kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

They are not now nor have they ever been invisible.  They can be edited
as part of the component properties dialog in the component library
editor and are shown in the message panel at the bottom of schematic
editor when a component is selected (left mouse click), the component
footprint editor for the current component, and the component library
viewer.

On 5/23/2017 6:51 PM, Oliver Walters wrote:
> Cirilo,
> 
> I think the major issue here is that I introduced a previously
> invisible-to-the-user field called "Description" which is lifted from
> the .dcm file. Fabrizio had a custom field called "Description" as he
> did not know that this other field existed. 
> 
> Just as people would not have a custom field called "Footprint", I think
> that once people realize that the "Description" field is inherent to the
> symbol itself, they will rename such custom fields to something else.

The confusion is that they are not fields, they are properties.  I know
this distinction is subtle but there is a difference.  Properties are
unique to each component alias (LIB_ALIAS).  Fields are common (shared)
to all aliases of the base library component (LIB_PART).  When the
library component is added to a schematic, it's field values are
initially copied into the schematic component object (SCH_COMPONENT)
fields which allows for assigning different field values to the
schematic components.

> 
> 
> 
> Also, I note that there seems to be a duplication of fields already -
> there's a "Datasheet" field and a "Documentation" field, one lives in
> the .dcm file and one in the .lib file. This seems to be much more of a
> source of confusion to me.
> 
> On Wed, May 24, 2017 at 8:20 AM, Cirilo Bernardo
> <cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:cirilo.bernardo@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> 
>     On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 1:10 PM, Wayne Stambaugh
>     <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>     > On 5/23/2017 4:17 AM, Fabrizio Tappero wrote:
>     >> cheers Oliver,
>     >> I do not know what a .dcm file is.
>     >>
>     >> I am not sure it is a good idea to have a in-built field called
>     >> Description in the table viewer. But I can easily see how that is
>     >> useful. I guess you would like to use this table to add info. This makes
>     >> it non a table viewer. The current icon label says "Component table
>     >> view" which I find ambiguous. Maybe Wayne can jump in with a proper name
>     >> for it.
>     >
>     > The component information strings are not fields.  They are part of the
>     > component definition and are not user definable.  There are four
>     > component information definitions: name, description, key words (tags),
>     > and documentation file name.  You could create fields with the same
>     > names so I can understand how this could be confusing.
>     >
>     > Toolbar button tooltips should be a verb followed by a short
>     > description.  In this case "Edit component properties" would work.
>     >
> 
>     Perhaps the software should (re)assign the names of the first 4
>     fields and
>     use a 2-part name to distinguish them from anything else? Maybe a
>     special
>     character at the front of the name would be enough - let's say '@'. 
>     That
>     shouldn't look too ugly and it's unlikely someone would begin a
>     field name
>     with '@' (or some other suitable character). At any rate, if the
>     user can
>     give an arbitrary field > 4 a name which happens to match a name of one
>     of the first 4 fields, we need some scheme so that users (and machines!)
>     can distinguish the special fields.
> 
>     - Cirilo
> 
>     >>
>     >> I am having the feeling the development of this table did not
>     come from
>     >> a clean plan of having an XYZ tool. Or maybe is just me. Please
>     dont get
>     >> me wrong, I love this table (and the soon to come new icon) but
>     it might
>     >> be a good idea to drop the word viewer for it if we want the (great)
>     >> ability to edit stuff.
>     >>
>     >> I hope this helps.
>     >>
>     >> Fabrizio
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 10:00 AM, Oliver Walters
>     >> <oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>
>     <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>>>
>     >> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>     Fabrizio,
>     >>
>     >>     1. You have added a custom field called "Description".
>     >>     2. The table viewer has an "inbuild" field called
>     "Description". It
>     >>     populates this field with the component description which is
>     found
>     >>     in the .dcm files
>     >>
>     >>     Here's what I see.
>     >>
>     >>     Inline image 1
>     >>
>     >>     Here I have added the custom "description" field with dummy
>     data to
>     >>     only one component.
>     >>
>     >>     The first "Description" column is filled with the symbol
>     >>     descriptions from the .dcm files in the library.
>     >>
>     >>     If you are missing the .dcm files then your first column will
>     be empty.
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>     On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 5:57 PM, Fabrizio Tappero
>     >>     <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>
>     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>         Hi Oliver,
>     >>         not sure I understand the question. This is what my schematic
>     >>         components fields look like:
>     >>
>     >>         Inline image 1
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>         cheers
>     >>         Fabrizio
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>         On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 9:53 AM, Andrey Kuznetsov
