[Whishlist] Multiple instance: “kicad is already running, Continue?”

Asked by Timothée Manaud

Rationale:
I heavily use kicad for multiple PCB project (the lack of this support need another thread).
Case:
Every time I launch kicad to edit the 2nd or 3rd board,I need to open another project, thus I must click on the popup "kicad is already running, Continue?".

While I understand users confuse application launcher with application docker but is this really necessary?

Proposed feature:
Add a command line parameter to open a new window:
kicad --new
or
kicad -n

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
KiCad Edit question
Assignee:
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Solved by:
Wayne Stambaugh
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw) said :
#1

KiCad is very project oriented by design. If you need to work on multiple boards, you would be better served running multiple instances of Pcbnew. The problem is that there is inter-process communications between the schematic editor and the board editor when they are run in the stand alone mode so you may have some unexpected behavior if you have multiple instances of each running at the same time. To answer you question, the warning is necessary because KiCad my no behave the way you would expect it to when multiple instances are running at the same time. At some point in the future, we will most likely revised KiCad's UI and allow multiple projects to be open at the same time but that is a long way off.

Revision history for this message
Timothée Manaud (timothee) said :
#2

Hi Wayne, thanks a lot for your reponse.

Sure, I do understand the technical limitation.
But as in the current state, running multiple instances of kicad does work fine, and until a multiple project manager is added, why not implementing a parameter to start a new instance without this popup confirmation?

Revision history for this message
Best Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw) said :
#3

I'm not opposed to adding a "Never show this message again." option to
the multiple instance warning dialog as long as users understand that
there may be unexpected issues doing so.

On 10/18/2017 8:15 AM, Timothée Manaud wrote:
> Question #659575 on KiCad changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/kicad/+question/659575
>
> Status: Answered => Open
>
> Timothée Manaud is still having a problem:
> Hi Wayne, thanks a lot for your reponse.
>
> Sure, I do understand the technical limitation.
> But as in the current state, running multiple instances of kicad does work fine, and until a multiple project manager is added, why not implementing a parameter to start a new instance without this popup confirmation?
>

Revision history for this message
Timothée Manaud (timothee) said :
#4

I would love it, thanks!

Revision history for this message
Timothée Manaud (timothee) said :
#5

Thanks Wayne Stambaugh, that solved my question.