kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Dick Hollenbeck <dick@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

> 
> Thank you for your amazing effort on the GitHub plugin.  I am looking
> forward to taking it for a test drive.  I hope to finish up the
> FP_LIB_TABLE code and documentation by the end of the weekend.  With all
> of the pieces in place, KiCad should have a really good footprint
> library management system.
> 
> Wayne


Thank you Wayne!

I gave you bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1235317   :)

I also updated FP_LIB_TABLE class with the following API extensions, in *comment only*
form, just as a means of suggesting the API that we should be using in the library manager
when FP_LIB_TABLE is enabled.  These calls address all but the

a) library creation,
b) library deletion

functions, which I think may need to be done with the help of the DIALOG_FP_LIB_TABLE.  So
I defer those for now.

If we park the PLUGIN::RELEASER into the FP_LIB_TABLE we can easily cache the PLUGINs and
then these new API functions make sense.  PLUGIN::RELEASER is not currently up to the task
of operator=(), ( needed in ROW::operator=() ), but could be made so I assume.

Here are my suggested API function to bring into library management GUI, and remove
references to ROW in there.  The idea is that we get two primary benefits:

Uppercase letters to show significant benefits:

A) retention of every plugin's cache.
B) PROPERTIES can be passed to every PLUGIN::Footprint*() call.


Here are the new functions in class FP_LIB_TABLE, which one of us should build into the
library browser and editor UI IMO:


#if 0       // PLUGIN API SUBSET, REBASED ON aNickname

    /**
     * Function FootprintEnumerate
     * returns a list of footprint names contained within the library given by
     * @a aNickname.
     *
     * @param aNickname is a locator for the "library", it is a "name"
     *     in FP_LIB_TABLE::ROW
     *
     * @return wxArrayString - is the array of available footprint names inside
     *   a library
     *
     * @throw IO_ERROR if the library cannot be found, or footprint cannot be loaded.
     */
    wxArrayString FootprintEnumerate( const wxString& aNickname ) const;

    /**
     * Function FootprintLoad
     * loads a footprint having @a aFootprintName from the library given by @a aNickname.
     *
     * @param aNickname is a locator for the "library", it is a "name"
     *     in FP_LIB_TABLE::ROW
     *
     * @param aFootprintName is the name of the footprint to load.
     *
     * @return  MODULE* - if found caller owns it, else NULL if not found.
     *
     * @throw   IO_ERROR if the library cannot be found or read.  No exception
     *          is thrown in the case where aFootprintName cannot be found.
     */
    MODULE* FootprintLoad( const wxString& aNickname, const wxString& aFootprintName ) const;

    /**
     * Function FootprintSave
     * will write @a aFootprint to an existing library given by @a aNickname.
     * If a footprint by the same name already exists, it is replaced.
     *
     * @param aNickname is a locator for the "library", it is a "name"
     *     in FP_LIB_TABLE::ROW
     *
     * @param aFootprint is what to store in the library. The caller continues
     *    to own the footprint after this call.
     *
     * @throw IO_ERROR if there is a problem saving.
     */
    void FootprintSave( const wxString& aNickname, const MODULE* aFootprint );

    /**
     * Function FootprintDelete
     * deletes the @a aFootprintName from the library given by @a aNickname.
     *
     * @param aNickname is a locator for the "library", it is a "name"
     *     in FP_LIB_TABLE::ROW
     *
     * @param aFootprintName is the name of a footprint to delete from the specified library.
     *
     * @throw IO_ERROR if there is a problem finding the footprint or the library, or
deleting it.
     */
    void FootprintDelete( const wxString& aNickname, const wxString& aFootprintName );

    /**
     * Function IsFootprintLibWritable
     * returns true iff the library given by @a aNickname is writable.  (Often
     * system libraries are read only because of where they are installed.)
     *
     * @throw IO_ERROR if no library at aLibraryPath exists.
     */
    bool IsFootprintLibWritable( const wxString& aNickname );

#endif


These are now in the repo, but commented out.

They mirror the similarly named ones in the PLUGIN class, but omit the PROPERTIES* since
they are in the ROW, and aNickname takes the place of aLibraryPath.  Good symmetry otherwise.

GITHUB plugin will yield great benefits from these changes, but will still be too slow for
the "List All" footprint select dialog.  I have a couple of ideas in mind for that issue.
 Having the "options" in place will give us more options, including COW support, or
launching multiple threads to do the "List All" function.

Again, I am deferring library create and delete into the future, and want to think of
those processes as being fully subject to change when USE_FP_LIB_TABLE is in play.


Dick