Re: gEDA-user: Functional blocks and PCB format changes

[Andrew Poelstra <asp11@xxxxxx>]

On Fri, Sep 03, 2010 at 04:44:14PM -0700, Andrew Poelstra wrote:
> 
>    However, this also brings the ability to edit PCB components individually,
>    which means that some parts could have different layers than others, for
>    example. And then you have to deal with layer mappings and stuff and it's
>    a huge complicated mess, both for the user and in the code.
>

For layer mappings, things don't necessarily have to be difficult. Especially
if we had a good file format, people could write their own scripts if they
want to do crazy things.

In the meantime, we could:


1. Refuse to export-as-footprints any PCB with more than one copper layer.
   This will likely eliminate the most common problems.

2. As for PCB components that are themselves PCBs (ie, recursive PCBs), we
   could present the user with a mapping dialog when he tries to import a
   sub-PCB.


The dialog would look something like (when importing a 6-layer sub-PCB
into a 5-layer PCB):


  Imported PCB               Current PCB
    Silk           -->         Silk
    Top            -->         Top
    Layer One      -->         Layer One
    Layer Two      -->         Layer Two
    Layer Three    -->         Bottom
    Bottom         -->         *New Layer...*


The left-hand column is read-only. The right-hand column consists of
drop-down boxes listing all the existing layers. Selecting *New Layer...*
would pop up the New Layer dialog.

We could even store this mapping information in the .pcb file and allow
the user to change it after-the-fact.


Andrew



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