Hello All,
I’m looking for a script that will move the contents of a kicad_brd file from its aux axis to a new x,y location. Also, is there a script that will cat a number of kicad_brd files together like the append function in pcbnew? Last, is there a script that will remap the module references? It seems that this should be possible via the python plugins, but I can’t find the documentation or examples of how I would do this. Also, I was looking to do this via a bash shell so kicad would not need to be launched (behind an apache sever for example). I wrote a bunch of scripts to do this for the old brd file format, but thats not supported anymore. The new s-exresion format is easy enough to parse, but why make work if someone has been there done that.
So adding to this, my real goal is floor planning. I generally take full advantage of the schematic hierarchy and use a form follows function methodology for schematics and pcb, where connections between hierarchy are the equivalent of global tracks/routes in the pcb (I come from a VLSI background in processors). Why you might ask do I do it this way, well in the Si world real estate on the die, cost wise is one of the highest priorities and this methodology allows for ownership models, quick turns, leveraging prior work, etc… Lets say in a board you have 3 guys working on it, each of these guys has about 1000 components as part of their design, well you need a way to build these sub systems into a single board. Also, you might have the same circuit repeated over and over, it’s nice to only have to lay it out once. This requires floor planning tools and hierarchy. KiCad’s schematic hierarchy works really well and since the file formats are parable, it wasn’t too hard to create some simple scripts to do the floor planning. I look forward to a day, when the pcb can group components based on the schematics and allow for a more interactive user experience.