kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Orson,

Thanks for the response.  I agree with your concern about hidden pins
but they are hidden in the schematic editor so I'm not sure it makes
sense to show them.  It may be confusing to users when they see the
hidden pins in the symbol chooser and then they mysteriously disappear
when they place them in the schematic editor.  Developers know what the
invisible pins denote but is this clear to most users?  I comfortable
either way, I'm just trying to get a handle on this from a typical
user's point of view.  Anyone else have a strong opinion on this?

Cheers,

Wayne

On 2/7/2018 8:29 AM, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
> Hi Wayne,
> 
> No, I have not reviewed the patch. I had some doubts about potential
> problems caused by invisible pins creating hidden connections. If user
> is neither aware of their presence when selecting a symbol, nor will
> notice them after they are placed on a schematic sheet then he may end
> up accidentally connecting them to some wires. IIRC we do not have an
> ERC test to check against such case, so I was not sure if it is a safe
> change.
> 
> Cheers,
> Orson
> 
> On 02/07/2018 02:21 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>> Orson,
>>
>> Did you ever respond to Jon about this?  I guess the question is whether
>> or not to show invisible pins in the component chooser.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Wayne
>>
>> On 1/15/2018 9:31 PM, Jon Evans wrote:
>>> Hi Orson, patch is attached again, hopefully it goes through this time.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Jon
>>>
>>> On Mon, Jan 15, 2018 at 4:24 AM, Rene Pöschl <poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx
>>> <mailto:poeschlr@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
>>>
>>>     On 15/01/18 10:00, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
>>>
>>>         Perhaps we should have an ERC rule
>>>         that warns about invisible pins being connected to a wire, any
>>>         thoughts?
>>>
>>>
>>>     Invisible pins are used for three distinct applications.
>>>
>>>     The first one is to remove clutter by hiding pins that should not be
>>>     connected. ERC will complain if you connect such pins if they have the
>>>     electrical type "Not connected".
>>>
>>>     The second application is to create "power labels". A invisible power
>>>     input pin is handled as a global label. These pins are meant to be
>>>     connected.
>>>
>>>     The third application is again to remove clutter by stacking pins. Here
>>>     you have one visible pin and several other invisible pins at the same
>>>     location. (Normally all these pins have the same name and electrical
>>>     type. With the exception of power input pins, power output pins and
>>>     output pins.)
>>>     Such pins are again meant to be connected.
>>>
>>>     This means a ERC rule that complains about connecting hidden pins will
>>>     create too many false positives. Having a lot of false positives means
>>>     users will start to ignore ERC output.
>>>
>>>     It might be a good idea to have a symbol checker that complains if
>>>     invisible pins are used differently than i described above.
>>>     In other words: complain for invisible pins if they are not part of a
>>>     stack or of types NC or power input.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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