Re: gEDA-user: Adding attributes to gschem symbols

[John Doty <jpd@xxxxxxxxx>]

On May 11, 2009, at 11:16 AM, Andy Fierman wrote:

>
>    Hmmmm .... I now see more what John D was warning me about. I  
> hadn't
>    realised that once a component is placed in a schematic although  
> the
>    graphical stuff is loaded from the library at gschem startup, the
>    texty bits such as footprint aren't.

If the attribute is promoted, or attached to the component at  
schematic level, the text of the attribute will be present in the  
schematic file. It'll be there even if the symbol file is missing.  
Editing it in the symbol file will not change it.

>    For instance if I place my mosfet with the footprint attribute  
> in the
>    symbol visible then save the schematic, close gschem and then  
> edit the
>    symbol on it's own to move the circle round the mosfet say off  
> to the
>    right and edit the footprint from SO8 to DIL8, save the changes,  
> start
>    gschem again using alt-F2 gschem

Hmm. That's tricky. If you start gschem that way, it won't  
immediately read the project gafrc file, because it doesn't even know  
where the project is. A quick experiment shows that it does not pick  
up the (always-promote-attributes) setting from gafrc in that case,  
even though the log shows it reading gafrc when I open a file in an  
existing project. Ugh.

I normally launch gschem from a terminal whose working directory is  
the project directory containing gafrc and the schematics.

This is one of those rough edges where a project manager could really  
help.

> (rather than from the schematic in a
>    project folder) and then reopen the schematic: the circle round the
>    mosfet has moved to the new position but footprint info has not
>    changed, it still says SO8.

Yep. That's because it was promoted, so it's in the schematic file,  
overriding the value in the symbol file.

>    That happens whether I add the "(promote-invisible "enabled")"  
> line to
>    my gafrc file or not.

The needed line is something like:

(always-promote-attributes "refdes")

The important thing here is that it *not* contain "footprint" (but  
contain any thing you want promoted).

Note that once you've fixed your gafrc,

>    * Is there a way to force gschem to reload all the parts (lines and
>    attributes) of every symbol from whatever library you put that  
> symbol
>    into and then pointed gschem to, every time you run it?
>    I'm assuming there is and that I haven't found the right search  
> terms
>    for it yet :)
>    What I'm trying to do is make sure that the library part has all  
> the
>    right info before it's placed in a schematic (though I have a  
> feeling
>    this could tip over into the heavy vs. light symbol discussion  
> if I'm
>    not careful!)

You're already deep in those waters...

John Doty              Noqsi Aerospace, Ltd.
http://www.noqsi.com/
jpd@xxxxxxxxx




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