On 01/01/18 00:40, Andy Peters wrote:
Apropos of the recent discussion about problems with the ‘/‘ character in
symbol names (https://lists.launchpad.net/kicad-developers/msg31705.html), I
went to rename three problematic symbols in my library. I’m on the 24 Dec 2017
nightly on macOS. (This is all in bug
https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1740717).
First and foremost: there has never been a straightforward way to rename a
symbol in a library from within Kicad. (That is, not editing the library files
in a text editor.)
Previously I could copy the symbol using the “Load Component from Current
Library” command followed by the “Create new component from the current
component” command. The latter command opens a dialog box asking for the name
of the new component. Then the user can save the library, delete the old symbol
(the old name) and then save again. That first save is probably not necessary,
but it doesn’t hurt.
Now in the current (as of 24 Dec, anyway) builds, the “create new from current”
command no longer exists. We now have right-click accessed context menus, which
are fine. All of the libraries in the table are available, so one doesn’t have
to select the active library. Instead, the hide/reveal triangles let the user
see all parts in a library.
So from the context menu: There is “duplicate part,” which makes a clone of the
selected part in the same library, right below the original, appending _0 (and
incrementing) to the name of the part. There are “cut part” and “copy part”
options, along with a “paste part” option, which allow the user to move a part
from one library to another, or copy it to another library. __None of these
commands give the user the option to rename the symbol!__
Also, the paste is rather hidden: one has to left-click to select the target
library then right-click on the library name again to bring up a context menu
which includes “paste item.” Ideally, the cut, copy and paste of the selected
item should show up in the main menu’s Edit menu.
To sum up (feature request!):
a) symbol duplicate/cut/copy/paste commands should be accessed through the main
Edit menu, not a context menu. Never create the copy with a default symbol
name, always ask the user for a new name.
b) Add a symbol rename command.
In the footprint library editor, if you change the name of the footprint in the
Footprint Properties dialog, when you go to :Save the footprint in the
library,” you are asked to give the footprint a name.
I agree such a feature would be nice.
Until something like this is implemented you can rename the symbol by
changing the value field. (press e while your mouse pointer is on top of
the value field. One can not edit the value field within the field
properties dialog.)
The same issue has also been raised over at the forum:
https://forum.kicad.info/t/what-happened-to-the-button-that-copies-a-part-to-a-new-name/8920
For the footprints, one is only asked about the new footprint name if
one saves a footprint to an active lib. The save footprint to new lib
dialog does not allow for selecting a footprint name. This would also be
a nice feature. (Especially because at least in some versions it does
not seem to be possible to add an empty lib to the fp-lib-table.)
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