Have a question about CadSoft EAGLE?  Ask our Expert, Richard! (Archive)

Hello Richard,

I am currently with a customer who would like to see some key changes with Eagle:  here is what we discussed:

1 - copy/paste function

At the moment, he can only copy one schematic.  The scripts don't enable our customer to achieve what he really wants.

He would like to copy the schematic, the components position on the board and the signal routing.

This customer works a lot with sub assemblies; if he wishes to copy 20 times the same sub assembly, he has to replace all the components every time on the board.

Could the enhanced copy/paste facility he is looking for be included in Eagle? 

2 - shortcuts

He also made a comment about the scripts:  he woud love to have more shortcuts.

For example, when he is trying to find a component, he would prefer to use CTRL F, rather than have to use scripts.

The ideal would be to have shortcuts that you can customise.

3 - facilitating the viewing of different layers

At the moment, our customer has to select a number of Eagle layers (1, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 23, 25, 48 et 51) to display the top layers for example.

What would be great would be if you could assign a key, eg F1, to do this in one go.

This would make it easier to switch from layers to layers.

4 - export 3D

Could you please update the 'generate 3D data' script to enable exporting in the IDF4 format?

5 - packages to be available separately

The ideal would be to separate the packages from the library.

This would make it easier for him to create new components, and to switch package from component to component.

6 - sharing libraries between colleagues

Could it be possible to access libraries that colleagues create, without having to copy them manually?

Can you please let me know what you think about the above?

Thank you for your help,

Véronique

Whenever I've needed to base a design on another design, I simply save it as a different name and then make the necessary modifications - although I would like to see things like this (also, keeping the sizes of the names/values if I change the component - for example, from an 0805 resistor to an 0603).

The second you should be able to assign ULPs to a key - I've got mine so that if I use F11/F12, then it prepares the board for output, so I can paste it onto a web page. This is what I've assigned the key to do:

RUN exp2image color 260 .png 1 17 18 20 21 25 27 48 51;

For the third point, you can do this already - the basic command for what you want is:

display none 1 17 18 19 20 21 23 25 48 51;

This can be assigned to a key from the assign menu.

Thank you for your prompt answer Jason.  I'll definitely pass this information on.

I look forward to hearing from Richard on the other points...

Have a lovely Easter!

Rgds

Véronique

Thank you for your prompt answer Jason.  I'll definitely pass this information on.

I look forward to hearing from Richard on the other points...

Have a lovely Easter!

Rgds

Véronique