kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Jon Evans <jon@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Martin,

On Thu, Aug 27, 2020 at 3:55 PM Martin Marmsoler <martin.marmsoler@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

>
> On 8/27/20 9:41 PM, Jon Evans wrote:
> > This is basically what I'm thinking, except I was planning to
> > integrate it into the symbol chooser as well (so no need to open cvpcb
> > if you don't desire)
>
> How does your workflow looks like? I mean when I create for example a
> buck converter I place all the symbols, the choosen integrated circuit
> ... , but I just use a symbol for the diode or the inductor and set some
> values. At the end I'm searching parts which fit the requirements and
> then I can choose the footprint. I think for parts like diodes inductors
> and so you don't choose the exact part at design beginning.
>

I have "placeholder parts" in the database, like "0402 resistor"
These I use when I am not sure the value yet, but I am sure that it won't
be high-power enough to need a bigger package.
I can go back and replace these later with a specific part.

You can also choose to place symbols from a regular KiCad symbol library.
So you could just choose an inductor symbol, which would have no footprint
association.
Later when you know what inductor you need, you can replace that with a
specific inductor from the database, which will bring in a footprint
association with it.


>
>
> On 8/27/20 9:36 PM, Brian wrote:
> > I have a private branch that stores symbols and footprints in a MySQL
> > database
>
> Using a Database is complicated for community work. On textbased stuff
> everybody can contribute. So an interface is needed so that the
> community can help to build up the database. I think it is a lot of work
> to create a database which is usable.
>

I won't speak for Brian, but the primary focus of my work on database
libraries is enabling KiCad to work better in a team setting.
This could be a team working on an open-source project, or a team at a
company working on commercial products.

I think that a database library could also have a place in a community
setting, if the database is well-curated.
This would likely mean some kind of web interface for browsing parts, etc.
It would be possible, but is beyond the scope of what I'm planning to work
on at this point.

While it would be possible to provide "official KiCad database libraries"
that map official KiCad symbols and footprints to manufacturer parts, I'm
not sure whether or not the library team wants to go in that direction, and
it's not what I'm proposing.  I initially just want to enable teams to make
their own private (or at least not community-wide) libraries of parts

-Jon