> On Nov 22, 2019, at 2:30 PM, Dino Ghilardi <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Just my two cents on this.
> 
> Considering that the actual "manual work-around" to do the "back annotation" 
> now can be:
> 
> -Open pcbnew and eeschema at the same time
> -Select the component you want to rename on pcbnew
> -the right symbol gets highlighted (but not selected) automatically in 
> eeschema
> -select the highlighted component in eeschema, press "U" shortcut (edit 
> reference)
> -change the reference in the dialog
> -press F8 to update the pcb
> 
> A possible approach is to use this sequence of operations (...future python 
> script?).
> 
> Since the mechanism to find the correct symbol on eeschema seems yet 
> implemented, probably the only missing parts would be to implement is
> 
> Enable from pcbnew the command "select the highlighted component and/or open 
> the "edit reference" dialog.
> 
> Drawbacks:
> -Requires eeschema and pcbnew open at the same time (may be this is not a  a 
> problem since we also have DRC that opens eeschema when run).
> -Requires to check that schematic and layout are synchronized before starting 
> the back-annotation (probably needed also for all the other implementations).
> -For bigger schematics the full-update via F8 can become slow, so as a future 
> improvement, after a first working implementation could be a way to update 
> only the modified field.

I have done manual back-annotation because automated back-annotation (what 
Brian Piccioni is doing) didn’t exist.

I’m in the habit of doing “geographical re-annotation” after a layout has 
completed. This is where the layout is scanned and, say, the resistor most near 
the upper left is numbered R1, the resistor to its right is then R2, and so on. 
This is purely an aid for the human assembler and the human debugging the 
design. It’s not really interesting for automated assembly.

You can do this manually, on a small design, using the approach you suggest, 
but for anything complex (my last board was 165 mm x 125 mm with about 150 
capacitors, a hundred resistors, and a bunch of ICs) it’s impossible.

So it really needs to be automated. The options, as I see them, are few and 
simple: origin, direction (increasing in X or increasing in Y) and an option to 
not re-annotate a part (maybe don’t change the reference designators for 
connectors). The logic of the sorting is straightforward, but it’s a task best 
left to the machines.

-a
_______________________________________________
Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
Post to     : [email protected]
Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp

Reply via email to