Cadsoft Eagle with Python Scripting

Does anyone know if this works with eagle 7.7?

Rick

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rickb wrote on Fri, 17 February 2017 14:43

Does anyone know if this works with eagle 7.7?

Do you mean the Python scripting?  I've mainly used it with version 5 and

6.  I'll try to test it with version 7 this weekend...

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rickb wrote on Mon, 20 February 2017 15:47

Quote:

Do you mean the Python scripting?

 

Yes, thanks.

Sorry mate, I didn't get to try it out.  We had a (late) Chinese New Year

celebration at the Bagua school Saturday and the little lady and I spent

most of Sunday out of town with family.

I'm now on the fence about how much more effort to put into the Python

thing.  I had started a book on advanced EAGLE use and I was including

writing scripts and ULPs and how to manipulate the XML files externally.

With the changes in the EAGLE world lately, part of me is angry enough to

motivate me to finish up the external program that lets you directly

manipulate the XML files, but the other part of me is disgusted enough to

want to drop it all and just walk away.  End of an era.  Sigh...

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I understand your frustration. I bought 7.7 before the official

announcement and feel the same way. I will continue to use it until it no

longer meets my needs or until Kicad meets my expectations, which ever

happens first. I would like to see what you have written, however rough it

may be for educational purposes.

Rick

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rickb wrote on Mon, 20 February 2017 19:48

I understand your frustration. I bought 7.7 before the official

announcement and feel the same way. I will continue to use it until it no

longer meets my needs or until Kicad meets my expectations, which ever

happens first.

I see that there is a python scripting API for KiCad.  I'm going to work

with that a bit.  Also, while I'm not a huge scheme fan, gEDA does have

guile scripting.  In particular, this page about hierarchical blocks in

gEDA looks very interesting to me:

http://www.bourbonstreetsoftware.com/GEDABlocks.html.  He even uses "make"

which for me as a Unix guy is very appealing!

Quote:

I would like to see what you have written, however rough it may be for

educational purposes.

The general outline of the book is to talk about command line use and

scripting, then how to make menu changes and key assignments, followed by a

couple chapters on writing ULPs to create scripts.  Then I used Python to

take a look at the XML files directly.  For my example code, I

reimplemented my arrange and distribute ULPs in a Python script you run

from the command line.

In the next chapter, I started building a graphical interface to view the

files.  This turned into mostly a library and BOM manipulation tool, sort

of an external http://www.bobstarr.net/pages/downloads.html if you will.  I

considered using PyQt for the GUI, but the licensing didn't work for me, so

at that point, I switched to using Java.  I've got quite a few of the basic

functions implemented, so you can open an EAGLE file, change attributes,

move items, lock and unlock, save, etc.  Next, I was going to render the

board file and display it in 3D space so that you could fly by and see the

back side.  I've done this kind of thing before with POV-RAY, Sketchup,

Blender, TurboCAD, and Lightwave, but it would be nice to simplify that

process.

I think the last thing I'm going to do is implement some export function so

that I can convert all of my current designs to KiCad or gEDA.  And I have

to say, the http://www.altium.com/eagle-switch/circuitstudio/ deal is

sounding mighty nice - for less than the cost of a year of EAGLE Premium

subscription, you can get a perpetual license.  At the end of the year,

I'll have saved $5 and have a usable copy of Circuit Studio...

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On 21.02.2017 19:17, Doug Wellington wrote:

I considered using PyQt for the GUI, but the licensing didn't work for me, so

at that point, I switched to using Java.

For a more liberal license, you should have considered wxPython instead.

Python seems a much more natural choice for these tasks than Java.

Also, it would allow for easier integration if you really want to

migrate to KiCad. The PCB part of KiCad has a Python console already.

I would expect the Schematic part to follow sooner or later.

Regards,

Dietmar

On 21.02.2017 19:17, Doug Wellington wrote:

I considered using PyQt for the GUI, but the licensing didn't work for me, so

at that point, I switched to using Java.

For a more liberal license, you should have considered wxPython instead.

Python seems a much more natural choice for these tasks than Java.

Also, it would allow for easier integration if you really want to

migrate to KiCad. The PCB part of KiCad has a Python console already.

I would expect the Schematic part to follow sooner or later.

Regards,

Dietmar

Dietmar Schwertberger wrote on Wed, 22 February 2017 12:32

For a more liberal license, you should have considered wxPython

instead.

Thanks, part of my issue is that I was also writing in C++ and I didn't

want to have to release that source code.  It's my code, I wrote it and I

want to keep it private.  Over the years I have grown weary of people

contacting me demanding my source code, my schematic and board files, and

my gerbers.  It's hard to make your investment back when someone can grab

your work and match or beat your time to market and undermine your pricing.

Anything with GPL licensing is out for me because of that

Quote:

Python seems a much more natural choice for these tasks than Java.

For scripting, rapid prototyping and as a language to use for teaching,

Python is fantastic.  Because of it being interpreted though, there is no

way to effectively control your IP.

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Dietmar Schwertberger wrote on Wed, 22 February 2017 12:32

For a more liberal license, you should have considered wxPython

instead.

Thanks, part of my issue is that I was also writing in C++ and I didn't

want to have to release that source code.  It's my code, I wrote it and I

want to keep it private.  Over the years I have grown weary of people

contacting me demanding my source code, my schematic and board files, and

my gerbers.  It's hard to make your investment back when someone can grab

your work and match or beat your time to market and undermine your pricing.

