kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

In preparation for the forth coming changes to the component library
file format, I would like to make some changes in the design of the
component library object format and the component library editor behavior.

The current component library design creates aliases as a stand alone
objects that reference the actual component object.  The component
object also keeps a copy of the alias information (strings) in a
wxStringArray.  It seems to me that an alias has no meaning without the
associated component and keeping a copy of the alias data in the
component object is redundant.  I propose that the component object
maintain the list of it's alias objects and only components are added to
the library object.  This should greatly simplify the design of both the
library component and library classes.

The current component object design is also reflected in the behavior of
the library editor.  As it now stands, the library editor does not
delete a component that has aliases.  It renames the component to the
first alias that references it and removes the alias from the library.
In order to actually delete a component from a library, all it's aliases
must be deleted first.  I propose changing the library editor to
actually delete the component and all it's aliases when clicking the
delete component button and use the component properties dialog for
adding, removing, and editing aliases.

If no one has any objections, I would like to make these changes before
beginning work on the new file format to make sure the current file
format information is preserved.  Once these changes are committed and
there doesn't appear to be any issues using the current file format,
I'll submit a blueprint with an initial DSN file format proposal so we
can hash out the details.

Wayne