← Back to team overview

kicad-developers team mailing list archive

Re: [FEATURE] Component table viewer

 

Hi Oliver!

I also tried the new component table viewer, and think that it looks very
promising! I'm switching over from Altium which makes extensive use of List and
Property dock panels, so I would like to provide some feedback:


* There should be a warning if there are uncommitted changes. Right now, it's
very easy to loose work by accidentially hitting ESC.

* The text columns should be left-aligned for readability. Numerical columns
(Quantity..) should be right-aligned (easier to compare numbers).

* The side bar takes up a lot of space on small displays. The field selection
could be replaced by a context menu, like in Windows Explorer or Nautilus.

  * This would also be a good place for "Group by this column", "Size column to
fit", and "Size all columns to fit" menu entries.

* It would be nice to be able to edit the Reference column.

* Field selection and column sizes should be saved and restored when reopening
the dialog, possibly across program restarts.

* Column reordering by dragging the column title (I don't know, if wx provides
that feature).



Also, I think making the dialog non-modal would be useful:

* No need for a custom "Apply/Cancel/Revert all Changes" workflow.
All edits could be done on the fly, and use the normal undo/redo functionality.

* Row Selection could be synchronized with sheet object selection (and vice versa).

* There could be a "Zoom to selected object" context menu entry.

* In Altium, the schematic list view can show all types of objects (Nets, Pins,
etc.), and also work in the library abd PCB editor. It's often possible to e.g.
select all 144 pins of a microcontroller, and set the signal names by copy and
paste from a spreadsheet.


Woohoo, a lot of points ;) I'm new on the mailing list -- is this the right way
to give feedback? I'm always afraid of sounding rude or demanding, especially
because english is not my native language.

best regards,
Thomas

On 05.05.2017 14:56, Oliver Walters wrote:
> Steven,
> 
> Unless you mean something different to what I think "custom fields" means, then
> this is already the case - any extra fields (beyond REFERENCE / FOOTPRINT /
> DATSHEET / VALUE) are preesnt to be edited in the table...
> 
> On Fri, May 5, 2017 at 10:51 PM, Strontium <strntydog@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:strntydog@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi Oliver,
> 
>     Just had a chance to check out your component table viewer, its nice.  Great
>     work.
> 
>     Is it on your roadmap to be able to view/edit a components custom fields?
> 
>     Regards,
>     Steven
> 
>     On 03/05/17 05:35, Oliver Walters wrote:
> 
>         Wayne,
> 
>         Thanks for merging!
> 
>         I will address those points at some stage - there are other ideas I have
>         too but I thought it was better to get the first iteration done and make
>         incremental improvements.
> 
>         Regards,
>         Oliver
> 
> 
> 
>     _______________________________________________
>     Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>     Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
>     <https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers>
>     More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>     <https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
> 



References