Looking at the following screenshot, I’ve put the label “DB2TB_PIN1” on the PIN1’s extended wire. How to make sure the label is right on the wire? I mean how to make sure the wire’s net name is “DB2TB_PIN1”? If the label is on the wire, it’s better to record the information on the wire & bus properties dialog.
multiple options to get the connection name of a wire/bus/net:
- select a wire (with LMB click) and look at the statusbar
- highlight a wire - all connected wires and labels should also get the highlighted color
- highlight a wire and look at the statusbar
- highlight a wire, open the “Net navigator” panel, and explore the wire names on that panel
- only the properties is not suitable to explore the net name
Thank you for your help, @mf_ibfeew. Except “Net navigator” panel cannot be found in my KiCad 8.0.1, all other three method could find the connection name of the wire.
However, I still wonder why the properties dialog is not suitable to explore the net name?
I am quite familar with OrCad. In OrCad 2022, there are two behaviours.
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When the mouse hovers over the wire, the net name is just float nearby.
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When select a wire (with LMB click) , there are three changes: a) the net label text changed color as the wire changed color; b) the net name is just float nearby; c) the net name is showed at the statusbar.
I think we may could refine the current behavior of KiCad according to the OrCad’s behaviors.
- When a label is not attached to a wire, you always see it’s little attachment square in one of it’s bottom corners. It can be the left or right bottom, depending on label rotation or mirroring.
- If the attachment point of a label coincides with the endpoint of a wire , then both squares disappear.
- This is how you did it, with the open wire end.
- I had to trick a bit to generate this example. You can put things off grid while holding the Ctrl key while moving objects. But even if you hold the Ctrl key, labels snap to wires. So to create this example, I first had to move the label to an off grid location in an empty area, and then place the wire under it.
You can also use the various net highlight functions to verify if different sections of a net are recognized as connected by KiCad.
Thank you for your reply, @paulvdh. According to your statement, I’ve done a quiz. Are these all correct?
Yes, all are correct.
Although the KiCad’s wire net name behaviours are sufficient, I still think OrCad’s behaviours are bonuses for users.
