kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Chris Pavlina <pavlina.chris@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Aug 07, 2015 at 12:48:29PM +0200, jp charras wrote:
> Le 07/08/2015 08:49, Chris Pavlina a écrit :
> > I meant that the GUI widgets are disabled.
> 
> Sorry, but you did not really read my answer:
> They are not disabled, just not cannot be selected as default drawing
> layers.

I promise you that I did... They cannot be selected as default drawing 
layers because the GUI widgets in the layer selector bar are disabled. ;)

Sure, you can select them by editing individual objects, but that's next 
to useless for drawings, which often contain a large number of objects.

> 
> > 
> > If they are not paired, then those layers should not flip when the
> > footprint is flipped... as there is obviously nothing to flip.
> 
> I fully disagree:
> - What about texts: are they mirrored or not ?
> - How to filter these annotations? See them both for the front and
> bottom footprints can be a mess, when footprints are at the same
> location, therefore annotations overlap.

Good points.

> These layers are used on board editor, also to often put annotations.
> Annotations from footprints in libraries can just pollute the board
> annotation.

Fully disagree with this one. If you don't *like* having annotations in 
the footprints, add a specification to the KiCad Library Convention to 
this effect. The software shouldn't be used to enforce the developers' 
tastes. Many users use KiCad to create their own libraries that are not 
part of the KiCad project and not subject to the devs' opinion.

> My opinion is:
> A layer to put annotations, html links, pictures ... in footprint editor
> (and seen in footprint viewer) is a good feature.
> But I am thinking it should be a separate layer (perhaps a paired
> layer), not one of the current user layers.

Agreed, this is a decent way to implement this. Certainly, making it a 
paired layer is a good idea. IMHO comment layers should have been paired 
anyway, as it avoids these problems altogether.

> It can be done only after the stable release.

Fair enough.

> 
> > 
> > I really don't see the point in greying those out. All it does is make it
> > harder for users who know what they are doing and want to use them to do
> > so. Why impose unnecessary restrictions? Particularly when they aren't even
> > true restrictions and just add difficulty.
> > On Aug 7, 2015 2:40 AM, "jp charras" <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > 
> >> Le 07/08/2015 06:33, Chris Pavlina a écrit :
> >>> Is there any particular reason why *all* of the user layers (Dwgs.User,
> >>> Cmts.User, Eco1.User, Eco2.User) are disabled in modedit? It's often
> >>> useful to put annotations inside footprints...
> >>>
> >>> --
> >>> Chris
> >>
> >> They are not disabled.
> >>
> >> They cannot be selected as default drawing layers, which is not the same
> >> thing.
> >>
> >> The reason is they are not paired.
> >> So, what happens for flipped footprints?
> >>
> >> --
> >> Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
> 
> 
> -- 
> Jean-Pierre CHARRAS
> 
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