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Date: Mon, 11 Jan 2016 07:35:18 +0100
From: "Bert Timmerman (bert DOT timmerman AT xs4all DOT nl) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com]" <geda-user AT delorie DOT com>
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To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com
Subject: Re: [geda-user] A new PCB file format - modular system
References: <5692CBD5 DOT 3020101 AT prochac DOT sk>
In-Reply-To: <5692CBD5.3020101@prochac.sk>
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Reply-To: geda-user AT delorie DOT com

Milan Prochac (milan AT prochac DOT sk) [via geda-user AT delorie DOT com] wrote:
> After reading long discussions about the new PCB file format I tried 
> to implement support for multiple file  formats.
>
> You can download it here: 
> http://static.bastl.sk/pcb/Modular-file-formats.gz It is also 
> available on launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/pcb/+bug/1532611
>
> The patch implements modular system to support multiple PCB file 
> formats. Attached is also the template of the file-format plugin with 
> instructions.
>
> The patch is not too big, but it touches various parts of PCB, so it 
> is possible that some corner cases are not handled properly. Comments 
> and bug reports are welcome.
>
> The modular system utilizes existing plugin system; new type of plugin 
> is added to support various file formats. This approach allows 
> implementation of additional file formats as independent shared 
> library with minimal effort. The whole implementation of new file 
> format is reduced to serialization and de-serialization of PCBType 
> data structure, no PCB tweaking is necessary. The template with 
> instructions is provided, as mentioned above.
>
> - modular system is available for all layout operations (Load, Save, 
> Save As, Load to buffer, Revert, auto-backup); the element operations 
> will be added later.
> - action "SaveTo(LayoutAs..." was extended by 3rd argument, specifying 
> file format; if omitted, current (or default) format is used
> - GUI (GTK only at the moment) was adjusted to allow select file 
> format; for "save" operations it specifies desired format, for "open" 
> operations it is used as filter
> - file format is detected automatically by modular framework
> - the versioning system (based on PCB file version #defines) is 
> available - each plugin should confirm it's capability to save data of 
> required version (like 20110603); if not, the file format cannot be used
> - load-only and save-only formats are supported. If save-only format 
> is used, the layout is not marked as "saved".
> - the current PCB format is converted to built-in plugin.
>
> With this enhancement it should be very easy to implement new file 
> formats. If more of them will be available, the most successful can 
> become new standard PCB format and - hopefully -  the data model 
> modifications will be not blocked by hard-to-extend file format 
> anymore...
>
> Regards
> Milan
>
Hi Milan,

Your file formats patch is now pushed to "home/bert/LP1532611" for review.

Thanks and kind regards,

Bert Timmerman.