Open Sch & Brd files together

Silviu Epure schrieb:

And to be usefull. Eagle Control Panel should at least support pdf and

images....Could be displayed/preview on the "white (now - 90%of time) area

of the Control Panel"

I strongly disagree. EAGLE is a PCB CAD software, neither a file manager

nor a PDF (or whatever else) previewer. For such purposes, other tools

exist.

Tilmann

"Tilmann Reh" <usenet2007nospam@autometer.de> wrote in message

news:hm5m69$us8$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

Silviu Epure schrieb:

 

And to be usefull. Eagle Control Panel should at least support pdf and

images....Could be displayed/preview on the "white (now - 90%of time)

area

of the Control Panel"

 

I strongly disagree. EAGLE is a PCB CAD software, neither a file manager

nor a PDF (or whatever else) previewer. For such purposes, other tools

exist.

 

Tilmann

I somewhat agree with you:

developper time should be used to evolve electronics part of the eagle, not

minore things like that

Tilmann Reh schrieb:

Silviu Epure schrieb:

 

And to be usefull. Eagle Control Panel should at least support pdf and

images....Could be displayed/preview on the "white (now - 90%of time) area

of the Control Panel"

 

I strongly disagree. EAGLE is a PCB CAD software, neither a file manager

nor a PDF (or whatever else) previewer. For such purposes, other tools

exist.

 

Tilmann

EXACTLY!

--

Gruß / regards

Joern

"Tilmann Reh" <usenet2007nospam@autometer.de> wrote in message

news:hm5m69$us8$1@cheetah.cadsoft.de...

I strongly disagree. EAGLE is a PCB CAD software, neither a file manager

nor a PDF (or whatever else) previewer. For such purposes, other tools

exist.

True, but Eagle does not have, nor intend to implement a simple interface to

this type of documents.

Please remember that ALL your electronics projects are basen on at least one

PDF file......

It's called "documentation", it's the most important part of a project, and

Eagle has no support for this.

On 02/25/2010 02:16 AM, Tilmann Reh wrote:

Alexander Horst schrieb:

 

Often, there is no epf, e.g. when opening a sch&brd pair, which was sent

by email. In this case I very often run into the behavior as described by

Silviu.

 

This could be solved if EAGLE would load some kind of default "project"

settings when a sch/brd file is opened directly (instead of a project).

 

Tilmann

Alexander & Tilmann,

All very good points.

A checkbox in the dialog "Always do this" would be rather simple to add.

To initialize this, add an entry in ~/.eaglerc.  Perhaps something like:

    Dialog.OpenMatchingFile = {"Always","Never","Ask"}

would work, with the absence of the line defaulting to "Ask"?  To revert

the choice, all one would have to do is delete that line or set the

value to "Ask" using a garden-variety plain text editor like vim or

emacs (I'm a vim-guy myself).  By keeping this in ~/.eaglerc, it remains

the choice of the user and does not affect others who might use the same

installation.

The fact that this thread boasts such a robust debate indicates that

there is diversity of need.  As such, if I were on the design committee

at CadSoft, I would at provide the user the choice and not mandate

that the matching sch/brd always or never opens.  While there are

clearly those who want to always open the matching file, there are also

those want the option, and those who would choose "never".

The task of predicting how one's software will be used is daunting to

say the least.  The wider the customer base, the more configurable

options have to be present, and documentation thereof, to accommodate

unforeseen uses of the software.

Enjoy,

    - Chuck

Chuck Huber wrote on Thu, 25 February 2010 09:31

The fact that this thread boasts such a robust debate indicates that

there is diversity of need.  As such, if I were on the design

committee

at CadSoft, I would at provide the user the choice and not mandate

that the matching sch/brd always or never opens.

Think about it from the newbie perspective.  They may not understand the

full issues about opening both files together or not, and asking them will

give the impression that either is reasonable.  Not opening both files is

dangerous and not something anyone will want to do often.  It should only

be done by those knowing exactly what they are doing.

Therefore there shouldn't be a choice or at least it should default to

silently opening both.  For the rare cases where a expert user really wants

just one open, it's easy enough to close one of the two.  However you've

prevented people getting themselves into trouble in the normal and far far

more common cases.

--

Browser access to CadSoft Support Forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca

Il 25/02/2010 16.02, Olin Lathrop ha scritto:

Therefore there shouldn't be a choice or at least it should default to

silently opening both. For the rare cases where a expert user really wants

just one open, it's easy enough to close one of the two. However you've

prevented people getting themselves into trouble in the normal and far far

more common cases.

Fully agreed. I think that a new option in the eaglerc is the best

alternative sofar. As there has been also other options added lately via

the eaglerc (like ctrl-right-click behaviour), should be a valid way to

do it.

I would also propose to make as default to open both brd/sch together,

would make newbie users life simpler and safer. Those who have had to

repair broken sch/brd file contents (suppose all posters on this thread)

know that it can be a daunting experience.

Kim

True, but Eagle does not have, nor intend to implement a simple interface to

this type of documents.

Please remember that ALL your electronics projects are basen on at least one

PDF file......

It's called "documentation", it's the most important part of a project, and

Eagle has no support for this.

 

 

No, it doesn't, but so what? How often do you use that swiss army knife?

