Wishlist: Show Not Connected pins in Symbol Editor Pin Properties dialog

[Evan Shultz]

In previous versions (maybe 5.0.x), NC pins should still be visible in the Pin Properties dialog of Symbol Editor. In 5.1 RC1, the small pane to show the pin is totally blank if Electrical Type is set to Not Connected.

This was helpful because seeing a graphical representation of the pin can be useful if the pin is set to NC before other changes to the pin are completed.

I will attach a screenshot for clarity.

Application: kicad
Version: (5.1.0-rc1-36-gea84020b1), release build
Libraries:
    wxWidgets 3.0.4
    libcurl/7.61.1 OpenSSL/1.1.1 (WinSSL) zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.6 libidn2/2.0.5 libpsl/0.20.2 (+libidn2/2.0.5) nghttp2/1.34.0
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
    wxWidgets: 3.0.4 (wchar_t,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
    Boost: 1.68.0
    OpenCASCADE Community Edition: 6.9.1
    Curl: 7.61.1
    Compiler: GCC 8.2.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
    USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
    USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_PYTHON3=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON_PHOENIX=OFF
    KICAD_SCRIPTING_ACTION_MENU=ON
    BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCE=ON
    KICAD_USE_OCC=OFF
    KICAD_SPICE=ON

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

I think that you need to check the "Visible" box to see the pin.

[Evan Shultz (evan-shultz)]

@Seth
I am getting at something else.

If the pane is totally blank for NC pins, it is impossible to see anything about the pin graphically. In 5.0.x (I believe), a NC pin would appear gray but one could see the pin in the pane. That was helpful if I still had other changes to make to a pin because I could see the changes take effect.

I'm asking for a NC pin to still be visible. Making it show in gray, like it used to be, would be great.

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Hi Evan- When you say "NC" pin, do you mean setting the electrical type to NC? Or making the pin invisible?

[Evan Shultz (evan-shultz)]

Actually it's a combination of both. I didn't write this out clearly above, and thanks for asking questions.

When setting the Electrical Type to Not Connected, as specified in KLC for the official KiCad library, pins are also hidden. When the pin is set to invisible the pane is totally blank, and I'd like to see a gray rendering of non-visible pin (as it used to be).

I had been working with NC pins and mixed up the terms. Sorry for convolving pin type and visibility.

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Got it. Thanks for the extra info!

[KiCad Janitor (kicad-janitor)]

Fixed in revision c37aac56e6a16fbf9c74e646d15e282aef451368
https://git.launchpad.net/kicad/patch/?id=c37aac56e6a16fbf9c74e646d15e282aef451368