"No filename specified!" in CAM processor even though it is

Thank you Richard,

With a little help from another user, I've discovered what was giving me so much trouble - it was the user interface that had me so confused.

File>Open>Cam Job...

    Because, just selecting File>Open... from the board editor only gives you the choice of opening a board or schematic. When I was looking around for File>Open>Job... I couldn't find it! But I noticed that I could open CAM jobs from the Control Panel File>Open>Cam Job... and that's what I had been doing every time.

     You get the same CAM processor dialog box, with the same five tabs populated, but Process Job or Process Section result in the "No filename specified!" message.

    Now I see that if you open the CAM processor first, then you get the File>Open>Job... option.

    That subtle difference is what led to my confusion. I spent several hours trying different permutations of filenames and locations for the output job files! Now that I see the difference, I will call this a flaw in the user interface. It is confusing that some menu items behave similarly but are really different when invoking them from the Control Panel, schematic or board editor, or CAM processor. I was about to rip my hair out! Why is the File>Open Cam Job... hierarchy in the menu there in the Control Panel. Very confusing!

     In any case, thanks for your reply!

     ...Dave

On 13/01/14 15:23, David Craig wrote:

    Now I see that if you open the CAM processor first, then you get the

File>Open>Job... option.

If you have the board editor open, the "File" menu includes "CAM

Processor". Surely that's a pretty obvious thing to click on if you want

to generate Gerbers from a board?

 

    That subtle difference is what led to my confusion. I spent several

hours trying different permutations of filenames and locations for the

output job files! Now that I see the difference, I will call this a flaw

in the user interface. It is confusing that some menu items behave

similarly but are really different when invoking them from the Control

Panel, schematic or board editor, or CAM processor.

No more so than ANY other GUI I've ever encountered. It's like that for

reasons that you get used to after a while.

I was about to rip

my hair out! Why is the File>Open Cam Job... hierarchy in the menu there

in the Control Panel. Very confusing!

Just like the option to open a library from the control panel, or a user

language program, or a script, it's there so that you can edit the job

without having to load a project first. This is helpful if you're

setting up a new default or a company standard.

On 13/01/14 15:23, David Craig wrote:

    Now I see that if you open the CAM processor first, then you get the

File>Open>Job... option.

If you have the board editor open, the "File" menu includes "CAM

Processor". Surely that's a pretty obvious thing to click on if you want

to generate Gerbers from a board?

 

    That subtle difference is what led to my confusion. I spent several

hours trying different permutations of filenames and locations for the

output job files! Now that I see the difference, I will call this a flaw

in the user interface. It is confusing that some menu items behave

similarly but are really different when invoking them from the Control

Panel, schematic or board editor, or CAM processor.

No more so than ANY other GUI I've ever encountered. It's like that for

reasons that you get used to after a while.

I was about to rip

my hair out! Why is the File>Open Cam Job... hierarchy in the menu there

in the Control Panel. Very confusing!

Just like the option to open a library from the control panel, or a user

language program, or a script, it's there so that you can edit the job

without having to load a project first. This is helpful if you're

setting up a new default or a company standard.

Guest,

Maybe after you've been initiated, it seems obvious. But if you've never generated a Gerber file from EAGLE before, it's not.

And then what? You get a dialog box that has a tab with nothing but an asterisk in it, and a File button. What's the file button for? Selecting the output file. OK. How do you open the .cam job? There's no button for that - it's File>Open>Job.... menu. But what if you clicked on the board window in the meantime as I did. Now the menu has changed, maybe you didn't notice that. Now it's File>Open..., which does something different. But look! There's File>Open>CAM Job... because now I clicked on the control panel and it's the active window - that's what I want, right? It let's you open a CAM job gerb274x.cam. That dialog looks right, one tab for each layer. There's a File button, I can select the output filename and path, and a device. Only Process Job gives the "No filename specified!" message. I think that message is misleading and what led to my confusion. What filename is not specified? I specified an output file, I loaded the gerb274x.cam file, what filename is not specified?

Well, my point is simply that if I ran into this then some other new user might too, and I hope that this thread will help them.

It's a good thing that I didn't pull my hair out!

...Dave

Guest,

Maybe after you've been initiated, it seems obvious. But if you've never

generated a Gerber file from EAGLE before, it's not.

And then what? You get a dialog box that has a tab with nothing but an

asterisk in it, and a File button. What's the file button for? Selecting

the output file. OK. How do you open the .cam job? There's no button for

that - it's File>Open>Job.... menu. But what if you clicked on the board

window in the meantime as I did. Now the menu has changed, maybe you

didn't notice that. Now it's File>Open..., which does something

different. But look! There's File>Open>CAM Job... because now I clicked

on the control panel and it's the active window - that's what I want,

right? It let's you open a CAM job gerb274x.cam. That dialog looks

right, one tab for each layer. There's a File button, I can select the

output filename and path, and a device. Only Process Job gives the "No

filename specified!" message. I think that message is misleading and

what led to my confusion. What filename is not specified? I specified an

output file, I loaded the gerb274x.cam file, what filename is not

specified?

Well, my point is simply that if I ran into this then some other new

user might too, and I hope that this thread will help them.

It's a good thing that I didn't pull my hair out!

..Dave

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On 13/01/14 22:31, David Craig wrote:

Maybe after you've been initiated, it seems obvious. But if you've never

generated a Gerber file from EAGLE before, it's not.

All I can say is that I didn't find it confusing even the very first

time I generated Gerbers. But then I'm old-fashioned enough to have read

the tutorial that comes supplied with the software.

thanks david for pointing this out - i just sank a few hours on this. indeed very confusing.