I am writing, with some problem, a xlt file tto produce a BOM ready for production so I started looking and modifying existing files. Grouping components can’t be done simply for value and package but we should take care of other fields as: tolerance and at least, voltage/current/power ratings. So that file is very wrong.
What I am not able to do is modify the file to accept more fields to check to group components. What I would need is the list of the field names known by Kicad for the component fields and some documentation about how modify the xlt fields (apart their syntax) because the modifications are quite simple but nt working.
Both are more powerful bom scripts that can do a lot more than the ones that come with kicad by default.
There are others out there but these two are the ones i know of.
Opening the field properties in the symbol library editor I see: Reference, Value, Footprint, Datasheet. In the xlt files I found different labels for them (at least all lower case characters). This is the reason of the question.
Generally speaking, the symbols in the symbol library have too less fields from BOM point of view. At least “part number” should be introduced to do not work too much at schematic level.
At the moment drawing the schematic means that I have to add some fields to single components or add some fields at schematic level (using Preference/General Opttions/Field Name Templates). After that I can see and group all the components using Edit Symbol Fields button. And it works nicely. But there is not anything else working in the same way for the BOM (I would suggest to add a button “BOM” to the edit symbol fields form just to produce the BOM). So, actually the problem is to understand what I am not doing properly to produce a BOM for “production” modifying one of the xlt files.
I hope the error is on my side of course.
You can always add your personal fields if you need more information. The maintainers of the official library just can not maintain any more information than what is already in there. (Also the part number field would be a bit redundant as the symbol name and therefore the default value are already used for that.)
Thanks, I will do. My original idea was ttto produce a BOM using the Kicad default way just opttimizing a xlt file because I supposed my need to be simple. Well… I am convinced it is a simple need because what does the form opened clicking Edit Symbol Fields button in eeschema does inside itself exactly what I want to do for the BOM. The only thing I can say is that adding column reordering would make perfect the edit symbl fields form.
The scripts i posted use the default kicad way. They interface with the same dialog. (Both simply use more powerful scripting languages as their backend which allows them to do a lot more.)
Mmmm… no symbol name and part number are not redundant. Part number is a company internal name to identify one single component (or 2 equivalent components that may be exchanged). As an example: the SN7400 made by TI and the 7400 made by XYZ are equivalent and they have TTL7400 company partt number and rispectively SN7400 and 7400 as manufacturer part number (MPN) in my production data base. In that database there are more fields: power/voltage/current ratings, tolerance and so on. Grouping correctly components in BOMs is important, for production I can not group together capacitors with different package or different tolerance or voltage because they are different components with different price also. So, how group components is very important. Better to add a lot of fields by hands at schematic level or add a part number at library level? In my opinion a tool to add user fields at library level should be good but how manage library updates (also considering the git repository) and Kicad releases is a different story. It would require a smart library manager.
If you want more fields on the library level then you need to create your own libs. I can only state what the decision is regarding official libs.
And yes we do not intent to make one symbol for every possible implementation of any of the logic parts. They will stay as generic symbols representing a whole family of parts. (We simply do not have the manpower to maintain this in more detail. And to be fair it will be quite hard to find a volunteer for such a boring task.)
I did not suggest to make one symbol for every possible implementation, it should be a crazy idea. It was an example about the utility of the part number. The point, in my opinion, is that Kicad is very near to a “production grade” EDA as may be Altium, Cadstar and Cadence apart the BOM and parts (schematic and PCB symbols) managementt; so putting some effort in that area may be a good idea. What should be the effort to produce a BOM starting by the form of Edit Fields button in Eeschema? In my opinion, adding also the possibility to reorder the columns and printing something more as the data of the project (in a similar way as in the xlt file) it should be good.
I use this feature as i have a user field for a house part number that i use as the index in my personal part database. The default setting is that it groups parts that have the same value in all fields except reference. I think it can be setup differently but i personally am happy with that default setting.
OK, I installed it but it does not work. Following the instructions I installed it on my Win7 PC and the result is a popup window (kicad error) with this message:
apart the “/” instead of “” in the2nd row I do not see anything strange in my command row or in any other place. I do not input any “/”, only “” and I did not input the 2nd row (I suppose it is made by the plugin somewhere).