kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Brian Sidebotham <brian.sidebotham@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 6 August 2013 10:10, jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Le 05/08/2013 23:15, Brian Sidebotham a écrit :
>
>
>
>> Hi Jean-Pierre,
>>
>> I've just had a quick look at  Pl_Editor ( Is it Pl_Editor or PI_Editor? )
>>
>> I think I'm missing something, or perhaps the build I'm using is broke
>> because I can't draw anything? I can add things to the object tree, but
>> I can't just select a line tool and draw. Is that something that has yet
>> to be added? I realise this is a first draft of the application.
>>
>> Is there any reason we couldn't just have added a background or legend
>> field to the SCH_ITEM class and use the editing facilities of Eeschema?
>>
>> Best Regards,
>>
>> Brian.
>>
>>  Pl_Editor (Page Layout Editor)
>
> I don't know if you had a look to the documentation.
>
> Extending the SCH_ITEM class (for instance) and using the existing editing
> facilities was the first thing we considered.
>
> However Pl_Editor (and its graphic items) has specific constraints.
> The more important is the fact you usually don't know the page size, and
> most of time the *same* title block and page layout should be usable for
> different page sizes and orientations.
>
> There are also other constraints, explained in doc.
>
> Therefore the approach is more a parametric description than a pure
> graphic description.
> This is the reason the documentation is needed and was written during the
> code development (and not -as usual- one year later)
>
> When you create (add) a new item  (using the tree list, or right clicking
> on the drawing area), you have to define its coordinate(s), each is
> relative to a given page corner, and the page corner should also be defined.
> (most of time, but not always, this is the same corner for both points,
> and this is the lower right corner)
> For instance, a rectangle around the page (for instance a border 10mm from
> the paper limits), is defined by 2 points which are not dependent on the
> page size and orientation.
>
> Later, you can select and move the object (or one of its ends, for lines
> and rectangle), define its repetition and orientation, and constraints
> (is it on all pages, or only on page 1 ... and some others constraints for
> texts).
> Using repetition in items, you can spare a lot of time.
>
> Pl_Editor needs refinements (mainly for newly created items) but it is
> near the final version, and can be used.
> Of course, I am opened to (good) ideas.
>
>
>
Thank-you for the explanation Jean-Pierre.

I can see why it's been approached like this. My needs are just a simple
case - I know the sheet size always - A4. I don't have a printer capable of
printing anything else. I don't use page legends for PCB layouts, only
schematics - again simplifying my case.

I guess you have to cater for the extremities. I just wanted to edit based
on a fixed-size sheet.

Anyway, I will RTFM. Thank-you so much for doing documentation!

Thanks,

Brian.