Filling a rectangle obscures text within

[mkeveney]

I have made this symbol (Kicad 7.0.0-0):

I’d like to fill the rectangle with color, but when I do so, the text within is obscured.

Note that it doesn’t seem to be all text… If I add a new rectangle, just as a test, some of the text is overlaid on top (as expected) but not the text belonging to the pins.

I expected to find something like a ‘move to bottom’ command or property on the rectangle.
Am I missing it?
(btw: changing the color’s opacity doesn’t help)

[mf_ibfeew]

I expected to find something like a ‘move to bottom’ command or property on the rectangle.

There is currently no selectable z-order sorting (and therefore no “send to back” command) implemented.

You could use the option “fill with background color” in the rectangle properties, these should normally draw the fill behind all text-elements.

For custom fill color the z-order is neither selectable nor guarantied: Z order of drawings is not preserved when saving symbol (#11934) · Issues · KiCad / KiCad Source Code / kicad · GitLab

[mkeveney]

You could use the option “fill with background color” in the rectangle properties, these should normally draw the fill behind all text-elements.

That is the option I used, assuming we’re talking about the same thing:

• I click on the rectangle border
• Right click and choose properties
• choose the “Fill With” option under “Fill Style”
• Click the color swatch
• Choose ‘defined colors’
• and select light yellow.

Have I found a bug?

Note, in case it matters: I have multiple pins positioned atop one another. I read somewhere that this is one way to support multiple pins in the footprint that all have the same function. Might that be part of the problem? …and at the risk of going off on a tangent, is there a better technique?

I’ll have a look at the actual footprint file & see if I can spot anything anomalous.

[mkeveney]

Solved?

I looked at other symbols, and found that the yellow ones seem to use the ‘background’ fill type; not a specific color. …maybe that’s what you were trying to tell me, @mf_ibfeew

When I switch to background fill type, it works fine.

So, my immediate problem is solved, but I still wonder why the solid color behaves the way it does. It would seem that without z-order control, that property is a bit limited.

[paulvdh]

@mkeveney

I looked at other symbols, and found that the yellow ones seem to use the ‘background’ fill type; not a specific color. …maybe that’s what you were trying to tell me, @mf_ibfeew

Yes, background fill is the recommended way to go.

@mkeveney

I still wonder why the solid color behaves the way it does. It would seem that without z-order control, that property is a bit limited.

Development hours is a scarce and precious resource for the KiCad project, and many features are competing for improvement. Mf_Ibfeew already posted a link to https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/11934 but it’s just one of 1300 open issues. For the moment the “background fill” works good enough for the majority of use cases, and that makes this a very low priority item.

[mkeveney]

…many features are competing for improvement…

Understood. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing something.

Thanks, all, for your help!