Changes to Eeschema and its file format ? Any info/dates?

Schematic
1

Continuing the discussion from Mar 8 Connect pcb with schematic:

Here @jwpartain1 makes a somewhat cryptic comment
“Kicad’s project leader and some others are working on changes to Eeschema and its file format for the next release.”

Is there more information/links to what changes are in the pipeline for Eeschema, and what file format changes are planned ?

I see many Component Distributors are now moving into CAD, with some interesting moves around Libraries.
RS have ECAD Part Wizard which can browse by part code, and extract and export SCH and PCB symbols.

Presently, their ASCII format export choice is PADS ASCII, which should not be too difficult to translate to KiCad ?
This would open up a pretty broad WEB resource, to kiCad users, and save a lot of library time.

2 Likes
2

Kicad’s roadmap for release 5 can be found here: http://ci.kicad.org/job/kicad-doxygen/ws/Documentation/doxygen/html/v5_road_map.html.

CERN’s roadmap (partially complete, more of a rolling map) for the two fellows working on Kicad there can be found here: http://www.ohwr.org/projects/cern-kicad/wiki/WorkPackages.

1 Like
3

Unfortunately, the way vendors are going is to associate with a partner with a proprietary format or software. Farnell/Element 14 provide Eagle libs, because they own Eagle. Texas Instruments have a deal to provide data from Accelerated Designs who sell Ultra Librarian. PADS is owned by Mentor Graphics.

So it looks like there will be a patchwork of different proprietary data offered, which is a shame. Clearly, the primary goal of KiCad is to create an Open Source format that meets the requirements of KiCad, being able to import other formats is a bonus.

1 Like
4

PADS may be owned by Mentor, but the RS tool targets more than one vendor (DesignSpark, Pads, Pulsonic, Altium, CadStar + anything that can import PADS ASCII). Microchip have a tool that can export many formats.
That PADS ASCII format is openly documented.

Not really, see above.

To me, a requirement of any decent CAD tool is to be able to use openly available libraries, it is more fundamental than just a ‘bonus’.
Like DXF import, that really should be in all CAD tools.

5

The best you can do in such a case is a converter…

1 Like
6

Unfortunately the commercial CAD industry competes on library sizes and are focused on NOT sharing information and on user lock in

2 Likes
7

Thanks for the links, under eeschema I see this

S-Expression File Format
Goal: Make schematic file format more readable, add new features, and take advantage of the s-expression capability used in Pcbnew.
Task: Finalize feature set and file format.
Discuss the possibility of dropping the unit-less proposal temporarily to get the s-expression file format and SWEET library format implemented without completely rewriting Eeschema.
Add new s-expression file format to plugin.
Dependencies: Dynamic library plugin.
Status: File format document nearly complete.

Sounds good, where can I find the File format document, for the upcoming S-Expression File.

8

That’s rather my point - the CAD players might try to not share info (whilst sometimes pretending they do…), but the RS tool I mention above, exports libraries in ASCII format.

That ASCII format removes any lock-in, and removes any CAD Vendor copyright, as the information comes freely from a Component Distributor.

Yes, I’m looking into exactly that… :slight_smile:

9

Here is a draft that I’ve found.

Note: when I downloaded the attachments they were in .bin extension. Changed extension to .odt to be able to open them.

4 Likes
10

Thanks, that’s looking good. Will help when deciding what to parse & store.
Does anyone know how far advanced this is on the SCH side ? That is from Feb 2016 ?

I did also find this document for the ASCII format variant ( *PADS-LIBRARY-PART-TYPES-V4* ) that RS use on export
ftp://219.249.204.109/etc/@program/OA/PowerPCB5.0/Plib_ASCII.pdf

PADS 2013~2016 is up to *PADS-LIBRARY-PART-TYPES-V9*, but the variations are minor.

1 Like