kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Thiadmer Riemersma <thiadmer.riemersma@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hello everyone,

I have a request for the s-expression format for footprints: a field for
data that is not used by pcbnew or the module editor, but that is preserved
(by the module editor). Something like (fp_userdata "general text string").

In the alternative, I would like to request to be able to put comments in
an s-expression. Those comments need not be preserved (by the module
editor).

Rationale:

I am developing a "footprint wizard", based on templates. But a wizard
won't be of much use if you cannot modify the footprints later. So, this
wizard reads back footprints and allows you to adjust them. However,
detecting which template was used (and with what settings) may not be
deterministically feasible, given the number of options.

So, the best option is to store that information in the generated
footprint. Even if the user changes the footprint in the module editor, the
wizard would still be able to get the correct template.

In the alternative (store the information in a comment), the user would be
able to adjust the footprint with the wizard, as long as no changes have
been made to it in the module editor. This is good enough for me.

Question:

I do not appear to be able to select an s-expression library in pcbnew. Is
this correct? Or do I need to build KiCad with a special option?

Regards,
Thiadmer Riemersma