Project Options - Parameters

Modified by Susan Riege on Aug 11, 2018
Contents

Parent page: WorkspaceManager Dialogs

The Parameters tab of the Options for PCB Project dialog

Summary

This tab of the Options for PCB Project dialog enables you to manage parameters defined for the project, often referred to as project-level parameters. Parameters defined at the project-level are available for use across all schematic sheets and PCB documents in the project through the use of special strings (=<ProjectParameterName> on a schematic, and .<ProjectParameterName> on a PCB).

Parameters defined on this tab will appear in the drop-down listings of available special strings for the respective Text fields in the Annotation dialog (schematic string object), and String dialog (PCB text string object).
CircuitStudio supports parameters at various levels of the project - project-level parameters, document-level parameters (defined for a schematic sheet), and variant-level parameters. They also have a hierarchy, which means you can create a parameter with the same name at different levels of the project, each having different values. CircuitStudio resolves this with the following order of precedence: Variant (highest priority) ---> Schematic Document ---> Project (lowest priority). That means the parameter value defined in the schematic document overrides the value defined in the project options, and the value defined in the variant overrides the value defined in the schematic document. Note that schematic-level parameters are not available on the PCB or in the Bill of Materials; for these types of output, use project or variant parameters.
When working with an Integrated Library project (*.LibPkg), the Parameters tab is part of the Options for Integrated Library dialog - a variation of the dialog described here.

Access

This is one of multiple tabs available when configuring the options for a project – accessed from within the Options for PCB Project dialog. This dialog is accessed by:

  • Clicking Project | Content | from the main menus in the Schematic Editor or the PCB Editor.
  • Right-clicking on the entry for the project itself in the Projects panel then choosing Project Options from the context menu.
Only the second method of access can be used for an Integrated Library project.

Options/Controls

  • Parameters Grid - the main region of the tab lists all of the parameters currently defined for the project in terms of:
    • Name - the name of the parameter.
    • Value - the value of the parameter.
A parameter can be modified with respect to either of these attributes directly in the grid.
  • Add - click this button to add a new parameter to the list. The Parameter Properties dialog will open. Use the dialog to define the parameter in terms of its Name and Value.
  • Remove - click this button to delete the selected parameter(s) from the list of parameters.
  • Edit - click this button to open the Parameter Properties dialog to modify the currently selected parameter.

Right-Click Commands

The following commands are available on the tab's right-click menu:

  • Edit - use this command to open the Parameter Properties dialog to modify the currently selected parameter.
  • Add - use this command to add a new parameter to the list. The Parameter Properties dialog will open. Use the dialog to define the parameter in terms of its Name and Value.
  • Remove - use this command to delete the selected parameter(s) from the list of parameters.
  • Copy - use this command to copy the selected parameter(s) to the Windows clipboard.
  • Paste - use this command to paste parameter(s) on the Windows clipboard into the parameters list on the tab.
The Copy and Paste commands support the ability to define a set of parameters in an external spreadsheet (such as Microsoft Excel) and paste them into the tab. If a parameter being pasted has the same name as an existing parameter in the list, the value for the existing parameter will be overwritten with that being pasted. If a parameter being pasted has a different name to any in the existing list, that parameter will be added at the bottom of the list.

 

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