kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Russell Oliver <roliver8143@xxxxxxxxx>]

I think then that both approaches will rely on an improved object
properties system.
Is there any roadmap on how this will work? I had a thought that it would
be great if everything was kept in a key/value database but that would be
pretty slow.

Russell



On Fri, Mar 9, 2018 at 8:59 AM Jon Evans <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I think option A is a good feature to add across schematic and layout. A
> macro substitution system for text is very handy especially as we introduce
> a better object properties system.
>
> For example, it would be nice if we could assign arbitrary properties to
> the project as a whole, as well as each schematic  sheet. Then, you can
> refer to these properties in text fields. Useful for schematic templates
> and other things like that.
>
> B is also good.  In Altium you can show/hide any properties of an object,
> which seamlessly creates a "linked" text object as you describe when you
> choose "show".  This is a really nice system.
>
> -Jon
>
>
> On Thu, Mar 8, 2018, 16:39 Russell Oliver <roliver8143@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>> As a follow up to the road map discussion I saw a forum post asking if it
>> was possible to display the net name of a pad on the silkscreen or other
>> layers much like the value or reference fields.
>>
>> While a simple implementation would be to create a text item directly
>> linked to each pad that could be enabled, and shows the link to the
>> relevant pad,  I think a more generic approach would be great to have.
>>
>> I propose that either or both of these options for version 7.
>>
>> a) standalone text items are processed as a template.  A domain specific
>> language would be designed to allow for references to items as direct text
>> substitutions. The implementation, scope and style of this DSL will need to
>> be workshopped and would like your comments on.
>>
>> b) linked text (annotations) showing a graphical link (like the blue line
>> of values and reference ) A text item is created as a link to another item,
>> for which the text is derived from a list of properties of that item. This
>> would include such things as values, references, custom symbol and
>> footprint fields, sizes, positions, net names, net codes.
>>
>> I'm almost certain this would require the updated Schematic object in
>> eeschema, but might already be achievable in pcbnew given its current
>> architecture, but that's more of a guess than anything.
>>
>> Any thoughts, guidance or critiques would be appreciated.
>>
>> Kind Regards
>> Russell
>>
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>