Replicate changed layers

[Dephrilibrium]

Hello,

I made a design with a group of 16 equal channels. For easier jumper-handling, I added buzz-words as descriptions into the value-field which appears as text on the F.Fab layer. Due to the text is already on the board (on the wrong layer = F.Fab) I started to change the layer of some of the text to F.Silkscreen in the basic layout I want to replicate afterwards (I don't want to have all F.Fab printed on the board!).

I started the replication plugin with checked "replicate text"-option only. The text-positions changed correctly, but the changed layers were not applied to the replicated layouts.

It would be pretty nice if you would extend the functionality in such way, that the layers are also replicated or add an extra checkbox-option to the UI-window allows this operation?

Kind regards, Deph

[MitjaNemec]

Thanks for the feedback.

I'd like to get some additional info:

1. Which KiCad version did you run the plugin (5.1.x or 5.99)?
2. Did you save the board before running the plugin and after you changed the text layers?
3. Can you attach a test board where the issue can be recreated?

Furthermore, while the plugin does handle footprint text, I am really hesitant to pull this additional feature into the plugin. As it is even now the plugin is at a point where a lot of check-boxes could be hidden under an expert menu. Also the feature could be solved with a dedicated plugin, you could run before of after running the replicate layout plugin and I think the issue could be handled via Edit/Edit text & graphics properties which is available in 5.99

[Dephrilibrium]

Hi MitjaNemec,

Which KiCad version did you run the plugin (5.1.x or 5.99)?

Application: KiCad (64-bit)
Version: (5.99.0-11689-g04c6b79350), release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.1.5
libcurl/7.74.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.2.11
Platform: Windows 10 (build 19042), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Build Info:
Date: Aug 12 2021 06:25:14
wxWidgets: 3.1.5 (wchar_t,STL containers)
Boost: 1.76.0
OCC: 7.5.0
Curl: 7.74.0-DEV
ngspice: 34
Compiler: Visual C++ 1928 without C++ ABI
Build settings:
KICAD_USE_OCC=ON
KICAD_SPICE=ON

Did you save the board before running the plugin and after you changed the text layers?

Yeah, I saved before using the plugin and also restarted KiCAD afterwards (as like the display "errors" with the tracks are solved by restarting)

Can you attach a test board where the issue can be recreated?

I made a quick n dirty example (KiCAD Change Text Layer.zip) where I wasn't able to replicate the text layer of the common layout. I moved the F.Fab texts "Inputs" and "Outputs" of the Original-Sheet (see PCB-New) to the F.Silkscreen-Layer (red outlines) and let the texts of the Repli_01- and Repli_02-Sheets on F.Fab. The positions are updated, but not the textlayer (yellow outlines). I also tried different options in the Replication-Plugin-Menu.

...could be handled via Edit/Edit text & graphics properties which is available in 5.99

Thank you very much for that hint. I didn't knew that. I dealt with it that way. But anyway, when replicating a layout, I would expect that i replicates it exactly like the original I'm replicating from, including also the text layers 🤔

Kind regards, Deph

[MitjaNemec]

Thanks for the test case and discussion. The idea to introduce an additional textbox is the one that I made me hesitate. But after I thought about it, the plugin should replicate text layer by default. So I've updated the plugin. Can you please confirm that it works as it is supposed to, so that I can close this issue.

[Dephrilibrium]

Hey MitjaNemec,

yeah, seems to be the best solution. The checkbox was mentioned as an option if not replicating the layers had a specific reason, which i don't know. But anyway, I can confirm that the plugin work as expected in the sample project and also on my big PCB. Thank you very much for your effort and support.

Kind regards, Deph