Symbol in schematic loses footprint properties

Software
1

I am getting some difficult to describe/strange behavior with the symbol properties editor. You can see from the image that the tick boxes in the SHOW column are not visible. When I try to edit the fields, there is further strange behavior in that my entered text can become invisible as I begin to type.

I use two monitors and the above can come and go when I restore/maximize my KiCad schematic window, or moving between monitors but is not predictable.

Also the symbol properties editor tends to open “restored” covering some of both monitors; I would not have ever set this restore size. This is another minor nuisance.

Has anyone observed similar; any ideas?

Application: KiCad Schematic Editor x64 on x64

Version: 8.0.5, release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.5
FreeType 2.13.2
HarfBuzz 9.0.0
FontConfig 2.14.2
libcurl/8.8.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (build 22631), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 31.0.101.5186

Build Info:
Date: Sep 7 2024 02:39:48
wxWidgets: 3.2.5 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.85.0
OCC: 7.8.1
Curl: 8.8.0-DEV
ngspice: 42
Compiler: Visual C++ 1939 without C++ ABI

Build settings:

image
image1032Ă—767 24.2 KB

2

Gosh it seems that nobody else has observed this? It does seem to be related to using an external monitor + my laptop built in monitor.

I have shut down my laptop since yesterday, but today I see no significant change.

Displaying schematic on my 2K external monitor. If the symbol properties window comes up on that same monitor, all seems to look OK. But if I drag that window to my built-in monitor, many of the tick boxes vanish.

Does anyone else see that?

3

Here a seemingly related issue. Two views of Tools>Edit Symbol Fields.

First as viewed on the schematic monitor which is 2K; second on my laptop built in monitor:

image
image1255Ă—795 49.4 KB

image
image1563Ă—997 59.3 KB

Note that the right hand columns go blank!

If I put the schematic on the built in display, I do not see this issue with the Symbol Fields Table displayed on either monitor.

4

Sorry…I just now discovered couple of more points:

My built in display is physically smaller than the 2K but it is 1920 x 1200.

I had set the display scale to 125%. If I set the scale to 100% then this issue goes away!!

I have a hunch that the display scale might be at the root of this…

5

There is a nominal minimum display size of 1920x1080 (so technically the 125% scale does not meet minimum specs) but it still seems like a bug worth reporting.

1 Like
6

Thank you. So if my display is 1920 x 1200, but I have magnification of 125% then I am only getting something like 1536 x 960 pixels? I do not know how that really works if the monitor physically has 1920 x 1200.

I am happy to report a bug if this is not caused by something really weird on my end. That is why I was looking to see whether anyone else can reproduce it. I think I have had the 125% zoom setting for some time. I do not remember encountering issues in other software or in previous versions of KiCad.

7

That’s how I would interpret the scaling. KiCad is told the available display is 1536x960 but your OS would then do the adjustment required to use all of the pixels on the monitor. EDIT: it seems like this probably has more to do with using any scaling than the exact resolution that results.

I did a deeper search and found this issue, if it sounds like the same behavior you can give it a “thumbs up” to show that it is still affecting people. It has been around quite a while.

8

Thanks.

I gave it a thumbs up. The full instructions of that one are sort of involved, but it “smells” the same in that the loss of display information is tied in with the display magnification.

I linked to this forum discussion in my added comment on Gitlab.

9

BY MISTAKE I HAVE PLACED MY LAST 2 POSTS (THIS ONE AND THE NEXT) INTO THE WRONG THREAD. Is it possible for someone to move them into the thread concerning netlist connection? I think that loss of footprint association may somehow be at the root of the problem…

I seem to have an ongoing issue. I want to ask:

Is anyone experiencing unexplained changes in their footprint assignments? Today I see that (at some point between my October 18 backup and my files of last night) a D-pak transistor changed to a SOT23 and a 3W axial resistor changed to an 0805.

I have been using KiCad for years, and my workflow has not changed significantly. With version 7.X and previous, I never used to encounter anything like this. It is a major annoyance and has only started in the last few weeks. I sort of wish I could go back and try version 7.X again, but I don’t think that my design can go backwards.

I assign footprints from the schematic editor. In some cases I do it by double clicking on the symbol and editing properties, that way. Sometimes I use the “edit symbol fields” menu option.

I think my use is very straightforward, other than:

  1. I use one or two resistor symbols for all of my resistors. Similar for bipolar transistors where the pin numbers agree for example. I assign footprints at the schematic level.

  2. Pretty much all of my symbols and footprints are my own; custom. I like to use larger pads for easier hand assembly, and I am not interested in the URLs which are included in the standard KiCad libraries. Sometimes I do use the standard library symbol or footprint as a starting point to produce my own.

I would very much appreciate anyone else reporting any sort of similar issues.

10

I have a significant update, Narrowing down what is going on. The following is one example but it represents the “bigger picture”.

I use one resistor symbol for all of my two terminal resistors. That symbol (in my personal symbol library) points to a small 0805 footprint.

If I want a 1206 (I often do) I change the footprint assignment in the schematic file. I either do “edit symbol fields” or I double click on the symbol to edit symbol properties. This image shows an example (from my October 18 schematic) of what I was doing.

image
image761Ă—599 24 KB

But this is what I now have in my present version of the schematic diagram:

image
image772Ă—539 21.1 KB

Notice that the footprint has changed to the “default” footprint which is named in my symbol library!! I do not know when/how/why this is happening, but similar keeps happening all over my schematic diagram in version 8.06. Not just resistors, but transistors and anything else where I have edited the footprint in my schematic diagram. My modus operandi has not changed significantly for years, and I had no such problems with 7.X and earlier versions of KiCad.

Having said that, I can see that my thinking is not perfectly aligned with that of the Devs. Please see the fields in my symbol library for that resistor:

image
image792Ă—548 18.7 KB

Note that I have a symbol name in the “value” field. But in my schematic diagram, I was putting the resistor value in that value field. I have been working this way with previous versions without a problem. Should it be a problem? Does everyone else use a different symbol for every combination of resistor value and footprint? Is my modus operandi unique and that is causing the problem with 8.06?

This is driving me nuts, so I am now trying some changes:

  1. I am making new symbols in my library. Each symbol that I am using now will point to one footprint. If I need a different footprint, I will make a new symbol in my library.

  2. I am keeping the “Value” = my library symbol name in my schematic. I can unclick the “show” box. For a 2K resistor, I am putting “2K” or similar in the Description field. I also have a “value numeric” field (does not display here for some reason) in which I would put “2e3”. I like this engineering notation because it gives me the resistor value when I sort in Microsoft Excel.

I AM PLEADING FOR ANY THINKING ON THIS I really think there is some sort of new bug; perhaps my MO is a bit unique and has somehow hitting this bug.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Application: KiCad Schematic Editor x64 on x64

Version: 8.0.6, release build

Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.6
FreeType 2.13.2
HarfBuzz 9.0.0
FontConfig 2.14.2
libcurl/8.8.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3.1

Platform: Windows 11 (build 22631), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
OpenGL: Intel, Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics, 4.6.0 - Build 31.0.101.5186

Build Info:
Date: Oct 14 2024 01:02:33
wxWidgets: 3.2.6 (wchar_t,wx containers)
Boost: 1.85.0
OCC: 7.8.1
Curl: 8.8.0-DEV
ngspice: 43
Compiler: Visual C++ 1939 without C++ ABI

Build settings: