kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx>]

Apropos of the recent discussion about problems with the ‘/‘ character in symbol names (https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg31705.html), I went to rename three problematic symbols in my library. I’m on the 24 Dec 2017 nightly on macOS. (This is all in bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1740717).

First and foremost: there has never been a straightforward way to rename a symbol in a library from within Kicad. (That is, not editing the library files in a text editor.) 

Previously I could copy the symbol using the “Load Component from Current Library” command followed by the “Create new component from the current component” command. The latter command opens a dialog box asking for the name of the new component. Then the user can save the library, delete the old symbol (the old name) and then save again. That first save is probably not necessary, but it doesn’t hurt.

Now in the current (as of 24 Dec, anyway) builds, the “create new from current” command no longer exists. We now have right-click accessed context menus, which are fine. All of the libraries in the table are available, so one doesn’t have to select the active library. Instead, the hide/reveal triangles let the user see all parts in a library.  

So from the context menu: There is “duplicate part,” which makes a clone of the selected part in the same library, right below the original, appending _0 (and incrementing) to the name of the part. There are “cut part” and “copy part” options, along with a “paste part” option, which allow the user to move a part from one library to another, or copy it to another library. __None of these commands give the user the option to rename the symbol!__

Also, the paste is rather hidden: one has to left-click to select the target library then right-click on the library name again to bring up a context menu which includes “paste item.” Ideally, the cut, copy and paste of the selected item should show up in the main menu’s Edit menu.

To sum up (feature request!):

a) symbol duplicate/cut/copy/paste commands should be accessed through the main Edit menu, not a context menu. Never create the copy with a default symbol name, always ask the user for a new name.

b) Add a symbol rename command.

In the footprint library editor, if you change the name of the footprint in the Footprint Properties dialog, when you go to :Save the footprint in the library,” you are asked to give the footprint a name.

-a