ID:	5933
From:	rn...@igor2.repo.hu
Date:	Sat, 28 Jan 2023 10:33:15 +0100 (CET)
Subject:	Re: [pcb-rnd] Wishlist Import Schematics
in-reply-to:	5932 from Evan Foss <ev...@gmail.com>
replies:	5934 from Evan Foss <ev...@gmail.com>
 
 
On Sat, 28 Jan 2023, Evan Foss wrote:
 
>No, I prefer Makefiles because I usually have more than 3 or 4 pages
>but for the small stuff it's a feature I would use.
 
Now I am totally confused about your use case. As far as I understand:
 
- for 1 sheet you may or may not want to use import sch (but there you 
don't need any new feature)
 
- for 2 (maybe 3) sheets you would use import sch, but the single time you 
need to specify the sheet file names (at first import), it's too much 
hassle to get the file selection dialog twice (or three times)
 
- but if you have more than 2 (or 3?) sheets, you always use Makefiles 
(why's the difference at this specific number?)
 
- it's okay to have the sheet file names stored in the board file when you 
have 1, 2 (or maybe 3) sheets, but it's not okay to store the same file 
names in a project file
 
- if there are more than 2 (or maybe 3) sheets, you don't want the board 
file or a project file listing the sheets
 
For me to understand your seemingly very special use case, I think we need 
to take a step back, and look at this whole problem from another angle:
 
1. are you sure you know what I mean by project file? From your input it 
seems like you think it somehow conflicts with using Makefiles.
 
2. are you sure you know how sch import works? For example that it 
does store the sheet file names (or project file name) in the board file 
so you don't need to select the files at each subsequent import?
 
3. there's an immportant part I don't understand about why does number 
of sheets matter. Althought it doesn't really make any difference in the 
workflow, I think I could understand users saying a single-sheet design 
is somehow simpler than a multi-sheet one. But what I really do not 
understand is what happens between 2..3 (or 3..4) sheets that make a major 
difference in your use case.
 
 
As of Makefile vs. import sch, there's a difference as in "happening 
outside of pcb-rnd GUI" vs. "happening inside pcb-rnd GUI". Although 
gsch2pcb-rnd for the past few years already was just a wrapper around 
import sch. You can run it from Makefile or shell script or whatever that 
does the forward annotation for you, but it's easier to just run the 
import directly from the same Makefile/script and omit an unnecessary 
layer of software (we have a pool node on this).
 
So the only thing that makes any actual difference is where you store your 
sheet file names. The current choices are:
 
A. in your head, so any time you run sch-rnd (or gschem or gnetlist) you 
just list all sch files manually, each and every time
 
B. in a Makefile (which then runs gsch2pcb-rnd or import sch directly, but 
as it's off-GUI, after that you are forced to do a few steps manually in 
the pcb-rnd GUI after running make for a forward annotation)
 
C. in the board file, and you use import sch, which makes 
subsequent forward annotation a single-click thing, no need to 
manually load netlists, manually running action scripts, etc
 
D. in a project file, and use the same import sch, same single click 
annotations (in this case import sch will store the project file's name in 
the board file)
 
Note: A, B and C works with gschem & lepton (& xschem I think), generally 
anything that allows running the netlister on multiple sheet files. D 
works with any software that supports (at least its own) project file, 
which is sch-rnd at the moment.
 
 
So knowing all these details, please clarify your use case. Especially the 
case where you do want to use import sch but do not want to have the sch 
file names stored in a project file but do want to get them stored in the 
board file (that's the only situation when your original feature request 
makes a difference in the UI).
 
 
Best regards,
 
Igor2
Mailing list archives : pcb-rnd

Navigation