It does a lot, but none of it well, don't you usually break out the real

tools? Do you really want Eagle to be that way? It will be if the

developers spend lots of time on non-Electronic stuff.

A file manager is for viewing files, and whatever document creating

software is for creating documents, and Eagle is for designing

Electronics. I don't want a swiss army eagle.

I don't know why some of you organize your files the way you do....

Here's what I do and it works quite well:

Top folder: c:\Projects <--This is the directory Eagle Projects points to.

Subfolders: Project NameA, Project NameB, Project NameC

Subfolders for each project: Hardware, Marketing, Software, other

project specific folders that doesn't belong in any subfolder

Subfolders for ProjectName->Hardware: Datasheets, Firmware, Schematics

Subfolders for ProjectName->Hardware->Firmware: If project has multiple

boards that need firmware, Name of each Board, i.e.: Sender, Receiver.

Otherwise this level is skipped and go to the next line:

Subfolders for ProjectName->Hardware->Firmware->BoardName: v1.0, v1.1, v1.2

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software->Schematics: works same as

Subfolders for Firmware, but under each version number is CAM output for

gerber files. Each v1.0, v1.1, v1.2 folder is an eagle project folder.

There may be multiple brd&sch pair files in each version folder if there

are multiple PCBs for that project.

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software: Releases, Source

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software->Releases: v1.0, v1.1, v1.2

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software->Releases->Ver#: Release for Web,

Release for CD

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software->Source: v1.0, v1.1, v1.2

Subfolders for ProjectName->Software->Source->Ver#: Help, and a folder

for each project of the software

Changelogs for each component are kept in the version # folders (v1.0,

v1.1, etc.)

Very organized, easy to backup, and takes care of revisions. It also has

the advantage that you can browse every project from the eagle projects

folder. And therefore, I LOVE that eagle doesn't show non-eagle stuff!

It would make browsing several projects at a time a NIGHTMARE of

scrolling if it did. It's already bad enough due to the Libs and how

long they get...

Note that the only thing this doesn't do is indicate which versions of

firmware / software are fully compatible with one another, but usually I

try to number all version numbers the same, and list those changes in

the documentation.

Travis

Travis G wrote on Thu, 25 February 2010 13:29

A file manager is for viewing files, and whatever document creating

software is for creating documents, and Eagle is for designing

Electronics. I don't want a swiss army eagle.

I totally agree.  I want CadSoft concentrating on making electronic design

with Eagle better.  I already have plenty of other tools to help me write

documents, edit firmware, etc.

Quote:

I don't know why some of you organize your files the way you do....

Here's what I do and it works quite well:

I do it even more stripped down in the Eagle directory.  Basically, I only

keep Eagle stuff in the Eagle tree.  I keep my own eagle directory, which

is separate from the Eagle installation directory.  The Eagle installation

directory is only for stuff that comes from CadSoft.  All my own stuff goes

into my own Eagle directory, and all the search paths for ULPs, libraries,

etc, only look in my own eagle directory.

One of my eagle subdirectories is "proj".  In there are directories for

each separate customer.  Inside those are directories for each separate

board.  I use a whole directory for each version of each board.  That way

schematic, board, gerber, drill, drawing, BOM, and other files for a board

are nicely in only one place and there isn't non-board stuff there

cluttering things up.  There is rarely a nice one to one correspondence

between boards, firmware versions, host programs, etc, so only

board-related stuff goes into the board directories.  Firmware, host code,

and documentation live other places in the system and have different

organization.

Only Eagle stuff lives in the eagle tree.  This makes the Eagle control

panel actually useful for exactly what it was intended for.  I've never

wanted to open a Eagle file other than thru Eagle.  CTRL-ALT-C (my own

Windows hot key mapping) opens Eagle in a split second, then I can quickly

and easily open whatever from there using the arrow keys and ENTER from the

Eagle control panel.

I think people would have a easier time with Eagle if they tried to embrace

it for what it is and use other stuff for what it isn't.  There are way too

many ways someone could set up their own workflow and structure, and it's

not reasonable to ask Eagle to accomodate them.  Eagle does what it does

well.  Fit it into your workflow as it was meant to be.  Don't try to

modify Eagle to handle your workflow, because there will be a never ending

list of things CadSoft would have to do to appease everyone once they start

down this slippery slope.

--

Browser access to CadSoft Support Forums at http://www.eaglecentral.ca

I do it even more stripped down in the Eagle directory. Basically, I only

keep Eagle stuff in the Eagle tree. I keep my own eagle directory, which

is separate from the Eagle installation directory. The Eagle installation

directory is only for stuff that comes from CadSoft. All my own stuff goes

into my own Eagle directory, and all the search paths for ULPs, libraries,

etc, only look in my own eagle directory.

My projects folder is also my own eagle directory; in it is none of the

Eagle supplied libs or ULPs. Those all reside in the Eagle program

directory.

In my projects folder I also keep a subfolder called Eagle that I didn't

mention earlier. In that folder are subfolders for all my ULPs and libs

I've created.

I see the benefit of keeping some of it separate from the projects

folder, as you do, but I do it my way for easy backup. Also if I ever

implement a professional CVS such as subversion, it will keep track of

everything by tracking only 1 folder.

Travis