I’m half-way through designing the layout. At some point in time, I decide that I need some of the parts to go from size 0603 to 0402. I change the footprint in the schematic and generate the new Netlist.
I then import the current Netlist in pcbnew — the footprints won’t update.
The only way I’ve seen that the update takes place is if I remove the part from the layout, and then read the current netlist. Right-click → Update footprint only has an effect if I made changes to the footprint (e.g., a custom footprint that I created and then updated after I have some components with that footprint).
I even see that reading the netlist produces a warning:
Warning: Footprint of symbol “C1” changed: board footprint “Capacitor_SMD:C_0603_1608Metric”, netlist footprint “Capacitor_SMD:C_0402_1005Metric”
Why would it warn me about something that I’m specifically instructing it to do? Why won’t it update the board footprint?
I honestly don’t get the point of that feature, it takes more clicks to operate than the old read netlist dialog, and hides all the useful options. I still use the old way, it is better IMO.
How does it take more clicks? With the nettlist stuff you already have at least two or three clicks in eeschema (depending on if you go via the toolbar symbol or via the menu entry) that you do not have with the update pcb from schematic. On the pcb side it takes one more click as the update from schematic tool is not in the toolbar. (Edit: In the current nightly there is even a toolbar button for this -> so it has the same number of clicks on the pcb_new side as well.)
The benefit is that it works off the KiCad internal project data structure. This reduces error points as it can not happen that you forget to update the netlist.
I wonder whether the FAQs include some question about “Additional sources of help”, and includes “Optometrists” in the list … Seems like that’s where I should have gone, before trying the forum!
Maybe in my defense, I guess I could add a slight ranting about why aren’t “Change” and “Delete” the default selections [[ edit: even worse; within a same run (i.e., without having closed the application and launch it again at a later time) the selections “Change” and “Delete” are not persistent; when I open the dialog for a second time, the selections are again “Keep” ]]
They are in the new tool we suggested above. The netlist import stuff is deprecated and will in future only be suggested for importing netlists from third party tools.
Interesting. I now wonder why isn’t there a toolbar button next to (if not “instead of”) the “Read Netlist” toolbar button. The feature doesn’t even have a hot or accelerator key !!
I also wonder why bobc dislikes this and thinks it takes more clicks (actually, I guess he’s including the menu clicks given that there is no toolbar button or hot key?). I actually think that an explicit step of generating/saving a netlist that then has to be explicitly read is not the ideal functionality — the schematic and the PCB are not two independent things; they constitute one and the same project, so when you think about it, even the step of “Update PCB from schematic” should not be an explicit step; updating the schematic should update the PCB “live” (maybe with some settings configuring the level of automation / confirmation that the user wants).
As i wrote: There is already in the nightly build. This means version 5.1 will have it. (Some GUI changes where simply not finished for the version 5 release. One of the reasons why there will be a 5.1 before development for 6.0 will be started)
Here we disagree. While making changes to the schematic i do not always want an update immediately. This is one of the things i hated about eagle. Updating a schematic was always a pain as it broke some stuff on the pcb while my schematic was in some intermediate state. (Example if i exchanged a part it deleted all tracks to the footprint that no longer had a symbol even thought i planned on adding a similar part at the same place)
It is much better to have a controlled point in time when the updates are taken into the pcb.
I guess in my mind, the action of saving the schematic implies that you’re at one of those “safe points” where you can update the layout. On second thought, I agree that that view may still be a bit unreasonable.
I still think that it should be an “as non-explicit as possible” step — for example, a “Save” vs. “Save and Update Layout” option for the user, maybe? Still, having the toolbar button to “Update layout from Schematic” is already a big step in the right direction, I believe.
… Seems like that’s where I should have gone, before trying the forum! 