kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

This has been discussed before, particularly the text objects.  I'm not
opposed to these suggestions.  It really is a matter of manpower to make
the changes.  If you choose to work on this, be very careful.  There are
some subtle differences between TEXTE_PCB and TEXTE_MODULE that can get
you into trouble.  I willing to bet that it's not as simple as it looks.

On 9/11/2017 8:02 PM, Greg Smith wrote:
> A few things I've been thinking about recently and wondering what reason
> behind some of these characteristics:
> 
> I've been working with pcbnew Python for a few months now, and have
> wondered about the consistency in getting the object collections
> on module and board as well as proper final orientation 
> for the various objects, text and pads.
> 
> Is there any desire to make objects more consistent
> in this regard?
> 
> Here is the current state of affairs:
> 
> board.GetDrawings()
> module.GraphicalItems()
> 
> Is there a reason these are differently named collections?
> It seems they can hold substantially the same types of objects.
> 
> TEXTE_MODULE - text that exists on a module.GraphicalItems() and
>                returned by module.GetValue() and module.GetReference()
> 
> TEXTE_PCB - top level text that exists in board.GetDrawings()
> 
> It would be nice to have a GetFinalOrientation() on all objects
> that returns the orientation after it's parent orientation, if any,
> is taken into account.
> 
> GetBoundingBox() on any object can be relied on to get the
> orthogonal box that surrounds the object regardless of final
> rotation. However, to get the close-fitting rectangle that
> surrounds an object in the proper orientation takes a different
> approach based on the object:
> 
> TEXTE_PCB - GetTextBox() with
>             angle GetTextAngleDegrees() rotated around GetCenter()
> 
> TEXTE_MODULE - GetTextBox() with angle rotated around GetCenter()
>                of degrees GetTextAngleDegrees() + 
>                GetParent().GetOrientationDegrees()
> 
> PADS - Corners defined by GetSize() and GetCenter()
>        rotated around GetCenter() with angle GetOrientationDegrees() 
> 
> Note the following inconsistencies:
> 
>     TEXTE_PCB and TEXTE_MODULE of needing to get the Parent
>     of a TEXTE_MODULE to get the "final" orientation.
> 
>     TEXTE_MODULE and PADS, again of needing to get the Parent
>     of a TEXTE_MODULE while PADS (also a child of a module) of
>     GetOrientationDegrees() returns the final orientation without
>     needing the Parent's orientation.
> 
>     Also note the lack of getting a "close-fitting" rectangle from
>     PAD is done atomically with GetSize() and GetCenter() rather than
>     a convenience function equivalent to GetTextBox(). It would be
>     nice if there were the same function call (name) for Pads and Text
>     for a close-fitting rectangle.
> 
> A possible solution for resolving TEXTE_PCB and TEXTE_MODULE is to
> refactor most if not all functions into EDA_TEXT. A TEXTE_PCB parent,
> perhaps, is the BOARD object. And maybe that could have a function
> GetOrientation() that always returns 0. Alternatively, a
> GetFinalOrientation() function could exist and overridden on the
> TEXTE_MODULE to include a call to GetParent().GetOrientation().
> It seems better if both TEXTE_PCB and TEXTE_MODULE could be refactored
> away and leave EDA_TEXT as the sole implementation, if possible.
> 
> I'm sure other refactorings could resolve the inconsistency as well.
> 
> It would be nice if there were consistency between the shapes available
> as PADS could be the same (or closer) to the shapes available in
> a DRAWSEGMENT. Even better might be the ability to optionally FILL
> shapes in DRAWSEGMENT. Then it could be used for all the shapes
> within a PAD as well.
> 
> Thoughts?
> 
> 
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