>     >>         <kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx>
>     <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>             Previous bug even works without modifying a field, all I
>     >>             have to do is enter a field edit mode and click somewhere
>     >>             else, and that field's value will be copied to where
>     ever I
>     >>             clicked, this will cause a lot of grief when users
>     decide to
>     >>             cancel editing and click elsewhere to discard
>     changes, or so
>     >>             they think that's what should have happened.
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>             A few more things:
>     >>             1. When I click Apply changes, the RED markings/modified
>     >>             fields should disappear when the changes have been
>     >>             successfully applied
>     >>             2. Undo/Redo should work inside Component Table to
>     undo each
>     >>             user action, instead of having the user to discard all
>     >>             changes and start over
>     >>             3. There's something weird going on when you try to
>     edit a
>     >>             field, it seems that have to click 4 times to enter edit
>     >>             mode, 2 times is what I expect. Also perhaps some weird
>     >>             delay that prevents me from entering edit mode.
>     >>
>     >>             On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:39 AM, Andrey Kuznetsov
>     >>             <kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx>
>     <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>                 Oliver, found another unexpected behaviour.
>     >>                 When I select a field to edit, for example to
>     replace a
>     >>                 "Part Number" field from AAA to BBB, when I type
>     in BBB
>     >>                 but instead of hitting enter, I click on the next
>     field
>     >>                 below it which belongs to another part, then BBB
>     >>                 modifies that part's field instead of where the
>     editing
>     >>                 took place.
>     >>
>     >>                 On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 12:28 AM, Oliver Walters
>     >>                 <oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>
>     >>                 <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>                     The "Description" field should be showing the
>     >>                     description of each symbol as it appears in
>     the .dcm
>     >>                     file. It was working for me - do your symbols not
>     >>                     have those descriptions?
>     >>
>     >>                     On Tue, May 23, 2017 at 5:23 PM, Fabrizio Tappero
>     >>                     <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>
>     >>                     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>                         Hi Guys,
>     >>                         great ! you guys almost fixed it. It
>     looks like
>     >>                         the column "Description" appears twice
>     and one
>     >>                         of the two is completely empty.
>     >>
>     >>                         cheers
>     >>                         Fabrizio
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>                         Inline image 1
>     >>
>     >>                         On Mon, May 22, 2017 at 10:18 PM, Wayne
>     >>                         Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>
>     >>                         <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx
>     <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
>     >>
>     >>                             Oliver,
>     >>
>     >>                             I committed your patch.  Thank you.
>     >>
>     >>                             Wayne
>     >>
>     >>                             On 5/22/2017 10:08 AM, Oliver Walters
>     wrote:
>     >>                             > Bug noted here -
>     >>                           
>      https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg29485.html
>     <https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg29485.html>
>     >>                           
>      <https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg29485.html
>     <https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg29485.html>>
>     >>                             >
>     >>                             > Patch attached to this email fixes
>     glitch
>     >>                             when user adds custom field
>     >>                             > with same name as a default field.
>     >>                             >
>     >>                             > Users can now do this to their heart's
>     >>                             content.
>     >>                             >
>     >>                             >
>     >>                             >
>     >>                           
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>     >>                 --
>     >>                 Remember The Past, Live The Present, Change The
>     Future
>     >>                 Those who look only to the past or the present are
>     >>                 certain to miss the future [JFK]
>     >>
>     >>                 kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kandrey89@xxxxxxxxx>
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>     >>                 Live Long and Prosper,
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>     >>             --
>     >>             Remember The Past, Live The Present, Change The Future
>     >>             Those who look only to the past or the present are
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