Feature request List with Various Items

Community Feature Request Chat
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After some months of diary use of kicad i collect some items to improve Kicad. I suspect that is easy say not to all, but at least i will share my experience.

1)Search footprint:
When you place a component when you press “R”, the placement tool search automatically inside all libraries and show all “R” materials. But this is not possible on footprint. If i press “0805” the system only search inside the selected library. Will be appreciated that if i write “sot23”, the system adjust the search to all “sot23” ocurrence, and will save time.
2)Bom: I think that this need some improvement, an easy way to setup my own fields, order and folder.
Currently the dialog box call to one script like:
BOM “%I %O”
I think that can be usefull allow to the user set the fields and filenames. For example to match with octopart BOM format. Or even with less resources simply change the way in that the script is called like:
BOM Fields=Ref,Value,Quantity,MPN %I Fab/%O

3)BOM: Relative folder: Allow write the bom in a different folder. For the moment %O take full path so if i edit the script call to “Fab/%O” i get Fab/ before the full path. Nothing point to anoter variable to be used.

4)Auto include items into a bus when is connected, to avoid large label names, or go to alias project configuration and write one by one.

5)Schematic Net Property: Voltage
Allow assign a voltage for nets. This appear as a text, but for example in cadence LTspice appear in a different color than regular text. This can be used also for automatic clearance when pass to PCB.

  1. PCB voltage cleareance on schematic: Can be pre-asigned automatically from Schema. in hand is already implemented in mm, maybe a volt value can be helpfull

7)Comments like Altium. In Altium you can create a comment sheet (even with graphic). This is usefull to store considerations, layout hints, and etc

8)Formulas. Add the property to a component ( ej resistor) how it was calculated (initially can be a simple text like (R2=R1*2) with no more interation. In the future it can be powerfull.

9)Pin current= Add the capability of asign a specified current to one pin and link this with the default track width.

  1. PCB component displacement more smarter with internal tracks. For example, if you have a resistor with a track in the middle, you can´t move so much the resistor, because once the track conflict with the pad the resistor back to the original place, and you have no more option than erase the track and redraw after move.

  2. PCB is hard move a track with one extreme unconnected dragging the connected tracks. Normally try to drag the unconnected track leaving the unconnected point fixed

  3. PCB Allways whe routing the system try to reach the center of the pad even creating 0.00001mm tracks, that after move the components remains as garbage giving ERROR on DRC. Maybe this tracks need to be marked as “autogenerated” and autoerase when is not needed anymore.

  4. The inductor on default library has no polarity mark. In Switching power supply the inductor mark the internal point of espires, this point need to be connected to Switching point to reduce EMI.

  5. Improve interoperatibility with another system, yesterday my job purchas altium because was dificult pass from kicad to altium, even if there are a paid plugin or tool.

I know is a lot of item, and maybe need to be splitter, or maybe the answer is Not to All hehehe. , but some of this help to the improvement, are welcome.
Best Regards to all
Christian

1 Like
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It is very difficult to reply to 14 different points.
It would be much easier, and beneficial to you, to create 14 different threads , each one open for discussion.

1 Like
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I understand. tonight i make some time to do this.

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I know is a lot of item, and maybe need to be splitted

I had already a long+complicated answer, but in short I second the advice from @jmk.
Additionally the “official” way for feature-requests (if you are later really sure that a feature is necessary and useful): gitlab

Nevertheless short answers to 3 points (which maybe removes discussion):

1.) there are already open gitlab-issues for improved footprint-search/filtering (for instance:

2.) + 3.) the bom-export is currently worked on- if you have spare time you can download and play with the latest nightly development versions.

7.) why not simply add a subsheet, name it “comments” and write + draw anything you like? Why must there be a dedicated comment?

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In answer to 14, It is up to Altium to provide a tool to convert Kicad to Altium if Altium wish to ease the transition for Kicad users, just as it is up to Kicad to supply a tool to convert Altium to Kicad if Kicad wish to ease the transition for Altium users.

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Because we want convince to the altium about the goodness of Dark side of the force.
Leaving the jokes at side, when a software become an standard, like or not we need share documents on formats that the world can manage.
The example more obvious is office 10 years in the past, when we need share something we use doc or xls
Another example, contract a graphical designer for proffesional print, some years ago you are conmmited to use CorelDraw

In electronics Altium is the king, the altium users dont need open kicad. The kicad user need share with altium users.
In this way you avoid that kicad users switch to the “standard altium” and give less argument to altium users keep on altium.

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In fact, you can specify fields in the command line if you’re using “bom_csv_grouped_extra” BOM generator script:

    Output: CSV (comma-separated)
    Grouped By: Value, Footprint, DNP, specified extra fields
    Sorted By: Reference
    Fields: #, Reference, Qty, Value, Footprint, DNP, specified extra fields

    Outputs components grouped by Value, Footprint, and specified extra fields.
    Extra fields can be passed as command line arguments at the end, one field per argument.

    Command line:
    python "pathToFile/bom_csv_grouped_extra.py" "%I" "%O.csv" "Extra_Field1" "Extra_Field2"

Try clicking on the Help button to see other possible parameters:

%I: absolute path and filename of the intermediate netlist file, which is the input to the BOM generator 
%O: absolute path and filename of the output BOM file (without file extension) 
%B: base filename of the output BOM file (without file extension) 
%P: absolute path of the project directory, without trailing slash

You can use, for example: “Fab/%B.csv”

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