Anything with GPL licensing is out for me because of that

Quote:

Python seems a much more natural choice for these tasks than Java.

For scripting, rapid prototyping and as a language to use for teaching,

Python is fantastic.  Because of it being interpreted though, there is no

way to effectively control your IP.

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Also, switching to the Java world lets me use Groovy, Scala, Clojure, and

even Jython or JRuby all together...

FWIW, the Java ecosystem is fantastic.  The build, test, code analysis,

continuous integration, etc., tools are great!

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EAGLE support forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca :: Where the EAGLE community meets.

Also, switching to the Java world lets me use Groovy, Scala, Clojure, and

even Jython or JRuby all together...

FWIW, the Java ecosystem is fantastic.  The build, test, code analysis,

continuous integration, etc., tools are great!

--

EAGLE support forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca :: Where the EAGLE community meets.

On 22.02.2017 20:55, Doug Wellington wrote:

Dietmar Schwertberger wrote on Wed, 22 February 2017 12:32

Thanks, part of my issue is that I was also writing in C++ and I didn' > want to have to release that source code.  It's my code, I wrote it

and I> want to keep it private.  Over the years I have grown weary of people

Put your core C++ code into a .pyd (i.e. actually a DLL).

Still you can control your code from Python, offering a scripting

interface without much effort.

contacting me demanding my source code, my schematic and board files, and

my gerbers.  It's hard to make your investment back when someone can grab

your work and match or beat your time to market and undermine your pricing.

Anything with GPL licensing is out for me because of that

The wx license is not GPL. It is LGPL, but even allows to distribute

binaries on your own terms. So basically, it's not much different from

MIT, BSD or similar licenses for any practical application.

For scripting, rapid prototyping and as a language to use for teaching,

Python is fantastic.

It's also a great language to implement large applications, either GUI

or web based. Implementing GUIs in C++ seems to be a huge waste of

resources. The learning curve for GUIs is a bit steep, just as for C++.

For this reason I started improving the wxGlade GUI builder last year.

If you go for wx, you should have a look at the current wxGlade version

from the repository.

(Documentation update is work in progress and not yet online.)

Because of it being interpreted though, there is no

way to effectively control your IP.

Well, there are ways, but these are a bit complicated. I have one

application where I'm using a dongle for Python code and .pyd extensions.

But protection of the Python code requires a custom Python runtime.

For extension of other people's code, that's probably not an option.

On the other hand, don't forget that Python bytecode might be easier

to decompile, but it's also possible for C++ code. I think there are

quite powerful reverse engineering tools for compiled binaries.

Regards,

Dietmar

On 22.02.2017 20:55, Doug Wellington wrote:

Dietmar Schwertberger wrote on Wed, 22 February 2017 12:32

Thanks, part of my issue is that I was also writing in C++ and I didn' > want to have to release that source code.  It's my code, I wrote it

and I> want to keep it private.  Over the years I have grown weary of people

Put your core C++ code into a .pyd (i.e. actually a DLL).

Still you can control your code from Python, offering a scripting

interface without much effort.

contacting me demanding my source code, my schematic and board files, and

my gerbers.  It's hard to make your investment back when someone can grab

your work and match or beat your time to market and undermine your pricing.

Anything with GPL licensing is out for me because of that

The wx license is not GPL. It is LGPL, but even allows to distribute

binaries on your own terms. So basically, it's not much different from

MIT, BSD or similar licenses for any practical application.

For scripting, rapid prototyping and as a language to use for teaching,

Python is fantastic.

It's also a great language to implement large applications, either GUI

or web based. Implementing GUIs in C++ seems to be a huge waste of

resources. The learning curve for GUIs is a bit steep, just as for C++.

For this reason I started improving the wxGlade GUI builder last year.

If you go for wx, you should have a look at the current wxGlade version

from the repository.

(Documentation update is work in progress and not yet online.)

Because of it being interpreted though, there is no

way to effectively control your IP.

Well, there are ways, but these are a bit complicated. I have one

application where I'm using a dongle for Python code and .pyd extensions.

But protection of the Python code requires a custom Python runtime.

For extension of other people's code, that's probably not an option.

On the other hand, don't forget that Python bytecode might be easier

to decompile, but it's also possible for C++ code. I think there are

quite powerful reverse engineering tools for compiled binaries.

Regards,

Dietmar

Dietmar Schwertberger wrote on Wed, 22 February 2017 13:16

Put your core C++ code into a .pyd (i.e. actually a DLL).  Still you

can control your code from Python, offering a scripting interface without

much effort.

Yes, I use Python for the GUI and scripting, and the C++ is for the

rendering and math functions (using a GPU).

Quote:

The wx license is not GPL. It is LGPL, but even allows to distribute

binaries on your own terms. So basically, it's not much different from

MIT, BSD or similar licenses for any practical application.

That is very nice.

Quote:

(Python is) also a great language to implement large applications,

either GUI or web based.

Yes, I agree.  At my "real" job during the day, I use Python and QT for

large applications every day.

Quote:

If you go for wx, you should have a look at the current wxGlade version

from the repository.

I will definitely look at that.  Thank you...

Quote:

I think there are quite powerful reverse engineering tools for compiled

binaries.

I have no illusions that a determined person would not be able to reverse

engineer my work.  If they wish to go through that effort, that is up to

them, but since I either give my tools away for free or charge a very small

amount of money, I hope it is not worth their trouble.

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