kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Oliver Walters <oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>]

Having Python more accessible to core KiCAD functionality would be a very
good improvement IMHO.

Another example - python DRC scripts. Instead of hard-coding DRC checks,
have a folder of DRC scripts that user can select / deselect. Or add extra
scripts if they want them.

On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 5:46 PM, Fabrizio Tappero <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx
> wrote:

> Hi Simon,
> welcome to the group!
>
> Reading your interesting email I decided to write to you. I am interested
> as well in the python functionality for the purpose of implementing killing
> functionalities. via-fence generator is certainly an interesting thing.
>
> I spend long hours doing schematics at work and I love the idea of
> implementing python stuff that could make my life easier. Specifically I
> spend a long time in library component generation and I would love to do
> something about it. This could be done by creating new python (or non
> python) tools to import component info or to created tools to facilitate
> the contribution to the quality (and size) of the kicad lib. Not really
> sure what is best.
>
> Python scripts could be attached to F1, F2 and F3 general-purpose buttons.
> So that others can easily use these scripts. This people would probably
> make kicad better. This would be classified as "kicad user harvesting via
> python scripting for library component creation " ;-) a topic I always
> wanted to talk about on this mailing list.
>
> Regarding your scripting database idea. Kicad comes with some script for
> BOM generation and I guess lead developers would certainly consider adding
> more scripts into the main kicad repo.
>
> Cheers
> Fabrizio
>
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 1, 2017 at 8:01 PM, Simon Küppers <Simon.Kueppers@ruhr-uni-
> bochum.de> wrote:
>
>> Hi everyone,
>> Thanks Wayne for approving me to the developers mailing list.
>> I am very new to KiCAD (only heard of it some time ago) and just stumbled
>> upon a
>> Youtube Video of 2017 FOSDEM (I believe?) where Wayne presented the
>> current state of KiCAD.
>> As a result I had to see for myself and I am quite impressed of the
>> development of KiCAD in the
>> last years! Very impressive.
>>
>> I am a Researcher working in the areas of IC Design, (RF-) PCB Design and
>> I am also a quite
>> realiable programmer (thats what I think anyway :-)). I am used to EAGLE
>> CAD (from the oldern days)
>> and Altium Designer (ugh..). For IC Design we use Cadence Virtuoso.
>>
>> Now, what really kicks me off with KiCAD is the (still very early) Python
>> support. In my opinion, it is definitely
>> the right choice to pull some non-major functionality from the main KiCAD
>> core and implement it into Python.
>> Why? Simply because that way it is much easier for people to modify,
>> tweak, extend and bugfix the KiCAD software,
>> without having to study the KiCAD core. I want to be the living proof for
>> this fact ;-)
>>
>> I already have some ideas for pcbnew plugins. E.g. a Via-Fence Generator
>> (select a line-segment in pcbnew, start
>> generator and enjoy the vias to the left and right of the line). There is
>> similar functionality in Altium, but it
>> is very rudimentory and cannot be adjusted or tweaked very much. Also it
>> is sometimes quite buggy resulting in non-ideal via
>> placement and due to this we usually place those vias (with GCPW
>> transmission lines for example) by hand...
>> I think this would be a nice example of what non-proficient users could
>> add to KiCAD without ever touching anything belonging
>> to the KiCAD C++ core application (where the latter would not fit into my
>> available spare time due to its complexity, sorry!)
>>
>> Anyway, what I wanted to ask before even starting with the development is
>> the following. I know the current status of the
>> Python interface in pcbnew is very limited and "only" an interface
>> generated by SWIG. So I guess there will be some
>> heavy adjustments in the API in the future (which is fine with me).
>>
>> Is it planned in the future to make plugins part of the KiCAD
>> distribution (i.e. ship them within the distro packages?)?
>> (Or do KiCAD users have to find a way for organizing a repository of
>> KiCAD plugins?)
>> If yes, is the correct place to discuss their development (and request
>> features) in this mailing list? Or should the forums
>> be used instead/at first?
>>
>> I guess that is it for now. A big thanks to all the developers and
>> especially the CERN folks. I put in a donation a few days ago :-)
>>
>> Best Regards
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>
>