Altium designer 16 options to generate bom with dnp

Altium Designer 16: Options for Generating BOM with DNP

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In today's fast-paced electronics industry, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) design software plays an integral role in streamlining the entire process. Altium Designer 16 is one such powerful tool that offers a comprehensive set of features to help users create high-quality designs efficiently.

One crucial aspect of PCB design involves managing component information accurately throughout all stages of development. Bill-of-Materials (BOM) generation is essential for this purpose, as it ensures that every part required in the final product is accounted for and ordered correctly.

In Altux Designer 16, users can generate BOM files with DNP (Don't Populate) or DNI (Do Not Install) indications to manage component presence on a per-board basis. In this article, we will explore two options available within Altium Designer 16 for generating BODBOMs with these features enabled.

Option #1: Using the Component Inspector Panel

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To begin with let's dive into how you can use the Component Inspector panel in Altium Designer 18 to mark DNI/DNP on your components before exporting them as a netlist file which will then be used later during BOM generation. Here are step-by-step instructions:

1. Open your PCB design project within Altium Designer.

2. Double-click anywhere inside the schematic editor window to open it in edit mode if necessary.

3. Right-click within the component hierarchy view (the left-hand panel) and select 'Component Inspector' from the context menu.

The Component Inspector dialog box will appear, displaying all components currently present on your board or library:

'Altium Designer 16 - Component Inspector Dialog'

4. In this window, you can browse through each component one by one using the up/down navigation buttons at the top-right corner of the panel.

5. Once a specific component is selected, click on its 'Properties' button located next to it near the middle column labeled as 'Attributes.'

6. Inside this new Properties dialog box that opens for that particular part, scroll down until you reach either 'Footprint Attributes' or simply search for keywords like 'DNP' or 'Don't Populate.'

7. Checkmark the respective checkboxes under these sections depending upon whether you want this component not to be populated during PCB manufacturing (i.e., DNI) or if it should always appear but without any physical presence on actual boards being produced from your Gerber files later down the supply chain.

Option #2: Using a User-Defined Netlist Format

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If marking individual components with DNI/DNP indications manually becomes too time-consuming or error-prone, Altium Designer 16 offers another option - creating a user-defined netlist format (UDF) that can automatically apply these attributes during BOM generation.

Here's how to achieve this:

1. Open your PCB design project within Altium Designer.

2. Double-click anywhere inside the schematic editor window to open it in edit mode if necessary.

3. Go to 'File' > 'Netlist Export...' from the top menu bar and select a desired netlist format (e.g., ASCII or SPICE) as output.

In the subsequent dialog box, click on the 'Options...' button next to the selected file type:

'Altium Designer 16 - Netlist Options Dialog'

4. In this window, you can define your own custom attributes for each component using special keywords enclosed within curly braces { }. For example:

```python

{DNI=1} // Attribute 'DNI' set to true (Do Not Install)

{DNIP=true} // Attribute 'DNIP' set to boolean false

```

Once you've defined these custom attributes according to your requirements, click 'OK' and then proceed with exporting the netlist file.

Later during BOM generation within Altium Designer 16 or any other PCB design tool that supports this format, simply checkmark the respective options under 'General Options' > 'BOM Generation' > ''Netlist Format' Import/Export':

'Altium Designer 16 - General Options Dialog'

With these custom attributes present in your netlist file generated using Altium Designer's user-defined netlist feature enabled during BOM generation, you can now easily manage component presence on a per-board basis without having to manually mark each part with DNI/DNP indications every time.

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In conclusion, both options discussed above - using the Component Inspector panel and creating a custom netlist format within Altium Designer 16 - provide an efficient way to generate BOMs with DNP (Don't Populate) or DNI (Do Not Install) attributes applied automatically. By following these simple steps and leveraging the powerful features offered by modern PCB design software like Altium, you can significantly reduce manual effort while ensuring accurate component management throughout all stages of electronics development.

Remember that effective communication between different departments involved in your product's lifecycle is crucial for success; hence always keep an open channel open with engineering teams responsible for implementing these changes correctly. Happy designing!

Altium designer 16 options to generate bom with dnp