This is a new weird issue that is most likely my PC (Thinkpad Intel i7 32GB Invidia Quatro P1000), but it’s stumping me because everything else, including every other aspect of KiCad, runs fine. The problem only occurs in the Footprint editor. When I open that, the library panel shows nothing. Though the window looks blank it’s not really empty, because if I click in the white space it will open a footprint. I just can’t see what I clicked on. I’m pretty sure the library data is fine. I also moved everything to another PC, and that runs fine, then I deleted and reinstalled KiCad on the Thinkpad and still have the problem. The library panel in the symbol editor works fine, only the footprint editor library panel is empty. I’ve tried different monitors as well to no avail. Has anyone seen anything like this or have an idea of what might cause this very narrow, but critical issue?
When dealing with bugs always copy & paste the full KiCad version info. Copy it from … / Help / About KiCad / Copy Version Info.
Always try to make your screenshots a bit smaller. First it renders better on this forum, and people may want to open KiCad too to look for differences.
Does anything happen if you scroll horizontally?
Edit: As you mentioned below, the slider is indeed invisible for me until the mouse hovers over it.
Thanks for the reply. Version info:
Application: KiCad Footprint Editor x64 on x64
Version: 7.0.9, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.3
FreeType 2.12.1
HarfBuzz 8.2.1
FontConfig 2.14.2
libcurl/8.4.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3
Platform: Windows 10 (build 19045), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Date: Nov 5 2023 19:26:40
wxWidgets: 3.2.3 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.83.0
OCC: 7.7.1
Curl: 8.4.0-DEV
ngspice: 41
Compiler: Visual C++ 1936 without C++ ABI
Build settings:
KICAD_SPICE=ON
There is no horizontal slider visible at the bottom of the panel. I also tried dragging my cursor around down there to see if there might be a slider that is invisible, like the library list, but there does not seem to be.
I have not seen such behaviour, but there is really something wrong. Look at the artifacts directly below the filter search field (where you have the string “pin”). And at the bottom the statusbar is messed up.
I would try to:
- maximize/minimize kicad window (probably already done)
- switch library panel on/off
- hover mouse pointer over “library” string of library panel and drag the library panel to another place (docking on the right side, or at the bottom). This is normally nor a good idea, but maybe it helps you.
Otherwise I have no idea.
Instead of deleting / re-installing KiCad, have you also renamed KiCad’s configuration directory? KiCad does not remove these when you un-instal it. If you delete / rename the configuration directory, then KiCad assumes it is a fresh install, and it asks you again whether to create the default library tables.
Deleting the configuration directory is safe, but renaming is better. First, it can act as a backup you can restore again, and you can run a text diff program (for example meld merge) to look at the differences. If it is caused by something in the configuration directory, I guess some developers are also interested in a copy of that directory to find and squash the bug.
These are good suggestions, which unfortunately did not fix the problem, but maybe offer more troubleshooting data. I unchecked “Show Footprint Tree” in the View menu, the Footprint library does close, but rechecking “Show…” opens it again empty. I also moved the panel to other positions, where it is still empty.
I deleted without renaming the config directory, I didn’t have that long a history with KiCad so I didn’t mind starting from scratch, but what you describe sounds like a good idea for future
But does it help?
And some extra *&^%$#@! to get over this annoying 20 character thing.
No, it did not help.
This sounds promising, but can you elaborate on “relink the paths”. I opened the “configure paths” window, but don’t see anything that hints at this.
• There are a couple of places needing the Path Links and can depend on if you have customized your locations of Footprints and Symbols.
• Be sure to Quit and Re-Start Kicad after changing stuff…
• By ‘Re-Link’ I mean, even if the Path looks correct, re-do it. The Lib files will get corretly reset (hopefully)…
• Some screenshots of mine should help…
That didn’t seem to work. As I mentioned before, it’s not that the footprint library doesn’t load, it’s there but just not visible. If I click in the blank library panel a footprint will appear in the edit window so the links are all there.
Yes, I saw that and I had the same experience. Doing what I said took care of it.
Beyond that, a mystery…
I’m on a Mac.
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