I just noticed this weird behavior, maybe a but - this is what I’m using, on Ubuntu 14.04:
Application: kicad
Version: (2017-11-13 revision d98fc85)-master, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.0.2
libcurl/7.35.0 OpenSSL/1.0.1f zlib/1.2.8 libidn/1.28 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Linux 4.4.0-104-generic x86_64, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK
Build Info:
wxWidgets: 3.0.2 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8) GTK+ 2.24
Boost: 1.54.0
Curl: 7.35.0
Compiler: GCC 4.8.4 with C++ ABI 1002
Build settings:
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
KICAD_USE_OCE=OFF
KICAD_SPICE=OFF
Basically, I designed a custom schematic symbol, and had its labels placed inside; however, when I place the part, EEschema places these labels outside, for some reason? Here is a complete procedure from scratch, in tutorial form, so you can see what goes wrong:
- Run Kicad, File / Project…, save as
/tmp/aaa
; - Click “Schematic layout editor” button to open
eeschema
- In Eeschema, click “Library editor - Create / edit components” button
- In Symbol Library Editor, click “Create new component”
- In the Component Properties menu, enter Component Name: Grounder, press Ok
- You get some tiny markings in the center of coordinate system; mouse wheel up to zoom in there;
- The labels for “Grounder” and “U?” are overlapping:
- Hover with mouse over “Grounder”, hit ‘M’ on keyboard, move it a bit up; else leave “U?” where it was;
- Click on “Add pins to component” right toolbar button:
- In Pin Properties dialog, enter “Pin name”: GND, “Pin number”: 1, “Orientation”: Up, hit OK
- Move the crosshair with the pin so all is visible, left mouse click to place pin.
- Again, Click on “Add pins to component” right toolbar button;
- In Pin Properties dialog, enter “Pin name”: GND, “Pin number”: 2, “Orientation”: Up, hit OK
- Move the crosshair with the pin so all is visible, left mouse click to place pin
- Click on “Add graphic rectangle to component body”
- Move mouse to desired top left edge, left-mouse click there to start rectangle, move pointer to desired bottom right edge, left-mouse click there to end rectangle and place it
- Click on “Deselect current tool” button in right toolbar, then double click over the rectangle edge
- In the “Rectangle Drawing Properties” dialog, click “Fill background”, click OK:
- Click on “Save current component to new library” button in top bar:
- In the “New Symbol Library” file dialog, navigate to
/tmp/aaa
, save asaaa_symbols.lib
(or just save as/tmp/aaa/aaa_symbols.lib
) - Get Info: “This library will not be available until it is added to the symbol library table.”
- Close Symbol Library Editor
- In Eeschema, click Preferences / Manage Symbol Libraries
- In Schematic Library Tables, click Project Specific Libraries tab, then click Append Library:
- In Nickname field, write
aaa_symbols
; in Library Path write${KIPRJMOD}/aaa_symbols.lib
, Plugin Type: choose “Legacy”, click OK
- If EEschema closed, start it again from the KiCad button;
- Click on Place Component button on right bar in Eeschema;
- With mouse pointer, click in schematic area;
- In Choose Symbol dialog, click to expand aaa_symbols, and select Grounder there - notice that the preview is exactly the same as the symbol we designed eariler; then click OK:
- Left-click with mouse in schematic area to place the symbol
- Mouse wheel up to zoom in at the newly placed symbol:
The labels are placed to the right of the schematic symbol box - not inside it, as it was designed, and as the Choose Symbol showed it ?!
Why does this happen, and how can I get the symbol to be shown exactly as designed when I place it in a schematic?