include in an update, prior to generating an ECO, click OK to access the Update From PCB Libraries dialog - see below.

After defining the options in the Update From PCB Libraries - Options dialog as required, click OK. The comparison will proceed and the results will appear in the subsequent Update From PCB Libraries dialog.

The source PCB library is identified from the PCB model link associated with the corresponding component in the source schematic. The source libraries must be part of the Available File-based Libraries. If the source cannot be found for a footprint, it will be marked as unmatched.

The dialog is divided into two main sections. The upper Part List region presents the comparison results. The footprint of each component on the PCB is compared against the corresponding footprint in the indicated source library. The top header line is a summary of the matched items. If the comparison of each primitive in the footprint is within the tolerance specified, the footprints will be deemed to match, with a green tick icon () appearing in the Match column. No update is required in the case of a match.

If, however, one or more primitives in a footprint are outside of the tolerance in terms of their locations within the footprint, the footprints are flagged as not matching. A red cross icon () will be inserted into the Match column. An update is required to bring the placed component's footprint and source library footprint back into sync.

There will be an associated Update option for each component with a non-matching footprint. By default, each component that fails to match is automatically included in the update. Control, as is the norm in Altium Designer, is always yours, and you may choose to exclude any non-matching components from the update process by unchecking the box or using the commands of the Include All button drop-down.

The lower Difference Details region of the dialog lists the differences found between primitives for the currently selected (and non-matching) component entry in the region above. For a non-matching footprint, the component primitives causing differences are listed per enabled layer for comparison. You can examine the differences for all layers or by specific layer using the tabs at the top of the region. The Component Primitives causing Differences for region lists the component primitive(s) that caused the difference(s) on the left and displays the listed data on the right. Information includes:

A graphical comparison is presented, with the footprint divided up into cells. Use the Highlight Cell Density slider bar to increase (to the right) or decrease (to the left) the size of the cells in the display area. Cells where differences exist are shown in full color, with the differences highlighted. Primitive objects in the current PCB are shown full color, with the updated component primitives from the library shown as a "ghost" image over the top of them.

If you want to create a Footprint Comparison Report (Footprint Comparison - PCBDocumentName.html), click the Create Report button at the bottom left of the Update From PCB Libraries dialog. The report provides:

When you are satisfied with the update solution, click the Accept Changes (Create ECO) button. Use the Engineering Change Order dialog that opens to validate then execute the updates accordingly. Disable any changes that you do not want to occur. The changes will be made and the components that are included in the update will have their footprints updated to those in the source libraries.

Fixes to inadvertent mirroring of footprints effected through an ECO remove mirroring for the placed footprint instance so that it is the same as defined in the source library. Note that only mirroring-related elements (pins, overlays, and 3D bodies) are considered when applying the fix. Other changes to the placed component footprint, such as rotation, remain untouched.

Direct update of placed PCB footprints can be performed from within a source PCB library. This method of updating is particularly suited to the update of components that have been placed from isolated PCB footprint libraries (*.PcbLib) and where those libraries are made part of the available filed-based libraries for the project.

Changes made to one or more component footprints in a source PCB library can be passed directly to placed instances of those footprints on the PCB. The main Tools menu in the PCB Library Editor offers commands for updating just the current footprint (Update PCB With Current Footprint), or all footprints (Update PCB With All Footprints). These commands can also be accessed from the PCB Library panel's right-click menu.

All instances of the placed component footprint(s) in all open PCB documents will be updated regardless of the parent project. Essentially, if a placed component footprint has the same name as that of the library component, it will be updated.

The features available depend on your Altium product access level. Compare features included in the various levels of Altium Designer Software Subscription and functionality delivered through applications provided by the Altium 365 platform.

You also may have linked a placed component to an external database using a Database Link file (*.DBLink). The symbol and model changes are made in the source libraries. For parameters, changes are made in the database.

Once changes are made, they need to be pushed across to the design. Altium provides a variety of update tools that allow you to quickly and efficiently pass component changes to your Altium Designer components. This document details those tools - tools that enable you to always retain synchronicity between your component source and the placed instances of those components.

In the context of this tool, the term 'Altium Designer component' is used to describe a component instance placed on a schematic sheet or a component in a source schematic library. Altium Designer provides a tool for updating the parameters of Altium Designer components with information stored in an external database. The components must be linked to the corresponding component records in the external database for update to be made possible. Linkage is performed through the use of an intermediary linking file, which can be one of the following:

The Update Parameters From Database command also is available in the Schematic Library Editor. The source library must be part of a library package (*.LibPkg) and a *.DBLink file is used to provide the linking from library components to component records in the external database.

Updates are performed from a schematic document using the Tools Update Parameters From Database command available from the main menus. Launching this command will open the Update Parameters From Database dialog. Use this dialog to choose which schematic documents and component types you want to include in the update.

After defining the scope of the update, click OK. The external database will be queried for matching components. If there are parameter differences between the Altium Designer components and the matching records in the database, the Select Parameter Changes dialog opens.

This dialog lists all parameters that exist in the database records for linked Altium Designer components falling under the scope of the update. Any parameters that are defined for an Altium Designer component but are not a field in a database table will not appear listed. For example, you may have placed a component directly from a database using the database library feature then added one or more parameters after placement.

Only those parameters that are mapped between the external database and the placed component instance are listed. Parameter mapping is performed on the Field Mappings tab of the intermediary link file.

The dialog will initially show proposed updates to bring the Altium Designer component parameters into sync with those in the database based on the update actions you have defined in the intermediary link file (DBLink, DBLib, SVNDBLib).

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