On 10/13/2017 6:19 AM, Kristoffer Ödmark wrote:
Thanks you very much for that clarification, I for one would really
enjoy a clarification of the documentation and Datasheet string. KiCad
has been around for quite a while now, interesting how technology has
changed during that time.
For another question, would It be okay to redirect the context menu in
eeschema, so that the "Show documentation" context menu would use the
Field "Datasheet"? And use the "documentation" string to fill the
"Datasheet" field when adding the symbol to the schematic?
I'm OK with adding both a "Show Documentation" (should be visible only
when the field is not empty) to the symbol context menu and an "Edit
Datasheet Field" entry to the "Properties" sub-menu.
I guess this would be considered a temporary fix if okay?
On 10/13/2017 08:51 AM, jp charras wrote:
FYI, in fact this confusion comes from a bug introduced a long time ago:
Initially, the field name was "Sheet" not "Datasheet".
It should be "SchematicSheet"
The purpose was to be able to create a component acting as a
hierarchical sheet:
The component in a root sheet, and its internal sheet
("SchematicSheet") similar to a sub sheet.
But unfortunately, it was never done, and one day the word "Sheet"
became "Datasheet", thus creating
a serious confusion.
Perhaps the "DATASHEET" field (attached to the symbol) and the
"documentation" string (attached to a
alias) should be clearly redefined for the V5.
By the way, do you know why the .dcm file exists?
It is similar to the .idx index file of old spice libs.
In the early time of eeschema, Kicad was stored on a server and was
used in classrooms and on PCs
connected by a "slow" network link: network cards were ISA cards and
the link speed was roughly 2400
bps.
So loading all needed schematic libraries to choose a symbol was a too
time costly process, making
Eeschema barely usable.
Using small .dcm files to display a list of symbols and some info
fixed this issue.
Nowadays, link speed, PC speed and memory sizes have 3 order of
magnitude, and .dcm files (a relic
of this time) is more an annoying feature.
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