Bus Alias : Data Extraction

[itsko]

Question

The File --> Schematic Setup --> Bus Alias Definitions menu allows multiline pasting. What is the recommended method to extract bus signals from a schematic to this menu?

Example

If I copy the following bus:

The copied data (provided at the bottom of this post) pastes as follows in the Bus Alias Definition menu:

Is there a means to batch copy the signal names only?

Appendix: Copied Data

(label "l1.r+" (at 316.23 31.75 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid a12b1bb5-65e2-444f-9493-49077b1569ba)
)
(label "l1.g+" (at 316.23 34.29 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 01cc7e33-d25d-4907-a59d-0588fc673d64)
)
(label "l1.b+" (at 316.23 36.83 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 0775b524-a4ed-47fb-ae7f-3f10c3e65046)
)
(label "bot.r-" (at 316.23 121.92 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 64d0cc1d-1c27-4419-b919-121303bb582e)
)
(label "bot.g-" (at 316.23 124.46 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid a7fb3fcc-fe3f-462c-ad41-bb0b6265866f)
)
(label "bot.b-" (at 316.23 127 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid d419edb8-ad0d-4931-9f33-474fa22f446d)
)
(label "bot.r+" (at 316.23 114.3 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 1edea647-f75d-4be9-b82d-8f1d00915177)
)
(label "bot.g+" (at 316.23 116.84 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 6ef5e83c-3fba-45a1-9b7d-eb7efcbfc640)
)
(label "bot.b+" (at 316.23 119.38 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 217adc72-1ea7-4a39-970b-839585be9968)
)
(label "l1.r-" (at 316.23 39.37 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 5bbd5108-50a9-4463-b0b7-2eca1c25af70)
)
(label "l1.g-" (at 316.23 41.91 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid d7ead0c9-0783-4c91-aac9-f35ef9d6bce6)
)
(label "l1.b-" (at 316.23 44.45 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid c707bb8c-1fd8-45e1-bda6-6f2b2eccf864)
)
(label "dot.r-" (at 316.23 138.43 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 61e303d1-1988-42e5-b0d1-b4d242ed8f82)
)
(label "dot.g-" (at 316.23 140.97 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 7914cdc1-22a7-42e5-bf91-5f8915795c3c)
)
(label "dot.b-" (at 316.23 143.51 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 646bb387-5ba0-4abd-8a33-4d621d2d7783)
)
(label "dot.r+" (at 316.23 130.81 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 7b0e6d6e-0a9e-4558-95e7-0f58dc30f068)
)
(label "dot.g+" (at 316.23 133.35 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 43e97da5-4916-4673-9909-a76b15614aee)
)
(label "dot.b+" (at 316.23 135.89 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 661019a7-6326-489b-8edf-c3badad3ce5b)
)
(label "l2.r+" (at 316.23 81.28 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid feeea89f-04e6-4a5e-ba59-3a46e3084d64)
)
(label "l2.g+" (at 316.23 83.82 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 8f8d75bb-9e6d-40dd-bbe5-caa869425f49)
)
(label "l2.b+" (at 316.23 86.36 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 75aa62ee-1666-4f8b-9c0a-0209f170e544)
)
(label "l2.r-" (at 316.23 88.9 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 1ac94e94-b0d9-4a4b-9882-bcdaead5fb02)
)
(label "l2.g-" (at 316.23 91.44 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid cefcdac2-44a6-4b04-878f-3ab39b3b1eaf)
)
(label "l2.b-" (at 316.23 93.98 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 4575ad2f-8e0c-4a64-8422-bf7088cc44af)
)
(label "mid.r-" (at 316.23 72.39 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid a28cf109-3f66-497f-a223-19448242dbbc)
)
(label "mid.g-" (at 316.23 74.93 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 4bcb5622-5da4-4a14-9f81-ad046dbe4499)
)
(label "mid.b-" (at 316.23 77.47 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 2f3e419e-ece5-499f-91ec-5e9d8a89ae01)
)
(label "r2.r-" (at 316.23 105.41 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 3afeda55-dff8-4db6-8277-ffc56dadfd26)
)
(label "r2.g-" (at 316.23 107.95 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 0ae58c51-6b90-4651-87dd-5d06ca3d9132)
)
(label "r2.b-" (at 316.23 110.49 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 51e03990-96f3-4b65-8aab-8369c705b746)
)
(label "r2.r+" (at 316.23 97.79 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid a811ed92-88f4-4453-a196-a2ba03bc0996)
)
(label "r2.g+" (at 316.23 100.33 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 9a1bb651-cac7-4cb3-b8b1-a89d70cd7527)
)
(label "r2.b+" (at 316.23 102.87 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 7f0a19b6-6301-46d1-a40d-288a7e6ea74b)
)
(label "mid.r+" (at 316.23 64.77 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 6650b2a8-f801-4b6a-9526-1251d9a45884)
)
(label "mid.g+" (at 316.23 67.31 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid e300e0e2-bc5f-4b01-b4bb-eeee4484cd86)
)
(label "mid.b+" (at 316.23 69.85 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 9cb50483-c2e4-48c0-a946-22b8edc9336a)
)
(label "top.r-" (at 316.23 22.86 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 0eabc28b-71b3-430d-b7ec-2e4c488add90)
)
(label "top.g-" (at 316.23 25.4 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid d0398127-09f5-454f-bdae-9bb21e60abb6)
)
(label "top.b-" (at 316.23 27.94 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 51aa6704-488e-4ee2-86f4-6e3cb4d840f7)
)
(label "r1.r-" (at 316.23 55.88 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 33caa3f5-573a-43a1-ab63-a5020bfc5fcb)
)
(label "r1.g-" (at 316.23 58.42 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid f9e5ce9b-1eb2-462e-8e5b-0909d3a36090)
)
(label "r1.b-" (at 316.23 60.96 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid e40e9520-f8b6-4809-bf79-57fbc8281fb2)
)
(label "r1.r+" (at 316.23 48.26 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 06fe2488-8cf3-4bc3-b22e-7246e19ef221)
)
(label "r1.g+" (at 316.23 50.8 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 267552dc-0355-49c1-a6e7-f21688a3e8a3)
)
(label "r1.b+" (at 316.23 53.34 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 01103d1a-6443-41cc-a0f5-fbf3192731ea)
)
(label "top.r+" (at 316.23 15.24 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 3b5133ca-30af-48c6-9026-66b68400e123)
)
(label "top.g+" (at 316.23 17.78 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid 56c0b7b3-1dc5-45e1-a7ec-1f9725e79ccf)
)
(label "top.b+" (at 316.23 20.32 180) (fields_autoplaced)
  (effects (font (size 1.27 1.27)) (justify right bottom))
  (uuid a93fdb44-459b-4582-8cd2-0c078f982b31)
)

