Inconsistent terms for footprint association

[Bob Cousins]

There seem to be at least 4 different ways to describe the assignments of footprints to symbols, "assignment" "association", "links" and "selected".

The eeschema menu has, Tools->Assign Footprints but the tooltip for the toolbar button says "associate footprints". The cvpcb dialog says "unassigned footprints" in the status bar, and elsewhere refers to "footprint association", "selected footprint" or "unlinked symbol".

There are also .equ files which are referred to as "footprint association files" (does anyone use those?)

It would be good to adopt a consistent terminology.

Can we also drop references to cvpcb, and call the dialog something like "Footprint Association Editor", in a similar style to other dialogs?

Yes, I am aware cvpcb used to be a separate application, but that no longer has any relevance to the user.

Application: kicad
Version: (5.0.0-rc2-dev-266-gbad462a22), debug build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.3
    libcurl/7.57.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2n (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.0.4 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.29.0
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: 1.66.0
    Curl: 7.57.0
    Compiler: GCC 7.3.0 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=OFF
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

[Jeff Young (jeyjey)]

CvPcb status bar no longer mentions unassigned or unlinked symbols.
Menu tooltip changed to "Assign PCB footprints to schematic symbols" (and ellipsis added to menu).

Association Files are somewhat different as they define a class rather than an instance (ie: an association is used to automate one or more assignments).

View selected footprint opens the viewer for the footprint selected in the right-hand pane. It doesn't have anything to do with assignments.

Dialog (yes, it's really a KIWAY_PLAYER, but we present it as a dialog to the user) renamed "Assign Footprints".

@Wayne, @JP, if you object to the dialog renaming, speak up. I'll wait till later today to merge....

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

I'm OK with renaming the CvPcb frame. We definitely need to unify the
terminology for the sake of consistency.

On 4/4/2018 7:23 AM, Jeff Young wrote:
> CvPcb status bar no longer mentions unassigned or unlinked symbols.
> Menu tooltip changed to "Assign PCB footprints to schematic symbols" (and ellipsis added to menu).
>
> Association Files are somewhat different as they define a class rather
> than an instance (ie: an association is used to automate one or more
> assignments).
>
> View selected footprint opens the viewer for the footprint selected in
> the right-hand pane. It doesn't have anything to do with assignments.
>
> Dialog (yes, it's really a KIWAY_PLAYER, but we present it as a dialog
> to the user) renamed "Assign Footprints".
>
> @Wayne, @JP, if you object to the dialog renaming, speak up. I'll wait
> till later today to merge....
>
> ** Changed in: kicad
> Assignee: (unassigned) => Jeff Young (jeyjey)
>
> ** Changed in: kicad
> Status: New => In Progress
>

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

Fixed in revision 611d5a0dc4f60aa86123575eb3fb39afea78ce03
https://git.launchpad.net/kicad/patch/?id=611d5a0dc4f60aa86123575eb3fb39afea78ce03

[Jeff Young (jeyjey)]

@endofexclusive I've committed your patch to my 5.1 tree, from where it will find its way into master once 5.0 is released. Thanks for your contribution to Kicad!

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

This standardizes the strings (doesn't add new ones). It would be nice to push in v5 if there are no objections. It would certainly help the documentation to be able to say "Choose the 'Assign PCB footprints to schematic symbols' option" rather than explaining that "Assign PCB footprints to schematic symbols" and "Run CvPcb to associate footprints to symbols" will do the same thing just in different places.

[endofexclusive (endofexclusive)]

@jeff: Thank you. Are there official repositories/branches available for the 5.1 and 6.0?

I am fairly new to the KiCad source and still familiarizing myself.
The method used in eeschema/help_common_strings.h is a very good way to manage program strings. It promotes "single point of truth", rather than spreading the information out in many unrelated files.

A cool thing would be if the same strings could also be made available to the documentation source. For example by post-processing the (single) string definition into an include file for the documentation.

Then the documentation (source) could just say "Choose the '${STR_ASSIGN}' option". This would reduce the risk of documentation getting out of sync of the program. It could also pick up the correct translation.

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

As long as it does not add any new strings that require translation, I'm fine with merging this patch for v5.

[Jeff Young (jeyjey)]

The string was indeed identical to one already in use so I pushed the patch down to 5.0.

> On 24 Jun 2018, at 11:16, Wayne Stambaugh <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> As long as it does not add any new strings that require translation, I'm
> fine with merging this patch for v5.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1760867
>
> Title:
> Inconsistent terms for footprint association
>
> Status in KiCad:
> In Progress
>
> Bug description:
> There seem to be at least 4 different ways to describe the assignments
> of footprints to symbols, "assignment" "association", "links" and
> "selected".
>
> The eeschema menu has, Tools->Assign Footprints but the tooltip for
> the toolbar button says "associate footprints". The cvpcb dialog says
> "unassigned footprints" in the status bar, and elsewhere refers to
> "footprint association", "selected footprint" or "unlinked symbol".
>
> There are also .equ files which are referred to as "footprint
> association files" (does anyone use those?)
>
> It would be good to adopt a consistent terminology.
>
> Can we also drop references to cvpcb, and call the dialog something
> like "Footprint Association Editor", in a similar style to other
> dialogs?
>
> Yes, I am aware cvpcb used to be a separate application, but that no
> longer has any relevance to the user.
>
> Application: kicad
> Version: (5.0.0-rc2-dev-266-gbad462a22), debug build
> Libraries:
> wxWidgets 3.0.3
> libcurl/7.57.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2n (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.0.4 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.29.0
> 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: 1.66.0
> Curl: 7.57.0
> Compiler: GCC 7.3.0 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=OFF
> KICAD_SPICE=ON
>
> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1760867/+subscriptions

[Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw)]

Thanks Jeff!

On 6/26/2018 3:21 PM, Jeff Young wrote:
> The string was indeed identical to one already in use so I pushed the
> patch down to 5.0.
>
>> On 24 Jun 2018, at 11:16, Wayne Stambaugh <email address hidden> wrote:
>>
>> As long as it does not add any new strings that require translation, I'm
>> fine with merging this patch for v5.
>>
>> --
>> You received this bug notification because you are a bug assignee.
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1760867
>>
>> Title:
>> Inconsistent terms for footprint association
>>
>> Status in KiCad:
>> In Progress
>>
>> Bug description:
>> There seem to be at least 4 different ways to describe the assignments
>> of footprints to symbols, "assignment" "association", "links" and
>> "selected".
>>
>> The eeschema menu has, Tools->Assign Footprints but the tooltip for
>> the toolbar button says "associate footprints". The cvpcb dialog says
>> "unassigned footprints" in the status bar, and elsewhere refers to
>> "footprint association", "selected footprint" or "unlinked symbol".
>>
>> There are also .equ files which are referred to as "footprint
>> association files" (does anyone use those?)
>>
>> It would be good to adopt a consistent terminology.
>>
>> Can we also drop references to cvpcb, and call the dialog something
>> like "Footprint Association Editor", in a similar style to other
>> dialogs?
>>
>> Yes, I am aware cvpcb used to be a separate application, but that no
>> longer has any relevance to the user.
>>
>> Application: kicad
>> Version: (5.0.0-rc2-dev-266-gbad462a22), debug build
>> Libraries:
>> wxWidgets 3.0.3
>> libcurl/7.57.0 OpenSSL/1.0.2n (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 libidn2/2.0.4 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.29.0
>> 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: 1.66.0
>> Curl: 7.57.0
>> Compiler: GCC 7.3.0 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=OFF
>> KICAD_SPICE=ON
>>
>> To manage notifications about this bug go to:
>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1760867/+subscriptions
>