IPCB_MechanicalLayer interface

A mechanical layer of a PCB document, a general-purpose layer for the board layout, dimensions, fabrication details or any other mechanical details the design requires.

public interface IPCB_MechanicalLayer : IPCB_LayerObject

Namespace: PCB · Assembly: Altium.SDK.Interfaces

Inherits: IPCB_LayerObject

Remarks

A board can have up to 1,024 mechanical layers.

The examples visit the mechanical layers of a board with IPCB_Board.MechanicalLayerIterator and cast each IPCB_LayerObjectIterator.LayerObject to IPCB_MechanicalLayer. Mechanical layers are not in the layer stack, but IPCB_LayerStack.LayerObject also returns the layer object of a mechanical layer.

Example

Show whether each mechanical layer of the current board is linked, enabled and displayed in single layer mode.

using PCB;

IPCB_Board pcbBoard = PCB.GlobalVars.PCBServer?.GetCurrentPCBBoard();
if (pcbBoard == null)
    return;
// Note that the Layer stack only stores existing copper based layers.
// But you can use the LayerObject method to fetch all layers.
IPCB_LayerStack theLayerStack = pcbBoard.GetState_LayerStack();
if (theLayerStack == null)
    return;
for (TV6_Layer layer = TV6_Layer.eV6_Mechanical1; layer <= TV6_Layer.eV6_Mechanical16; layer++)
{
    var layerObj = theLayerStack.LayerObject(layer) as IPCB_MechanicalLayer;
    if (layerObj == null)
        continue;
    DXP.Utils.ShowMessage(EDP.Utils.LayerToString(new V7_Layer(layer)) + "\r" +
        " linked " + layerObj.GetState_LinkToSheet() + "\r" +
        " enabled " + layerObj.GetState_MechLayerEnabled() + "\r" +
        " displayed in single layer mode " + layerObj.GetState_DisplayInSingleLayerMode() + "\r");
}

Properties

Property	Type	Access	Description
DisplayInSingleLayerMode	bool	get; set	Whether the objects on the mechanical layer stay visible while single layer mode hides the other layers.
Kind	TMechanicalLayerKind	get; set	The kind of the mechanical layer, the role it has on the board, such as assembly notes, dimensions or board shape.
LinkToSheet	bool	get; set	Whether the mechanical layer is linked to the sheet of the PCB document.
MechLayerEnabled	bool	get; set	Whether the mechanical layer is enabled on the PCB document.

DisplayInSingleLayerMode

Whether the objects on the mechanical layer stay visible while single layer mode hides the other layers.

bool GetState_DisplayInSingleLayerMode();
void SetState_DisplayInSingleLayerMode(bool argValue);

Type: bool · Access: read/write

Reads false, and setting it does nothing, when the layer does not belong to a board.

Kind

The kind of the mechanical layer, the role it has on the board, such as assembly notes, dimensions or board shape.

TMechanicalLayerKind GetState_Kind();
void SetState_Kind(TMechanicalLayerKind argValue);

Type: TMechanicalLayerKind · Access: read/write

The accessors are extension methods of IPCB_MechanicalLayerHelper (using PCB;).

Setting a kind does nothing when the layer already has that kind, when another mechanical layer of the board already has it, or when it is a kind of a layer pair: the kinds that end in Top or Bottom, such as TMechanicalLayerKind.mlAssemblyTop.

Setting TMechanicalLayerKind.mlSheet also sets LinkToSheet to true, and changing the kind from it sets LinkToSheet to false. Setting TMechanicalLayerKind.mlRouteToolPath makes the layer the board's IPCB_Board.RouteToolPathLayer, and changing the kind from it sets that property to no layer.

See also: IPCB_MechanicalLayerPairs.LayerPairKind

LinkToSheet

Whether the mechanical layer is linked to the sheet of the PCB document.

bool GetState_LinkToSheet();
void SetState_LinkToSheet(bool argValue);

Type: bool · Access: read/write

Once a layer is linked to the sheet, the sheet is resized automatically to fit the objects on the linked layer when a zoom command is executed. Reads false, and setting it does nothing, when the layer does not belong to a board.

MechLayerEnabled

Whether the mechanical layer is enabled on the PCB document.

bool GetState_MechLayerEnabled();
void SetState_MechLayerEnabled(bool argValue);

Type: bool · Access: read/write

Setting it to false does not check whether design objects are on the layer.

Methods

Method	Returns	Description
MirroredLayer	bool	Returns whether the mechanical layer belongs to a mechanical layer pair, and gives the other layer of the pair.

MirroredLayer

Returns whether the mechanical layer belongs to a mechanical layer pair, and gives the other layer of the pair.

bool MirroredLayer(out V7_LayerBase argMirrorLayer, IPCB_Board argBoard);
bool MirroredLayer(out IV7_Layer argMirrorLayer, object argBoard);

Parameter	Type	Passing	Description
argMirrorLayer	V7_LayerBase	out	Receives the other layer of the pair, or the layer itself when it is not in a pair.
argBoard	IPCB_Board	value	The board whose IPCB_Board.MechanicalPairs are used; null for the board the layer belongs to.

Returns: bool

The first overload is an extension method of IPCB_MechanicalLayerHelper (using PCB;) with typed parameters; the second is declared by the interface.

Inherited members

• From IPCB_LayerObject: IsInLayerStack, LayerDisplayName, LayerName, LayerStack, UsedByPrims, V6_LayerID, V7_LayerID

Returned by

IPCB_MasterLayerStack2.AddMechanicalLayer, IPCB_MasterLayerStack2.FindLayerByKind, IPCB_MasterLayerStack2.GetMechanicalLayer