kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[John Beard <john.j.beard@xxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Nick,

It's a related concept, certainly. The drawing helper stuff acts as a
"buffer" between the Pcbnew API and the plugin writer, but this isn't
really a design aim, it's just a side effect. It certainly does not totally
insulate the writer from the Pcbnew API as it's a very limited subset of
functionality. Thus the user is still vulnerable to Pcbnew internal API
changes (and as Python is not a compiled language, they won't find out
until it all explodes at runtime!). It's better than calling on the Pcbnew
API directly (as there's only one place of breakage), but it's not a
panacea, and was never really designed to be.

However, these helpers also add some stuff that isn't just an API
translation layer, it adds stuff like a transform stack and helpers for
shapes like boxes and so on that would otherwise be repetitive in plugin
code. All this can (and should) be transplanted onto a new "stable" Python
interface in future.

Cheers,

John

On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 2:47 PM, Nick Østergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I am not sure if this will slightly derail this patch's topic. Sorry if
> that is the case and tell me to back off.
>
> There have been multiple attempts on getting the python API in better
> shape. Originally it was Ajo and some others with
> https://github.com/kicad/kicad-python
>
> But the most recent work is on
> https://github.com/pointhi/kicad-python
>
> Which is different from the initial work. I don't really know the state of
> that work.
>
> I would like to see a supported API, but I guess this could be blocked
> slightly because of the wxpython phoenix story.
>
>
>
> 2018-06-12 15:34 GMT+02:00 John Beard <john.j.beard@xxxxxxxxx>:
>
>> Hi Nick and Wayne,
>>
>> The patches as they are don't hook into the existing Python API doxygen
>> stuff as it's not exactly the same as the Python API, it's a helper layer
>> on top of that, and I was't sure if that would be OK.
>>
>> I will take a look at adding it to the existing Python doc generation if
>> that's an acceptable way to present it.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> John
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 12, 2018 at 2:11 PM, Nick Østergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> We already have doxygen generation for the python API, although people
>>> say that it is easier to read the C++ one. It is generated with
>>> the doxygen-python make target. See http://docs.kicad-pcb.org/
>>> doxygen-python/
>>>
>>> Does the additions in 0002 add to the normal python docs?
>>>
>>> 2018-06-12 15:07 GMT+02:00 Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>:
>>>
>>>> Hey John,
>>>>
>>>> I like the idea of using doxygen to document the python plugins.  The
>>>> current Doxyfile does not include .py files so that would need to
>>>> change.  Before we do that, I would like to see a new section (maybe
>>>> "Python Plugins") added to the documentation to separate the python
>>>> plugin code from the c++ source documentation.  I can commit your patch
>>>> as is and you can make the doxygen changes in a later patch or I can
>>>> wait for you to create a new patch with all of the changes.  I'm fine
>>>> either way.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Wayne
>>>>
>>>> On 6/4/2018 7:33 AM, John Beard wrote:
>>>> > Hi,
>>>> >
>>>> > Here is a simple patch sequence for the Python Footprint Wizard
>>>> helpers:
>>>> >
>>>> > 1) Minor spelling and formatting tidy-up
>>>> > 2) Add docstrings for the wizard base. As this is intended to be used
>>>> > by writers of new plugins, having the functions documented is probably
>>>> > a Good Idea (TM)
>>>> > 3) Add rounded rectangle and chamfered rectangle helpers. Useful for
>>>> > some footprints or even board outlines.
>>>> >
>>>> > I used Doxygen-style docstrings, but I haven't actually done anything
>>>> > about building actual output docs with it. Any thoughts of if that
>>>> > should be done, and if so, where to put it?
>>>> >
>>>> > There shouldn't be anything here that will break existing plugins, the
>>>> > only API changes are additions.
>>>> >
>>>> > Cheers,
>>>> >
>>>> > John
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> >
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>