kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@...>]

Mateusz wrote:
>> I already have the regular expression component library search code
>> written in my development branch. It will be in my next commit. Now
>> someone has to write the code to do something interesting with it. The
>> big job will be updating all of the component library key words to have
>> something meaningful to search for. Hats off to every one involved in
>> cleaning up the component libraries.
> 
> Could you tell me how this "tags" will be\are implemented in .lib files? Do you need a special tool to add key words, or can it be done via library editor?

When the component library editor saves a component library, two files
are created. The .lib file contains the information about how to draw
the components, default field values, aliases, etc. The .dcm file
contains documentation for each component and component aliases for a
library. Here is the entry format for .dcm files:

$CMP 74HC74
D Dual D FlipFlop, Set & Reset
K TTL DFF
F 74xx/74hc_hct74.pdf
$ENDCMP

The $CMP/$ENDCMP block defines the component or alias name. The D entry
is the description string. The K entry is a space separated list of key
words. The F entry is a path to a file containing a documentation file.
Unfortunately this is not documented in library_file_format_EN.odt.

The key word (K) entry is what you would want to modify. You can edit
the file by hand using your favorite text editor or you can use the
component library editor in EESchema. It is not obvious in the
component library editor how to edit the documentation for a component
alias. You need to select the alias name from the alias list box on the
toolbar then open the "Edit component properties" dialog to change the
document strings. For what you are doing, it would probably be faster
editing the .dcm file by hand.

Wayne