kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Rene Pöschl <poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 23/01/18 16:55, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
> On 01/23/2018 04:35 PM, jp charras wrote:
> > Le 23/01/2018 à 12:18, Maciej Sumiński a écrit :
> > > I am trying to find a better description for pin edition coupling in the
> > > symbol library editor (the rightmost button on the top toolbar). My
> > > proposal is in the attached patch, but perhaps one of our native English
> > > speakers can come up with a clearer description.
> > >
> > > Cheers,
> > > Orson
> > Yes, this is a good proposal.
> >
> > Unfortunately, it is not yet perfect.
> >
> > For historical reasons, the tool that controls the multiunit pin edit mode enables this mode when it
> > is disabled (not activated), and disable the multiunit pin edit mode when it is activated.
> > (because a long time ago, multiunit parts with interchangeable units were 99% of symbols, and
> > disabling this multiunit pin edit mode (activating the tool) was useful for only 1% of symbols )
> >
> > For instance, the sentence is not clear:
> > "Normally enabled for multiunit parts with interchangeable units."
> > If "Normally enabled" is related to the pin edit mode, this is true, but the tool is not in
> > activated state
> > If "Normally enabled" is related to the tool, the sentence is wrong.
> >
> > Therefore it is really not easy to give a short and understandable explanation in a tooltip.
> > (unless changing the tool action)
> Good point Jean-Pierre. I think the way forward is to rename the button
> from "Disable synchronized pin edit mode" to "Synchronized pin edit
> mode", so the button enabled will represent the active state. Removing
> negations will make the description very clear. We can still keep it
> enabled by default for multi-unit parts with interchangeable units.
>
> Regards,
> Orson

I am not so sure the default state should be enabled. If i understand it 
correctly the enabled state would result in pins being modified without 
the user directly noticing it. (If they are on the same position but in 
a different unit, they are modified.)

At least in the official lib we have very few symbols remaining that 
could benefit from this feature. (Most have non interchangeable units. 
Even logic symbols are build this way now to remove the hidden power pins.)