Do we really need the select library dialogue box when adding components to schematics?

I've just looked at this, and I wonder if "List All" is redundant. It seems just as easy the choose "Use Browser".
Also - how does "Search by Keyword" work?

On Oct 7, 2013 7:26 AM, "Nicholas Dark" <
<email address hidden>> wrote:
>
> New question #236963 on KiCad:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/236963
>
> Some people may like the box or have a specific need for it. In which
case not a problem.
> However I was wondering if the "Select Library" dialogue box was really
required when adding a component to a schematic? For my workflow at least,
it adds an extra unnecessary mouse click.
>
> The history list dialogue is a nice touch for recently used items, but
for anything not in there, I always use the list items option (as a
personal preference I don't like the library browser).
>
> It would seem that a nicer way of handling the multiple library situation
would be to add a dropdown box to the Select Component dialogue instead.
This dropdown box would contain all of the libraries present in the current
project in alphabetical order.

I agree.

>
> Anyways, just my thoughts :-)
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are an answer
> contact for KiCad.

To answer your original question, no it's not necessary. I agree with your suggestion. The select library dialog button adds an unnecessary step and that a drop down control with the library list would be a better option. This would require getting other users to buy into the idea and a developer to make the changes. I don't think the change would terribly difficult to make but without looking at the code it's difficult to know for sure.

To answer your question about search by keyword: schematic components can contain optional keywords. You can view the keywords for a component by opening the "Description" tab of the properties dialog in the component library editor. This allows you to search for common keywords across multiple libraries.

In the future, please only ask one question per request so that other folks who have the same question will be able to find the answer.

After I reread my answer, it needs some clarification. If no library is selected, all of the components in all of the libraries would be shown in the component selection dialog which would probably not be very usable. Selecting the library gives you another way of filtering the components.

Hi Stephen,
the List All button is certainly not redundant. I personally can't stand the Library Browser, it seems like an overly complicated way of selecting components to me. But that is my own personal preference.

It is the dialogue box immediately after pressing the List All button that I have an issue with, as mentioned above. I (and it would seem Wayne and Dick) would all prefer a dropdown box on the select component dialogue instead. Possibly even defaulting to all libraries as Wayne mentioned in his second post.

Wayne, I might have a look at implementing this then, though without delving into the code, I'm not sure how easy it will be... :-)

On 10/15/2013 10:51 AM, Nicholas Dark wrote:
> Question #236963 on KiCad changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/236963
>
> Nicholas Dark posted a new comment:
> Hi Stephen,
> the List All button is certainly not redundant. I personally can't stand the Library Browser, it seems like an overly complicated way of selecting components to me. But that is my own personal preference.
>
> It is the dialogue box immediately after pressing the List All button
> that I have an issue with, as mentioned above. I (and it would seem
> Wayne and Dick) would all prefer a dropdown box on the select component
> dialogue instead. Possibly even defaulting to all libraries as Wayne
> mentioned in his second post.
>
> Wayne, I might have a look at implementing this then, though without
> delving into the code, I'm not sure how easy it will be... :-)
>

Nicholas,

Thanks for the offer. The hardest part will be understanding how to
modify the dialog with wxFormBuilder and connecting all the code to make
it work. You should be able to look at the existing code to get a good
idea how all this fits together. I would like to suggest that if you
are willing to tackle this task that you consider taking one step
further. My thoughts on this dialog are that you should never need to
show another dialog on top of the component selection dialog to filter
down or select from the list of components. In other words you should
be able to narrow down the component choices to easily find the one you
want from within the component selection dialog. If you add another
list box to display the filtered list of components, some check boxes to
control the type of filtering, and type ahead find in the component name
edit control along with the suggested library selection drop down list
control you would have something really useful on your hands. The only
thing you have to remember is that library ordering is a an known issue
in Eeschema so when you filter by library it's possible that you could
end up with the wrong component.

Wayne