Searching the vault... - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: Geoff_S
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2016, 01:53:42 am
content: I've been trying to use CS for the past two weeks, to see if it would be worth paying money for instead of Eagle or DipTrace. To be honest, it has been a frustrating processI've been particularly frustrated with the Vault. Every time I search for anything, the search results come back as a table with a gazillion column headings, each one about two characters wide. Just about impossible to use. Has anyone else seen this ? Is there some hidden switch or setting that controls which columns are displayed (or column widths) ?

author: wrinklehead
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2016, 03:01:08 am
content: This is the behavior I see as well. You can drag the columns at the top to resize. Thats just a temporary fix however the next time you open the vault its right back to the way it was before. I am not aware of a more permanent way to fix it.I will say however that making components is much easier than eagle, and considering the problems with the vault I normally opt to just make my own unless I can find the exact part number in the vault.

author: Geoff_S
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 22, 2016, 03:25:10 am
content: Quote from: wrinklehead on December 22, 2016, 03:01:08 amThanks. Glad to know it's not just me !Quote from: wrinklehead on December 22, 2016, 03:01:08 amSometime I can, mostly I can't. And even when I can, it seems to restrict the column width to about a dozen characters.Occasionally though the table displays just like I'd expect, with a limited number of columns with sensible widths. I haven't been able to find any rhyme nor reason to when it works vs when it doesn't. Grrrr....Quote from: wrinklehead on December 22, 2016, 03:01:08 amThat might be true for Eagle, but compared to DipTrace where I can easily search, place, edit, clone etc from a huge library, the idea of simply starting from scratch for just about everything I'd like to put on a schematic or PCB makes me weep.

author: wrinklehead
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2016, 02:34:55 am
content: I think the reason sometimes it displays correctly is that the number of columns that are populated for those components is less.Just because you do not want to use the vault does not necessarily mean you have to start from scratch however. You can import libraries from altiums legacy library downloadshttp://techdocs.altium.com/display/ADOH/Download+Libraries.Not sure how much help it is though I decided it was easier just to draw the things I need as opposed to searching a gigantic library

author: Geoff_S
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2016, 06:55:17 am
content: I spent more time trying to understand why it sometimes sorta works and mostly doesn't. I still don't have any explanation (other than just buggy code), but here are three examples of my experience searching the vault.Example 1) Searching for an Analog Devices chip, AD7124.a) Search using "AD71*". First results screen shows "All folders" (why does it always do this ? what is the point ??).c) When I click on "All folders", it shows the typical results of a table with lots of columns, each two characters wide, and I am unable to increase the width of any of the columns by dragging.Example 2) Searching for all 8050 devices.a) search for "8050", first results screen shows "All folders"b) first page of results is actually legiblec) can advance to second page of results without problemsd) click on one of the results in the table, shows the component detailse) using the little green "back" arrow to return to the search results, and now the results table has changed - "Item" and "State" columns have disappeared, and the buttons at the bottom to navigate to additional screens have disappeared also.Example 3) trying to search for all devices with TSSOP packagea) search for "TSSOP"b) first page of results looks okc) advance to next page and the table view is screwed up again (and it is showing "Items 151-288 of 11354" while the first screen said "Items 1-120 of 11354", so it apparently has skipped 30 items)Am I doing something wrong ?As far as I can see, CS was released in late 2014. That bugs like this exist over 2 years later makes me question the future of the product, and the wisdom of us investing in it. I presume the vault doesn't behave like this in Altium Designer ?

author: wrinklehead
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: December 23, 2016, 02:40:36 pm
content: I can verify my copy works exactly like yours. However you can improve upon what your seeing in your screenshots tremendously. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear enough before. On the top left corner there is a button you can press to turn columns off. See attached screenshot.This is still far from ideal though as it does not seem to save your preferences and you have to click through all those options everytime