random annotation in complex hierarchy

[Ivica Kvasina]

i am presently using BZR 3044 on windows.
issue i have recently discovered is with annotation being random when using hierarchical sheets.

one CAN influence annotation order in ONE sheet but unfortunately, this does not work with multiple sheets.
Annotating by hand is just not practical for anything using more than few components.

for example in top level sheet i created 12 instances to another sheet (instances are same file, but have unique sheet names). they are arranged in simple pattern:
1 4 7 10
2 5 8 11
3 6 9 12

unfortunately KiCad does not annotate according to selected options and so far it seem to be random.

for example if i choose:
- reset existing annotation
- sort components by X (top to bottom, left to right)
- start to (sheet number)*100 and use first free number

i expect that components annotation is like

100 400 700 1000
200 500 800 1100
300 600 900 1200

but what i get is something like:

1300 1000 200 400
1200 800 300 700
1100 900 500 600

It neither uses sheet number, nor order in which sheets are created.

regards,

Ivica Kvasina

[A Wolfe (a-wolfie)]

Probably directly related to this...

After messing around with a text editor I think I figured out what dictates the sheet order... It is the order that the sheet shows up in the base .sch file when editing it with a text editor (search the file for $Sheet, there should be one for each sheet in the schematic file open). To get my sheets to have the correct order I had to move them in order in the text file, lowest sheet number first. The "Sheet" indication at the top of the .sch file seems to have nothing to do with the actual sheet numbering.

There is no simple way to manage sheet numbering, especially as hierarchy grows. This is a significant bug for those who can't fit their schematic on just a few pages!

[Chris Elliott (sembazuru)]

Also having some indication on the sheet 'part' for the page number would help so I don't have to waste the sheet name just to indicate page number.

[Ivica Kvasina (kvasina)]

More than a year later, this is still not assigned or even considered. I would expect that annotation get's more attention because in my mind, this should be really simple to implement. Everything needed is already in the GUI in the annotation dialog (choose direction etc.). The only thing left to do is to make sure that subsheets are processed in selected order. One just need to sort and assign number by location of the subsheet in the topsheet - a simple sort. On cannot place hundreds of subsheets into topsheet so even bubble sort will do.
:-(

[Bryce (bstguitarist)]

I have run into this issue as well. I have a complex hierarchical structured project and was disappointed when I realized I had no easy control over page ordering when printing. The output page order was not intuitive at all. However, I was able to use A Wolf's suggestions and re-order my project page structure in a text editor but this was by no means nice to do. Please fix this issue, Kicad is getting better quickly and it's awesome but please address this issue!

[Martin Errenst (imp-d)]

The while annotating the schematic still depends on the order of the subsheets inside the .sch file with r4714.
Maybe ordering can be done by abusing the timestamp field (what is the intention behind this field?)?
Also the timestamp field inside the sheets properties dialog looks like an input box, but the user cannot edit it's contents...

[Karl Zeilhofer (zeilhofer)]

this bug is also described
here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1154131
and here: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/kicad/+spec/manual-page-order

please consider the sub-sub-sheet problem described in the first link, which has AFAIK no workaround at this time.

greets, Karl

[Karl Zeilhofer (zeilhofer)]

since the KiCad developers are too busy to implement this feature, I have written a simple external tool.
I'm sorry for not implementing it directly in the KiCad source code, but currently I have not the time to dig into this huge project code.

Please have a look here:
http://www.zeilhofer.co.at/kicad-sheet-rearranger

Greets,
Karl