Line length change

Hi James,

On 07/20/12 15:56, Bob Moreno wrote:

Here is a discussion on the support forum I thought would be good to offer as a suggestion also.

 

The question was:

Is there a way to create a line and specify/change its length once it is on your board layout? I brought up properties on some lines I drew and thought I could specify the length I wanted, but it is not allowed on the properties box? A way to specify after the fact eliminates having to look at coordinates or trying to start at a certain location to determine length. This should be available via a properties menu.

 

 

Answer:

Hi Bob,

 

The length field in the properties box is read-only.  But you can edit the

(x y) coordinate of the start and end of the line so you can effect the

length that way.

 

Or, if you know exactly how much shorter you want it, set the grid to that

exact amount and then move one end of the line by exactly one grid.

 

Cheers,

 

James.

In EAGLE's property dialogs generally all properties are just changeable in one way

and only get effective after apply or ok pressed.

This makes the behaviour very clear.

Your suggestion basically makes sense of course. But with this you'd be able to change cordinates

in 2 ways (by changing coordinates directly and/or changing length).

If both is changed, who wins ? What if additionally the curve value is changed ?

If only length is changed, we could keep the wire's first point and change the 2nd point

or the other way. That's not clear either. There needs to be something like a swap option, too.

The dialog will no more be so easy to understand, so I'm not sure

if that's such a good idea.

Regards,

Walter Spermann

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I constantly need to draw lines on the tplace layer and I have no way to be sure lines that are not near each other are the same length.I currently have to draw a line from location 0,0,0, or calculate coordinates, add/subtract etc, (for length measurements) and then move it to where I need it. This however creates the problem of needing to work at inserting the lines at the precise location I need them, rather than just create a line from where I need and simply specify the length. I realize I can start a line anywhere, but to be precise as to length and match other lines I need is very time consuming. This line drawing with a length measurement would also go a long way in helping to create outlines in the library package edit area by allowing an outline to be done simply by drawing lines to length needed no matter where they start. And yes I mean leave the  first point and only change the second point as it relates to what length you specify. Of course allowing normal right mouse click rotation on the line also. I know I mention WinQcad (no longer supported) a lot here but if you look at the way lines and packages are made in that program you get a good idea how easy it is to draw lines, make packages etc. of course Eagle exceeds that program in so many ways, but in some WinQcad is easier to use. The package edit in WinQcad is using this line draw concept I mention here by just needing to specify X and Y length along with pitch and row or colunm count to create pads of any shape and count in seconds.

Regards,

Bob Moreno

Walter Spermann <Walter.Spermann@cadsoft.de> wrote:

Hi James,

 

On 07/20/12 15:56, Bob Moreno wrote:

>> Here is a discussion on the support forum I thought would be good to

>> offer as a suggestion also.

>>

>> The question was:

>> Is there a way to create a line and specify/change its length once it is

>> on your board layout? I brought up properties on some lines I drew and

>> thought I could specify the length I wanted, but it is not allowed on

>> the properties box? A way to specify after the fact eliminates having to

>> look at coordinates or trying to start at a certain location to

>> determine length. This should be available via a properties menu.

>>

>>

>> Answer:

>> Hi Bob,

>>

>> The length field in the properties box is read-only.  But you can edit the

>> (x y) coordinate of the start and end of the line so you can effect the

>> length that way.

>>

>> Or, if you know exactly how much shorter you want it, set the grid to that

>> exact amount and then move one end of the line by exactly one grid.

>>

>> Cheers,

>>

>> James.

In EAGLE's property dialogs generally all properties are just changeable in one way

and only get effective after apply or ok pressed.

This makes the behaviour very clear.

 

Your suggestion basically makes sense of course. But with this you'd be

able to change cordinates

in 2 ways (by changing coordinates directly and/or changing length).

If both is changed, who wins ? What if additionally the curve value is changed ?

 

If only length is changed, we could keep the wire's first point and change the 2nd point

or the other way. That's not clear either. There needs to be something

like a swap option, too.

The dialog will no more be so easy to understand, so I'm not sure

if that's such a good idea.

 

Regards,

Walter Spermann

Now that was a lazy answer

How about a calculate button on each point inside the properties? Put angle

and length (load it with current) in a requester and it calculates the new

point for you. There is no need to support command line, but I guess it

would be nice there too.