Wayne
I don't think a new file format is necessary. I can transfer a change
list from PCBNew to eeSchema via Kimail. This would simply be a string
or something and never surface (though, for an audit trail it might be
useful to have the changes written out as a log file, at least
optionally). Once this change list has been checked by eeSchema (in
case the schematic is not synched to the PCB), the changes would be
implemented in PCBNew and eeSchema. Then the equivalent of Update PCB
back to the PCB.
So, to summarize:
1) Generate a change list in PCBNew;
2) Using Kimail send the change list to eeSchema for quality control
(in case the schematic is out of synch with the board;
3) Once the change list has been checked, update the reference
designations on the PCB;
4) Using Kimail, direct eeSchema to update the reference designations
as per the change list;
5) After updating the schematic, eeSchema invokes an "UpdatePCB" which
a) generates a new netlist;
b) transfers that netlist to PCBNew via Kimail;
c) opens a menu to import the netlist to PCBNew.
Note that the netlist changes still flow from eeSchema to PCBNew,
however, since the reference designations on both the schematic and
the PCB have been changed in exactly the same manner, the connectivity
is not changed.
I have done this manually using edit commands in PCBNew and eeSchema
and it seems to work fine.
To reiterate, I am pretty virtually certain this can be done without
requiring a new file format and will ensure the schematic and PCB
remain in sync with the netlist.
Of course, I may be misunderstanding your point or not be well enough
versed in how things work.
Nevertheless, if I work on the code and hit a brick wall I can either
look for a solution or abandon the effort in shame.
Regards
Brian
-----Original Message-----
From: Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: January 7, 2019 12:30 PM
To: Brian Piccioni <brian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>;
kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [KiCad-developers] Hoping to contribute but I have some
questions
On 1/7/2019 9:49 AM, Brian Piccioni wrote:
Wayne
I looked at the source over the weekend within the context of your
comment. In eeSchema there is a command to "Update PCB" with a
modified netlist. This command is passed from eeSchema to PCBNew by
Kimail. At this stage my rough program design has evolved to a sort of
state machine where there are several interactions between PCBNew and
eeSchema via Kimail (i.e. passing the change list, checking it for
errors, committing the change list if no errors, etc).
This is the issue that I was talking about. Currently netlist changes
are unidirectional from the schematic editor to the board editor. In
order to push annotation changes from the board editor to the
schematic editor, you (or someone else) will have to implement this in
order to back annotate the revised references from the board editor to
the schematic editor. The other option is to save an intermediate
netlist file from the board editor (which I also believe doesn't exist
yet) and import the changes into the schematic editor. These would be
the only two solutions that I would accept but my preference is the
former. I want to avoid yet another intermediate file format.
Since I propose to do a "dry run" of the component changes in eeSchema
to check for errors it seems to me that executing "Update PCB"
immediately after re-annotating the PCB and schematic would ensure
coherency with the netlist.
As this is pretty much was a PCB designer would do if he re-annotated
manually it should work under program control as well.
Would this address your concern or is there something else I am
missing?
Regards
Brian
-----Original Message-----
From: Kicad-developers
<kicad-developers-bounces+brian=documenteddesigns.com@lists.launchpad.
net> On Behalf Of Wayne Stambaugh
Sent: January 5, 2019 8:07 AM
To: kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [Kicad-developers] Hoping to contribute but I have some
questions
On 1/4/19 6:18 PM, Tomasz Wlostowski wrote:
On 04/01/2019 18:51, Brian Piccioni wrote:
I am still keen to attempt to incorporate geographical component
annotation into KiCad. In general, it is preferable for component
annotation to be done relative to the PCB and in some logical order
(left/right, top to bottom, etc). Thereafter this information is
imported to the schematic. I wrote a standalone utility
(RenumKicadPCB) which does this but ideally, we’d want the function
built into Kicad.
I understand this would be viewed as a “rogue effort” but lack of
geographical component annotation is a major missing feature and my
hope is that if my code works the developers might consider adding
it or something like it into the project. Otherwise I’ll just
maintain my own variant of the two affected applications for limited
use.
I am not used to working in c++ or working on large projects.
Nevertheless, I figured I’d give it a try. I have been studying the
source for a few weeks and have developed a strategy which would be
very simple to implement if I had more skill/experience.
The first thing I want to do is to add the ability for eeSchema to
import a “was/is” file to update schematic annotation. Since
renumbering the PCB can be done manually or with a plugin this seems
like a good first step. Since an annotation function already exists
in eeSchema, all I would have to do it provide an option for
replacing annotation with a was/is rather than the annotation
generated by eeSchema’s annotate function.
I see a clear path to doing so however, the scope of Kicad and my
limited experience with c++ and large projects mean it is not going
to be easy for me. I am not that adept at navigating Doxygen files
so I have a few questions regarding the source code (these are
limited to eeSchema at the moment).
1) Where are the file IO functions? I have searched for (for
example) LoadProjectFIle and find the prototype but not the actual
function. Similarly I find the prototype for SaveEEFile() but not
the actual function.
2) I would like to copy as much of the existing code and dialogs as
possible (i.e. make new dialog based off another dialog) but when I
open, for example, dialog_annotate_base.h I see
///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
// C++ code generated with wxFormBuilder (version Jun 5 2018)
// http://www.wxformbuilder.org/
//
// PLEASE DO *NOT* EDIT THIS FILE!
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
/
//////
But I can’t find the “source” from which this file is generated.
Where is it?
3) There is a guide on the Kicad documentation “Tool framework”
which describes adding a tool to PCBNew. Is there a similar guide to
adding a tool/function to eeSchema? How do I go about this?
Hi Brian,
Others have already answered to your questions so here's my offer: I
believe geographical annotation is a very useful feature so I can
offer a bit of my help. Point me to:
- the latest sources of your tool,
- a sketch of the user interface (dialogs), can be a hand-made
drawing
- a brief description of how you want all this to work (in terms of
user experience).
Once I have this information, I'll try making a basic port of your
code to Kicad codebase to the stage where you could take it over and
contribute further features/fixes on your own.
Tom
There is a lower level piece of the puzzle that is missing and that is
back annotation from the board editor to the schematic editor. This
is non-trivial because you have create a netlist from the board
information and pass it back to the schematic editor. This would be
the only solution that I would accept. I want to avoid multiple
ad-hoc solutions for back annotation purposes.
Cheers,
Wayne
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