Moving to Kicad-plugin?

[Shackmeister]

Hi @matthewlai

First, thanks for the great work :) I noticed V6 imports all the extra fields from schematic (LCSC etc). I guess this would make it possible to run the script from PCBnew, and avoid a bunch of the export steps. Perhaps it could even be made as an actionplugin. Would this make sense?

I do understand if the amount of work would not be worth the gain.

Kindest regards

[matthewlai]

Hi @Shackmeister

That does sound interesting and would be a good simplification. Unfortunately I'm very busy for the next 2 months so I am unlikely to have time to look into that before then.

Contributions are of course welcome :)

[hattesen]

I might have a go at "plug-in'ifying" the current python scripts according to the Python Plugin Guide. Do you guys have any suggestions for how the UI integration should appear? I will do my best to maintain backwards compatibility with the current CLI implementation. I'll develop in a clone on a separate branch and submit a pull request, initially as a MVP.

[matthewlai]

Great! I haven't looked into it, so happy for you to decide. I guess you would want to add options for the current command line flags, minus ones that don't make sense for a plugin (eg project name and input directory). The current list is here: https://github.com/matthewlai/JLCKicadTools/blob/299ce3493c7ef7dabfe42e139c67a3c88081596a/jlc_kicad_tools/generate_jlc_files.py#L34

I think if a plugin works well, there's probably no need to maintain a CLI version.

Good luck!

[hattesen]

I think if a plugin works well, there's probably no need to maintain a CLI version.

On the other hand, unless there is a good reason not to maintain the CLI interface, why not leave it in. It may well provide easier testing, debugging and automation than running as a plug-in.

[easyw]

@matthewlai the CLI interface is extremely useful, IMO. i.e. kicad-cli is a response to users need...