Updating a Board Assembly from an IDF File

You can compare and update a board assembly with an IDF file.

Before you begin: The board to update must be loaded in session and the representation of the board must be activated.

  1. Click Compare & Update and the Circuit Board Design dialog box is displayed with the following options:

  2. Select:

    • Check on Board, if you want to check the differences between your board and the new IDF file. By default, all this option and the four check-boxes are selected. If you know precisely which element is new, you can uncheck boxes. Checking elements on board is obviously more time consuming than no check at all.
    • No check on Board: If you select this option, the comparison of differences between the board assembly and the IDF file will not take place. Therefore the import without check will be more rapid (Compare & Update process being time consuming).

  3. Select an IDF file:

    You can select a file on disk or in the database. For more information about importing an IDF or Library file from the PLM database in Circuit Board Design, please refer to Importing Boards.

  4. Click OK to launch the Update process. The Report window is displayed:

    There are three tabs displaying the differences found in the:

    • Board: boards, holes and pockets are concerned
    • Component: components

    • Area: constraints

  5. Select a line in the Report and right-click the terms To Validate in the Status column: you can either Validate selected modification(s) or Reject selected modification(s):

    If you select Reframe on selected Modifications, you focus in on the selected object in the geometry space; the dialog box remains opened.

    In the Information space, explanations are given about the modifications detected.

    You can add a comment in the User comment column. It will be visible in the Textual Report or in the Attached Report (see step 7 & 8).

  6. Click the Select / Unselect all button if you need to select or unselect all the objects in the list.

  7. Check Generate Textual Report to obtain a list of the changes and validation / refusal.

    To have access to this report, click Advanced Search in the Menu. The Temp directory can be set in the Board Assembly of Circuit Board Design.

  8. Check Attach the Report under the Board Assembly to save the report under the board assembly.

    You can see the Report name in the Propagate dialog box when you save the board assembly.

    To retrieve the report, select Explore > Document > Show Attached Documents. Then you can see the report in the board assembly specification tree and click Open.

    Important:
    • If a patterned hole has to be deleted after the Update, the pattern will be deactivated. The same limitation exists for constraint areas.
    • Even if you refuse the update of a Product or component, the holes attached to it will not be deleted.
    • Panels are not managed by the Update command.

  9. Use the Propagate function in order to save these modified boards, components and areas in the database.

  10. Click Close to validate your approval or refusal of IDF modifications.