sch-rnd modularization

Why bother...

I believe good software should be modular. This is especially important in the context of large software, such as CAD applications. There should be a thin core that can model the world and provide the basic operations defined on it but anything else should go in separate modules.

Sch-rnd is built up from scratch with modularity in mind.

I believe such modularization has benefits on multiple levels:

it is possible to compile smaller, potentially faster executables by omitting features the specific user would never use anyway
in a distribution dynamic-link plugins can be distributed as separate packages providing the user with the option to decide what features to install
such plugins have to have some sort of APIs if they want to reference each other or if the code needs to reference them; such an API may not (and often did not) exist when the code is part of the core

Code size in charts

Overall distribution

All numbers are in SLOC and are acquired running sloccount on the given directory. While lines of code alone is not a true measure of complexity, it's a good estimation. The slices of pie charts are the major components of the sch-rnd executable.

Main components

The main components are:

libcschem: library that is operating the data model and the modular compiler
sch-rnd app: application code: main() and the central infrastructure
3rd minilibs: 3rd-party minilibs shipped with sch-rnd; these minilibs are specialized in narrow tasks
plugins: optional modules implementing the actual functionality (each can be disabled)

Zooming on to the plugins

total size per class

IO plugins

feature plugins

export plugins

GUI plugins

engine plugins

(Red means the plugin doesn't really work).

Progress in numbers

Below is a table with the summary of core plugins.

module	size [sloc]	status	configure default	class	description
act_draw	278	works	buildin	feature	Actions for drawing objects on a graphical sheet or symbol
act_read	333	works	buildin	feature	Data access related API as actions
backann	1128	works	buildin	feature	interactive back annotation
construct	465	works	buildin	feature	construct complex objects from atoms, break up groups
diag	71	works	buildin	feature	Actions for sch-rnd core diagnostics, intended for developers. These are not in core because end users normally don't need these. As a plugin, due to dynamic loading, it can be dropped on an existing sch-rnd installation with minimal risk of scaring away a reproducible bug.
export_abst	194	works	buildin	export	export project's abstract model to text
export_bom	254	works	buildin	export	export a BoM based on the components of the abstract model, using configurable templates
export_lpr	14	works	buildin	export	Export to lpr (using export_ps to generate postscript)
export_png	267	works	buildin	export	png, jpeg and gif render
export_ps	576	works	buildin	export	PostScript, Encapsulated PostScript exporter
export_spice	474	works	buildin	export	SPICE netlist exporter for circuit simulation
export_svg	219	works	buildin	export	Scalable Vector Graphics exporter
export_tedax	259	works	buildin	export	export netlist as a tEDAx netlist block
gui	1415	works	buildin	gui	sch-rnd-specific GUI elements
io_altium	2444	works	buildin	io	Load schematics from altium schdoc
io_geda	1236	works	buildin	io	Load schematics and symbols from gEDA format.
io_lihata	1576	works	buildin	io	Load and save the schematics and symbols in the native lihata format.
io_ngrp_fawk	259	works	buildin	io	non-graphical schematic sheets in form of fawk scripts.
io_ngrp_tedax	393	works	buildin	io	Load non-graphical schematic sheets in tEDAx format.
io_tinycad	1511	works	buildin	io	Load schematics from TinyCAD .dsn xml format.
lib_alien	623	works	buildin	io	Format-independent helper functions for reading alien files
lib_netlist_exp	62	works	buildin	export	Helper functions for exporting netlists
lib_ngrp	241	works	buildin	io	Helper functions for handling non-graphical sheets
lib_plot	639	works	disable-all	gui	subdialog for plotting and navigating graphs
lib_target	133	works	buildin	export	Helper functions for implementing target plugins
place	137	works	buildin	feature	place complex objects such as terminals from template
propedit	2203	works	buildin	feature	List and edit properties of a group of objects.
query	4245	works	buildin	feature	sch-rnd query language: execute expressions on objects and rules for the programmed drc.
renumber	333	works	buildin	feature	Systematically change the name of selected symbols
sch_dialogs	6545	works	buildin	gui	Standard schematics editor dialog boxes
sim	1695	works	buildin	feature	abstract differences of circuit simiulation implementations, provide an unified interface (infrastructure, CLI and actions)
sim_gui	2138	works	buildin	feature	GUI for the the a unified high level simulation interface
sim_ngspice	438	works	buildin	feature	ngspice specific execution glue (for the GUI)
std_cschem	342	works	buildin	engine	Handles: component connect
std_devmap	1007	works	buildin	engine	Handles slotting, device mapping and port mapping
std_forge	2088	works	buildin	engine	Handles: attribute forging
std_tools	1461	works	buildin	feature	Tools for drawing standard cschem concrete primitives
symlib_fs	119	works	buildin	symlib	access symbol libraries stored on the local file system
symlib_local	696	works	buildin	symlib	access symbol library stored within the sheet
target_none	46	works	buildin	engine	Display original names
target_pcb	176	works	buildin	engine	Attribute transformations for the PCB workflow
target_spice	1096	works	buildin	engine	Attribute transformations for the SPICE workflow

Classes

Each plugin implements a class (rarely a set of classes). Classes are:

name description
feature random features directly accessible for the user, usually actions
lib support code library for other plugins (core doesn't depend on these); functionality not directly accessible for the user but other plugins may depend on it
import load alien formats into the design space
export save (parts of) the design space in alien formats
io native file format (save & load) implementation

name	description
feature	random features directly accessible for the user, usually actions
lib	support code library for other plugins (core doesn't depend on these); functionality not directly accessible for the user but other plugins may depend on it
import	load alien formats into the design space
export	save (parts of) the design space in alien formats
io	native file format (save & load) implementation

Status

Common status column values mean:

name description
works production quality code - configures, compiles, tested
WIP work in progress: the plugin may be avaialble for testing but is not yet production quality
abandoned unmaintained plugin; may be in working condition but there is no developer supporting it
deprecated legacy plugin scheduled for removal; may still work but will soon be removed; if your workflow depends on it, please report ASAP

name	description
works	production quality code - configures, compiles, tested
WIP	work in progress: the plugin may be avaialble for testing but is not yet production quality
abandoned	unmaintained plugin; may be in working condition but there is no developer supporting it
deprecated	legacy plugin scheduled for removal; may still work but will soon be removed; if your workflow depends on it, please report ASAP

Plugin dependency map

sch-rnd plugin dependency graph