kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Are the KiCad library developers planning on providing atomic symbol
libraries?  I'm guessing that is the end goal for reserving a name for
an optional field.  I cannot think of any other reason to do this.

On 6/6/2017 9:22 AM, Kristoffer Ödmark wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I will bump this issue again, but to avoid bikesheeding I will ask for a
> decision from leader Wayne. Should there be a default field in kicad for
> part number and if, what should it be named?

It doesn't matter what I decide.  Since these are optional fields, users
can choose to ignore, change, or delete them.  In my own projects I use
the obvious field name "Manufacturer Part Number".

> 
> From what i gather, a field for a part number is the only thing everyone
> agrees on, after that everyone has some different standard and wishes
> for default fields ( Tolerances, fitting, vendors, manufacturer,
> housepart etc etc ).
> 
> The name for a part number seem field to most favoured to be MPN or
> ManufacturerPart (differs between github and the user forum), although
> UPN for universal part number was suggested and not flamed.

"MPN" it's not very descriptive (human readable).  "ManufacturerPart" is
more descriptive but I'm not thrilled about the camel case name although
I could stomach it.  Field names are not programming language syntax.
They can have spaces in them for readability.  I'm guessing that someone
is using an application where spaces in the field name causes issues but
I'm not sure that should be a concern for KiCad.  I don't much care for
"UPN".  Are manufacturer's even talking about a universal part numbering
system?  I would be very surprised given that manufacturers do their
best to differentiate there products even if they are functionally
equivalent.

I don't have a strong opinion on this but if I had to pick one of the
choices you have given me, I would pick "ManufacturerPart".  Let the
complaining commence. ;)

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Wayne

> 
> Pros:
> Easier with a standard for external tools.
> Every component has one, not every component has values, many have both.
> Is optional to use, so will not break anything for anyone not wanting to
> use it
> 
> Cons:
> Some are worried the fields will be impossible to keep updated in the
> standard libs
> Some people are using House numbers instead
> Some think this data should not be in the schematic but handled by other
> tools
> 
> Links to discussions I you want to read it:
> https://forum.kicad.info/t/default-manufacturers-part-number-field-in-kicad-libraries/4387/28
> 
> https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-library/issues/808
> https://forum.kicad.info/t/standard-symbol-field-names-initiative/4870/3
> 
> 
> 
> On 2017-01-12 20:12, Kaspar Emanuel wrote:
>> I have put up a proposal for a "community standard" on the forum:
>> https://forum.kicad.info/t/standard-symbol-field-names-initiative/4870/1
>>
>> On 12 January 2017 at 18:33, Kaspar Emanuel <kaspar.emanuel@xxxxxxxxx
>> <mailto:kaspar.emanuel@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>     On 12 January 2017 at 16:44, Kaspar Emanuel
>>     <kaspar.emanuel@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:kaspar.emanuel@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>         Is there actually any issue, internally to KiCAD, with creating
>>         multiple fields with the same name? It seems to let me create
>>         two fields called MPN and save and re-open without a problem.
>>
>>
>>     Actually, just tested again and it doesn't like fields with the same
>>     name, it simply overwrites them once you press ok, not sure what I
>>     was doing before. That's a shame.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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