Hi folks, Since the 3d_initial_merge introduces a class to manage the generic boilerplate of plugins and the new 3D plugins seem to be stable (no reports of problems for quite a few weeks now) I had a quick look at the KiCad code to see what might be involved in implementing Import/Export plugins. As with the 3D plugins there are 3 principal components here:
1. the plugin API : any plugins of PCB Import/Export class must implement this API 2. the plugin manager : part of KiCad, this component is responsible for the discovery and loading of PCB Import/Export plugins 3. PCB API : the API exposed by kicad for inspecting, creating, and manipulating boards and related entities (1) is almost trivial and I imagine no more than 20 function calls in all need to be implemented (2) shouldn't be terribly difficult, perhaps only slightly more difficult than its 3D counterpart since this plugin manager would need to dynamically create entries in the File Export menu in addition to the requirements to discover and load plugins (3) is an enormous task and not something anyone can complete in one step. Fortuitously the IDF exporter requires the smallest set of API functions in order to implement as a plugin and any IGES or STEP exporters will have exactly the same requirements as the IDF exporter. So I would propose that after (if?) merging the 3d_initial_merge branch I could begin an implementation of (1), (2), (3) suitable for IDF export. In the short term the PCB plugin manager will contain extra code to provide access to existing Import/Export functions as they are - that is, the manager will basically simply relieve the PCB_EDIT_FRAME of its responsibility to dispatch the Import/Export events even though those particular Import/Export functions are not (yet) implemented in plugins and also provide the dynamic manipulation of the File Import/ Export menus to support genuine plugins. The next step would be to implement a plugin version of the IDF exporter and to demonstrate that it works. From there I can then add an IGES exporter and also have a look at a STEP exporter. This scheme will give us the long desired MCAD export capability with the least amount of work and at this point I would consider the branch ready for polishing up and merging. Once we have the initial merge of the PCB Plugin then we can continue work extending the API in (3) and eventually reimplementing the remaining Import/Export functions as plugins - this should improve code maintainability even though it's no small feat and it doesn't add any functionality. Going through this exercise would also expand the API (3) to the point where we can implement scripting of that API to have a more intuitive scripting environment. Any comments/suggestions? - Cirilo
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