kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Fabrizio Tappero <fabrizio.tappero@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Simon,
footprint library components are not very problematic for me because there
are already
so many in the standard kicad lib. In that department I feel it would be
great to just add
aliases so that when some manufacturer decides that a diode SOD123 should
be called
XYZ I can just look for XYZ (in an hypotetical search window that does not
yet exist) and
I find the SOD123 which has XYZ as alias.

Nevertheless I love Altium footprint wizard.... even thogh I almost never
used it.

What takes some of my time is the schematic lib component generation that
cannot really
be automated. So Once I have created a new component I guess I could just
submit it to
some github repo to be vetted by kicad librarians.

The problem of the existance of a librarian is also a hard issue to
solve... maybe guys at
Nvidia will fix that problem with some AI stuff.

When I mentioned the F1, F2, F3 buttons liked to python script I meant
sometihng like this:
[image: Inline image 1]

An other really time consuming process is the filling up of the schematic
library component
parameters from the mouser webpage..... god that is tedious.....

cheers
Fabrizio



On Fri, Jun 2, 2017 at 12:36 PM, Simon Küppers <
Simon.Kueppers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Fabrizio,
>
> 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.
>>
>
> With regard to library generation I think the footprint generator is a
> good example
> of what even a "standard" user can achieve with available python scripting
> support.
> Imagine one wants to quickly add pin headers with N pins where N ranges
> from 4 to 64.
>
> Python scripts could be attached to F1, F2 and F3 general-purpose
>> buttons.
>>
>
> I did not check specifically, but I read somewhere that KiCad has
> something like a
> central point where shortcuts are set up right? In this case, executing a
> python script
> with a given name could be just another entry in this central
> configuration. This would
> allow maximum flexibility.
>
> However, you remind me of another thing and that is something like
> function call hooks.
> It would be really cool to have something like a python script that
> registers callback
> functions that are hooked to "pick up trace" and "drop trace" for example.
> Now with
> respect to the Via Fence generator and some clever coding, this could
> allow moving
> a trace with online rebuilding of the Via Fence when the trace is released
> again
> after moving. Just an idea!
>
> 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.
>>
>
> I second that. Could be really powerful to the overall development of the
> KiCad Software
>
> Best Regards
> Simon
>