kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 3/9/2015 1:23 PM, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
> As we are inevitably approaching the feature freeze, I would
> like to know your opinion about one last change to the footprint library
> wizard.

Your proposal looks reasonable to me.  I have one comment nn the first
image.  The string at the bottom mentions schematic libraries as well as
footprint libraries.  I would leave out the word schematic so users
don't get confused about what libraries they are configuring.

> 
> We would like to make the library management as simple as possible.
> Therefore Tom has prepared an alternative set of dialog windows for the
> footprint wizard (attached to the message).
> 
> There is no dialog to specify whether the libraries should be added with
> absolute/relative/based on environmental variable path. Instead it
> depends on the choice in the last dialog: global libraries use absolute
> paths, and "current project" option selects relative paths. There is no
> choice for environmental variables - the wizard is designed for
> beginners, and power users know how to take advantage of them.

Be very careful with relative paths on windows and in general.  There
should be a test to make sure the relative paths don't cross drive
boundaries on windows.  There should also be a warning that except for
paths relative to the current project path (in which case you should use
${KIPRJDIR} instead of relative paths), relative paths may not be portable.

> 
> The plan foresees to change the file browser extension filter to handle
> all accepted file extensions simultaneously, so the user does not have
> to select appropriate plugin first. This way the plugin would be matched
> basing on the file extension (possibly verified by the file header
> contents).

This may or may not work.  There may be some cases where file extensions
may be the same for different footprint library types so you'll have to
be careful.  Don't forget to take into account comment lines if you are
going to verify the file by it's header.  If you don't, it's only a
matter of time before you get bit by it.

> 
> I am not going to give any hints on how to use the wizard. If the
> dialogs are not self-explanatory, then they are not good enough and have
> to be improved.
> 
> I would like to know whether you consider the proposed changes
> advantageous and if we would like to have them in the upcoming stable
> release.
> 
> Regardless of the answers, the current plan for the GAL canvases is to:
> - Add "select copper/connection net"
> - Add icons & missing entries to the context menu
> - Make the context menu translatable using the standard tools
> - Develop or adapt the hotkey editor for GAL (consistent with the legacy
> settings)
> - Clear the bug tracker
> 
> Regards,
> Orso
> 
> 
> 
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