Clean up UI presentation of environment variables vs. 3D search paths

[David Brown]

When kicad if first opened and the 3d view selected for the pcb the 3d models are not loaded. However if the footprint library is opened and 'update paths' selected and closed without edit. The 3d models will then load in the viewer.

The environmental variables point to a mapped drive path, not the default location. Its seems that pcbnew is not reading the ENV location on startup.

Application: kicad
Version: (2018-01-14 revision 63e55e918)-makepkg, release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.3
    libcurl/7.54.1 OpenSSL/1.0.2l zlib/1.2.11 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.23.1 librtmp/2.3
Platform: Windows 7 (build 7601, Service Pack 1), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.3 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.60.0
    Curl: 7.54.1
    Compiler: GCC 7.1.0 with C++ ABI 1011

Build settings:
    USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Oivind Toien (otoien)]

This cannot be reproduced in latest Windows nightly (2018-01-18 revision ef13b97ff) when system environmental variables have not been been installed at KiCad installation, however see the following.

This problem might be due to system environmental variables having been installed by default and (by design*) overriding the ones defined under Configure Paths.

I suggest that the option to install system environmental variables is ticked off by default in the installer instead of currently being on by default, as this is has been recurring problem for many users. (Perhaps a message could also be added at first run after install in Eeschema, like in PCBnew, with instruction to check the defined symbol paths, as those predefined are usually incorrect for Windows users.)

[*As I understand the system environmental variables are designed to be a quick way for developers to install default paths specific to their system by overriding those under Configure Paths].

[Oivind Toien (otoien)]

David,
You could try to remove system environmental variables by the following procedure:
Start->(right-click)Computer->Properties->Advanced System Settings->Environment Variables
Delete all the ones related to KiCad. Then reboot the computer. Now the ones previously defined under Configure Paths should work if this was your problem.

[David Brown (dbrown2k)]

Deleting the system variables that I had set appears to have changed the behavior to that expected. But does not change the fact that the system variables were not being read by kicad until the dialogue had been accessed.

The environmental variables were set to the correct folder as I was tired of having to update the paths every time I installed a new version of kicad (unticking setting default environmental variables each time).

If the system environmental variables are not required to be set then I'm unsure where exactly the paths information is stored between installs.

I think that the naming of the 'configure paths' dialogue of 'Environmental Variable Configuration' is misleading if they are stored in any other location than the system settings. And should be simply; 'configure paths'.

[Nick Østergaard (nickoe)]

This is probably related to
https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1740022

[Oivind Toien (otoien)]

There is 'System Environment Variables' and just 'Environment Variables', but I agree that there would be less confusion if the dialog was named the same as the menu choice, 'Configure Paths'. That and having the installer option for 'System Environment Variables' ticked off by default would likely avoid a number of user problems.