Allow Symbol Name to be different from Symbol Value

[Silviu Laurentiu]

     Regarding he structure of the symbols in the library file.
     Let's have the look on the symbol structure at this moment:
#
# CMP_NAME
#
DEF CMP_NAME C 0 40 Y Y 1 F N
F0 "C" 0 140 45 H V C CNN
F1 "CMP_NAME" 0 200 40 H I C CNN
F2 "C_0805" 0 -80 30 H V C CNN
F3 "" 0 -90 10 H V C CNN
F4 "1.8pF" 0 85 40 H V C CNN "Value2"
F5 "50V" 0 -125 30 H V C CNN "Voltage"
F6 "10%" 0 -170 30 H V C CNN "Tolerance"
DRAW
S -40 -50 -20 50 0 1 0 f
S 20 -50 40 50 0 1 0 f
X 1 1 -150 0 110 R 25 0 1 1 P
X 2 2 150 0 110 L 25 0 1 1 P
ENDDRAW
ENDDEF

     The same information is in three different places:
here:
 # **CMP_NAME**

and here:
DEF **CMP_NAME** C 0 40 Y Y 1 F N

and here:
F1 "**CMP_NAME**" 0 200 40 H I C CNN

     Why is this needed? I don't know what to say.
     But, in the symbol editor, I don't understand why Kicad, when I create a symbol, don't allow me to have different names for symbol Name (DEF field) and for Value (F1 field)?
     However, after I placed the symbol in the schematic, the Eeschema allows me to change the Value.

     In this moment, this situation involve for me a double work to change the symbol Value, every time when a symbol is placed into a schematic. Do it one time in my life, it is not a problem, but when I have to do it 1000 times in my life, it could be a problem.

     In my opinion it will be a big advantage if symbol editor will allow me to have different names for Name and Value of the symbol.
     For example, let's have a scenario:
     Create a new symbol with below Value: C_SMD_0805_1.8pF_50V_10%_Ceramic_C0G_ID1802270001H. The symbol Name will be automatically chosen the same by the symbol editor: C_SMD_0805_1.8pF_50V_10%_Ceramic_C0G_ID1802270001H. And after the symbol will be placed in the schematic, I have to manually change above long Value with 1.8pF.
      If the symbol editor will allow me to set the symbol Value and then, when the symbol is saved, it will ask be for symbol Name (as Footprint Editor does it), a lot of time will be saved when the component will be used in the schematic design.

     This is a solution for the problem in below discussion: https://forum.kicad.info/t/symbol-lib-same-value-but-different-name-how/1837

     Many thanks!

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Silviu-

I'm not quite sure what you are asking for. The value field is able to be set by the user after you place the component.

If you don't want to set the value 1000x, you can use the "Edit Symbol Field" button (right side of the top toolbar, looks like a spreadsheet) to set them all at once.

It sounds kind of like you want a full symbol-component map. Is that accurate?

[Silviu Laurentiu (silviulaurentiu)]

What I reported, is not a bug, it is let say a feature.

I made an automatic library generator.

Let's say that I read a database with all my components and their parameters and I use a template symbol for each electronic component and in the end, from all of these, I automatically generate symbols from the template with all symbol properties from database filled in.

My problem is that: Kicad symbol structure, don't allow me to generate the Value name of the symbol different by the Name of the symbol. From Kicad point of view, these two parameters (symbol name and symbol value) have to be same.

My suggestion for symbol structure, is to allow me to have different names for the Name of symbol (#DEF field) and for Value (F1 field) of symbol.

Do you understand my suggestion?

I attached an example from a library automatically generated. As you can see, for each symbol I was forced to add a new field named Value2 in order to be able to have the same Value (i.e: 100nF) for two different components. If Kicad had allowed me to have different symbols with the same value in the same library, then the thinks are easier and a lot of advantages comes from here.

I hope I was clear enough. If not, please let me know.

Thanks a lot!

Thanks a lot!

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

KiCad bug tracker has moved to Gitlab. This report is now available here: https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2111