[hotschir]

It depends on your operating system text filtering capability. In Linux you could command in terminal window:
grep label copied_data.txt | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/"//g'
where copied_data.txt is a text file containing your copied data. This will extract label names into a list, e.g.:

l1.g+
l1.b+
bot.r-
bot.g-
bot.b-
bot.r+
  :

Does KiCad V7 allow multiline pasting in Bus Alias Definitions menu? V6 does not. You can use my tool KiCadEditBusAliases (https://github.com/HoTschir/KiCadEditBusAliases) to easy insert them to the sheet(s). br

[paulvdh]

Recently I was also struggling with this a bit in another thread. And then I realized that it is much better to only use the second part of the names in the alias substitution list.

See the example with the “dB Attenuator” values in the thread below.

[Solved] Refused to relink net between schematic and PCB

It took me (quite some) time to get it correct. My previous example was screaming a lot of ERC errors at me, but I was to ignorant, hasty or forgetful to even check it. When you want to use buses like this, you have to be careful with the bus names, hierarchical labels, and how everything propagates though the hierarchy. The bus type used is a named group bus. In such a bus you have to name both the bus itself, and the bus members. For the bus members I changed the “Attenuator” name into the sh…

I do agree that copying to or from this alias list is a bit cumbersome. I guess it’s a feature that was just implemented once and nobody bothered to improve it afterwards. Normally, it is also used the other way around. You first define the alias list, and then you can use a right click and you get the available signal names in the Break out from Bus in the sub menu.

What does work reasonably well:

1. Click a bunch of times on the + to add empty entries.
2. Paste your text in a text editor.
3. Select your texts one by one, and then one by one paste them into the alias list.

But just typing over the text manually (after creating a bunch of empty items first) also works “adequate” for the few times it has to be done.

I guess that it would be easier if it was just a text edit window, and each line in the text edit box is an alias definition.