Feature request: allow part search to be less exact

[Scowt]

Regarding part search using Digikey (I have not attempted other suppliers yet) - would it be possible to search on a smaller fragment of the part number?

It seems Ki-nTree needs the search to return only one result to be successful, which I totally get from a programming standpoint but is a mild pain point when bulk-adding existing stocked parts.

To clarify, I am being lazy and trying to cut down on the data entry task; typing AUIRFR540ZTRL results in one component, but typing AUIRFR5 takes half as long and would only return 13 components, which is pretty easy to select between.

I could imagine that as further characters are added, more parts are filtered out from the one initial search, to reduce api calls.

This is definitely not a huge priority, more of a UX comment than anything else. If there is an alternative method I'd be happy to hear it.

Thank you for all your hard work!

[eeintech]

Hello @Scowt

I have to experiment with that and can't promise it can be easily added, however I'm thinking a pop-up to select the right part could work, as long as the software creates only one part at the time as it wasn't intended for creating multiple at once.

[eeintech]

Hello @Scowt Is that still a wish on your end? I didn't get sense this is really a necessity, I think most users use suppliers' website to narrow down their search.

[Scowt]

Hi @eeintech - place I work for moved away from Kicad / Ki-nTree, so no longer a wish for me. I do think it would add to usability in general, but as nobody else chimed in it's probably not a priority for them either :-)

Thanks for following up

[eeintech]

Ok thanks for the update @Scowt, closing this issue 😃