Hyperlink

Modified by Jason Howie on Feb 19, 2015
Contents

Parent page: Schematic Objects

A placed Hyperlink.

Summary

A hyperlink is a non-electrical drawing primitive. Similar to a text string, it can be placed anywhere on a sheet. Where it differs is in its ability to link to a web page, or to a document on a local or shared drive, through specification of a target URL. This offers a fast, convenient alternative when providing access to datasheets for components used in a design. A hyperlink object can also provide a beneficial link to your own organization's website, within the title blocks of your schematic source documents.

Availability

Hyperlinks are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only, by clicking Home | Graphical Elements |  , from the main menus.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter hyperlink placement mode. A hyperlink will appear "floating" on the cursor.

  1. Position the object and click or press Enter to effect placement.
  2. Continue placing further hyperlinks, or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

Additional actions that can be performed during placement are:

  • Press the Tab key to access an associated properties dialog, from where properties for the hyperlink can be changed on-the-fly.
  • Press the Alt key to constrain the direction of movement to the horizontal or vertical axis, depending on the initial direction of movement.
  • Press the Spacebar to rotate the link text anti-clockwise or Shift+Spacebar for clockwise rotation. Rotation is in steps of 90°.
  • Press the X or Y keys to mirror the link text along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.
A newly placed hyperlink will initially have default link text of Link. Change the text to that required, using one of the editing techniques described later in this document.

While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up associated properties dialog), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed hyperlink object directly in the workspace and change its location graphically. Hyperlinks can only be adjusted with respect to their size by changing the size of the font used (accessed through the Hyperlink dialog). As such, editing handles are not available when the hyperlink object is selected:

A selected Hyperlink.

  • Click anywhere inside the dashed box and drag to reposition the hyperlink as required. While dragging, the hyperlink can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar) or mirrored (X or Y keys to mirror along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively).
  • The link text for a hyperlink object can be edited in-place by:
    1. Single-clicking the hyperlink to select it.
    2. Single-clicking again (or pressing the Enter key) to enter the in-place editing mode. Sufficient time between each click should be given to ensure the software does not interpret the two single-clicks as one double-click (which would open the hyperlink's properties dialog).
    3. To finish editing in-place text, press the Enter key, or use the mouse to click away from the hyperlink.

An object that has its Locked property enabled cannot be selected or graphically edited. Double click on the locked object directly and disable the Locked property, to graphically edit the object.

Non-Graphical Editing

The following methods of non-graphical editing are available:

Via an Associated Properties Dialog

Dialog page: Hyperlink

This method of editing uses the following dialog to modify the properties of a hyperlink object.

The Hyperlink dialog.

The dialog can be accessed during placement by pressing the Tab key.

After placement, the dialog can be accessed in one of the following ways:

  • Double-clicking on the placed hyperlink object.
  • Placing the cursor over the hyperlink object, right-clicking and choosing Properties from the context menu.

Via the SCH Inspector Panel

Panel pages: SCH Inspector

The SCH Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with the Find Similar Objects dialog, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

Following a Link

Once a hyperlink object has been configured as required, it can be used from within the design workspace. To do so, simply hover the cursor over the hyperlink. After a short delay, a pop-up with the URL will appear. Click this to open the URL as a tabbed document inside PCBWorks.

Following an example hyperlink to its target URL.

Alternatively, a link can be followed by right-clicking over it and accessing the URL from the Hyperlink sub-menu.

Access the URL for a hyperlink object from the right-click context menu.

Notes

  1. When configuring the hyperlink, you don't need to enter the full URL with http:// prefix. Entering the short-form address for a website will also work, for example www.pcbworks.com, or pcbworks.com. Also, when targeting a local document on your hard drive or a shared drive, simply use the prefix file:/// – for example file:///C:\Datasheets\ExampleDatasheet.pdf.

 

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