Mail Archives: geda-user/2015/10/15/00:42:37
Robert Drehmel wrote:
> When (e.g.) routing 5mm power traces on a small grid, it's not always
> easy to hit the
> point where the trace ended (which is the center of the semicircle at
> the end of the
> line) to start the next line. If you have selected the line tool,
> finding the end of
> the line can become guesswork as the cursor doesn't change shape like
> it does with the
> select tool.
> I want my traces to consist of lines and arcs that are perfectly
> connected and I want
> to work as fast as possible.
>
> Attached is a small patch that
>
> - makes it possible to deactivate snapping to "some sensible point
> along a line".
> (that's what a comment in the code says). This snapping algorithm
> gets in the way
> sometimes so you have to slowly go over a line to find out where it
> really ends,
> bouncing back and forth between the points of the small grid, the
> end of the line
> and these "sensible points", which is wasting time. The command is
> "Display(ToggleSnapOffGridLine)". It is still activated by default
> to avoid
> violating POLA.
>
> - more importantly, introduces a new command called
> "Display(ToggleHighlightOnPoint)"
> that highlights all lines and arcs which have (end)points exactly
> on the position
> where the cross hair is currently snapped to. It therefore helps
> finding the end
> points of lines and arcs, but sometimes also shows redundant
> traces, traces that
> aren't perfectly connected to each other, traces that don't end
> directly on the
> center of a via but should, etc. It works with thin draw too and I
> tested it with
> gtk and lesstif.
>
> I use the second option mostly in conjunction with deactivating the
> first. Both commands
> have been added to the menu by means of (g)pcb-menu.res.in and are
> available as command
> line options as well.
> Caveats:
> - The HID API expects all HIDs to make a copy of the color string
> when setting a color.
> - The function that lightens up a color could be improved.
> - I used it for a while, but after porting it from my local fork, it
> probably needs
> more testing.
Hi Robert,
All good points, thanks for the diff (a git patch would give you more
credits ;-).
I made a topic branch "home/bert/onpoint" in the pcb git repository for
all interested parties to test and review.
I will test this patch myself in the coming days and hope to merge it
into master asap.
Oh, and I will open a bug report in Launchpad for others to follow up.
Kind regards,
Bert Timmerman.
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