Sorry to have to ask this simple thing here, but I can’t find the answer online tutorials or in the doc’s. ( I don’t find the indexing or search systems particularly helpful…)
Anyway. This relates to KiCad 5.1.6 on Linux Mint 19.3 64 bit.
As a new user (Yep… “Noob Alert!”) I actually quite like KiCad, the only real previous experience of Electronics CAD was using OrCad back in the DOS days!..
Anyway, I’ve created schematics, simple board layouts, generated new symbols and footprints, even got the simulator working (sort of…)
But try as I might… I can’t find a way to (a) “Close” a project! Nor, to prevent KiCad from starting up with the last project automatically loaded again.
I’m sure that before the recent update, that it used to by default start up “clean”, that is, with nothing pre-loaded.
So, what secret tweaks are there now to manage such behavior?
That was never the case. KiCad always started with the last project. The only reason i can think of would be if KiCad was unable to save to its config files in the past.
And really it does not matter. You can create a new one or open any project without interfering with the project that is opened originally.
I wonder if there is any “default” project the first time you open KiCad on a clean install.
I usually start KiCad projects by first browsing to the project directory in a file manager and then double clicking on the project file, because most of my KiCad projects also have other files related to that project. From a simple text file with notes to source code for a microcontroller and everything that comes with it.
If I’m working on a big project I usually make a shortcut to the directory with the project to save a few mouse clicks each time for getting to the project directory.
I agree that in principle it’s not a big issue, but it’s not “normal” (in my world at least) for software to do that, unless you add a command line argument.
Speaking of which, the menu item that can be used to launch it, has a %f tail, as “kicad %f” (without the quotes.) Again I can not find any mention of that in the doc’s (so far.)
If I replace that with just a - (“kicad -” again, no quotes) then it starts “clean” each time. But without documentation of what it might be expecting (other than a full path/filename to a project) it’s a bit of a mystery.
I’m curious to find out what/why etc.
Oh, yes too, re starting it by double clicking on a .pro file, that works.
Regards to All.
Dave 'kbv
(Also only been using Linux as my main OS at home, for less than 5 years.)
‘Normally’ you will be working one project at a time. It actually saves a bit of work for most that it acts this way. I don’t see much of a reason to change it.
If it defaults to last then it will usually be the desired outcome.
If it defaults to open then you always must always choose.
So, occasional interaction or always interaction.
I don’t expect this to change as most users find it useful.
I just don’t understand the problem to be honest. When you come back to KiCad it is very likely that you want to continue where you left off. And if not then just open the other project you want to open. There is no benefit in having an empty project window (Empty project window would mean you always need to open the project you want to work on, pre-filled one means at least a few times you will have the correct one open already).
And i argue that this is really the future for tools. See the recent trend for powerful text editors (VS-Code, Atom, heck even notepad++ all keep their state and it is a huge time saver).
To be honest i assume you have a usecase in mind that depends on the empty project however you have not detailed one, so I really can not see the point.
Funny thing is with every np++ install my first step is to find this dreaded function to start with zillions tabs open. I want my text editor to open cleanly
For Kicad however I really appreciate it opens my last used project, and would be sad if it didn’t.
%f A single file name (including the path), even if multiple files are selected. The system reading the desktop entry should recognize that the program in question cannot handle multiple file arguments, and it should should probably spawn and execute multiple copies of a program for each selected file if the program is not able to handle additional file arguments. If files are not on the local file system (i.e. are on HTTP or FTP locations), the files will be copied to the local file system and %f will be expanded to point at the temporary file. Used for programs that do not understand the URL syntax.
So this indicates that when a project file is given to the kicad executable at the CLI it will open that project. This is also what happens when you click on the .pro file in the file manager. So maybe if you switch between projects a lot, use this “object oriented” method to launch Kicad.
I had spent quiet a bit of time searching for such info (my
google foo is obviously lacking) without much success, but
suspected as much.
Also, yes if you launch from the command line with the path/file
provided, that’s where it goes.
Still moderately surprised though, that a -h -? or --help doesn’t
pop-up a list of thing you can stick on the tail of the command
line invocation… As that is pretty common for a lot of software.
Consider the topic closed. And thanks again to all respondents.
Not very surprising, because its roots are so old that they aren’t in linux, nor was it first developed on unix. Because it’s all graphical there has been little need for command line switches.
When I’m at work I usually have several projects open, I switch between them, close them and open them. Opening the last used is mildly annoying. I can very well understand that it’s logically better than opening without a project - as has been said, it’s as easy to open a new project no matter if there was a project already or not - but this is not about logic, it’s psychology. It would make me feel easier if I could start with empty KiCad.
There are also some practical consequences if there are interruptions in the workflow (which aren’t usually considered when people argue about workflows and UIs). If I open a new KiCad instance but leave it be amongst other instances it’s more difficult to discern it from other instances when I come back and try to find the right one.
A better large scale solution would be of course to have a modern multiproject or workspace main view with options. Right now KiCad works but feels a bit clumsy and outdated in that respect.
Can be done by clearing out the KiCad config directory (might be a good idea anyway in such a case as one Students mistakes for the setup would otherwise interfere with the next Students work)
