kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[jp charras <jp.charras@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Le 12/05/2017 à 13:55, Oliver Walters a écrit :
> This feature was IN this branch of code but was vetoed. It was WYSIWYG BoM with export to:
> 
> *SV
> XML
> HTML
> 
> Wayne mentioned that KiCad used to have such a BOM export tool but I haven't been using KiCad long
> enough to have experienced it. 
> 
> If there is real need for such a feature then I leave that to the project leads to decide. I have
> the code still, and it could be implemented very easily. 

Hi Oliver,

As Wayne said, we don't like a BOM export tool *written in C++ inside* the Kicad code.

Here is the reason:
A few years ago, this code was existing and (as Wayne said) created the same BOM files (txt, csv...)
as your code.

What was the result:
Roughly ever month, a bug or request was filled to change something in BOM files.
I am guessing we cannot find 2 guys who want the same BOM format or option.

Therefore, the C++ code inside the Kicad code was dropped, and replaced by external scripts (Python
or XSL) to transform the XML netlist created by Kicad to an other list (BOM, but also other netlist
formats).

*Trust me*, this was a *wise* decision (It was not my decision, but was a good decision).

Therefore: if you want to create the BOM you like, write a Python script to do that from a netlist
(it is easy to run from Eeschema: see the BOM or Netlist generator), but do not try to merge this
code in Kicad C++ sources: your script will never generate the "right" BOM.
But a Python script is very easy to modify.

There are already many BOM generators written in Python.


-- 
Jean-Pierre CHARRAS