Adding SiliconExpert data to a component

Symbol and footprint are the hard part of a component, and Altium Designer with a Component Template already does that well. So this action does not create components. It fills in the data afterwards, on one component, from where the designer already is.

When to use this

• You have just created a component in Altium Designer and it has a part number but no lifecycle, RoHS or datasheet.
• A component was made before your field list existed and never picked the values up.
• You want to add a second or third part choice to a component that already has one.

For a whole folder at once, use SiliconExpert Component Sync instead. This action is for the single component in front of you.

What you need first

• Altium 365 — signed in, with write rights on the library.
• SiliconExpert — the connection.
• A component that already exists, saved to the workspace, whose comment or part choice carries the part number.

How it goes

1. Create the component in Altium Designer as usual, from a template or not, and save it to the workspace.
2. Open this action, pick the workspace, and type part of the component name or the part number.
3. Pick the SiliconExpert part when the answer is ambiguous — the action asks rather than guessing.
4. Tick the parameters to write. Each one shows the new value next to what the component holds now, marked Add or Update. Unchanged values are hidden, so the list is what would actually change.
5. Press Write to workspace.

Which parameters are on offer, and the Altium name each one gets, comes from the same field list the sync uses — the field counter on the Parameters card is a button.

Parameters a component may hold several of

Manufacturer and Manufacturer Part Number are never overwritten. A component legitimately carries one pair per part choice, so a value that is not there yet takes the next free numbered slot:

Manufacturer   = Murata          (already there)
Manufacturer 1 = Samsung         <- added
Manufacturer 2 = KEMET           <- added on the next run

A value already recorded in any of those slots is not added again, so running the action twice never produces duplicates. Gaps are filled before new numbers are used. Which parameters behave this way is the Never overwrite these parameters field.

What changes in the workspace

Two things Altium's API imposes, both worth knowing before you press the button:

• Parameters are added or updated by name, and nothing else is touched. Removing a single parameter is not possible through the API — only wiping all of them at once, which this action deliberately never does.
• The component id is bound to its revision, so a successful write produces a new id. The run log reports it.

If the manufacturer name differs, SiliconExpert's spelling gives way to the confirmed one from the manufacturers table before the part choice is updated, and that update still asks first.

Notes

• Nothing is written until you tick rows and confirm. Closing the prompt leaves the component untouched.
• The action reads the same field list as the sync, so a value you add here and a value the sync would add land under the same Altium parameter name.

Related actions

• Looking a part up in SiliconExpert — see everything SiliconExpert has, first
• Syncing a library with SiliconExpert — the same enrichment across a whole library
• Matching manufacturer names to Octopart and SiliconExpert — settle the company names first