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<title>Parts Editor Help</title>
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<div class="moz-text-html" lang="x-western">
<div class="moz-cite-prefix"><br>
We have decided to release the new Parts Editor in two phases.
The first phase, included in release 0.7.9, is already easier to
use and more powerful than the old Parts Editor, but you
still have to do a lot of preliminary work using an SVG editor
like Inkscape, Illustrator, or CorelDRAW. In the next phase we
hope to eliminate much of the need to use these programs.<br>
<br>
<big><big><b>How to start</b></big></big><br>
<br>
The new approach is very different from that of the old Parts
Editor, and explaining that difference is the purpose of this
document. The first big change is that you cannot create a new
part from scratch--you must begin with a part that already
exists. So the best thing to do is to find a part that is pretty
close to what you eventually want. If your part is really
different from anything else, then just to try to match the
number of connectors. For example, if your part needs 39 pins,
then start with a generic IC part, change it to a SIP (single
inline package) and give it 39 pins. Though finding a part to
begin with may seem like a burden, it will save you effort as
you go through the process.<br>
<br>
You can open the new parts editor by right-clicking a part in a
sketch and choosing the 'Edit' option; choosing 'Edit' from the
Part menu; right clicking a part in the Parts Bin and choosing
the 'Edit' option; or using the Parts Bin drop down menu.<br>
<br>
<big><big><b>Six views</b></big></big><br>
<br>
The new Parts Editor no longer tries to display everything in a
single view. Instead, it works like the sketch window
which has multiple tabs with only one tab visible at a
time. In the new Parts Editor there are six tabs:
Breadboard view, Schematic view, PCB view, Icon view, Metadata
view, and Connectors view. As you might expect, the first four
views are for the part images; the Metadata view is where you
enter the part's title, author, and other properties; and the
Connectors view is for editing connector metadata, and for
adding or removing connectors. For the latter, you just type in
the number of connectors you want.<br>
<big><big><br>
<b>Loading new images</b></big></big><br>
<br>
To load the SVGs for your part, switch to the appropriate view,
and use <b>File > Load image for view</b>. As before, you
can load SVGs in all views and gEDA .fp files and KICAD .mod
files in PCB view only. To create an SVG for any view, you must
use an external SVG editor (Inkscape, Illustrator, CorelDRAW, or
a text editor) to layout the elements that will be used as
connectors. The SVG example below uses <circle> elements
for connectors.<br>
<br>
Loading PNG or JPG images directly is possible, but since these
become SVG images with only a single element, there is no way to
place individual connectors. We also discourage the use of
PNG and JPG because these are raster-based rather than
vector-based, so they don't look good when scaled. If you still
prefer to use PNG or JPG, we recommend that for now you open
them in an external SVG editor and add connector elements there
(see below for more about 'connector elements'). Save the result
as an SVG, and use that in the Parts Editor. In phase 2
you will be able to add connector elements directly in the Parts
Editor.<br>
<br>
Since you have already begun with a part, it may be that you
will only have to load a single image for a particular view--you
do not have to replace all the images in the original part.<br>
<br>
It is still necessary to prepare SVGs for PCB view by grouping
elements in layers: copper0, silkscreen, copper1, etc. (Layering
will be handled in the phase 2 parts editor.) The best way to
understand the layers is to open up one of the core pcb svg
files, For example have a look at the file crystal_hc49U.svg.
Silkscreen layer has four while lines, the two copper layers
share a pair of circles as connector elements.<br>
<br>
<tt><?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><br>
<svg baseProfile="tiny" height="0.20306in" version="1.2"
viewBox="0 0 46684 20306" width="0.46684in"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"></tt><tt><br>
</tt>
<blockquote><tt><desc>Fritzing footprint SVG</desc></tt><br>
<tt><g id="silkscreen"></tt><br>
<blockquote><tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000"
x1="1000" x2="45684" y1="1000" y2="1000"/></tt><br>
<tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="45684"
x2="45684" y1="1000" y2="19306"/></tt><br>
<tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="45684"
x2="1000" y1="19306" y2="19306"/></tt><br>
<tt><line stroke="white" stroke-width="1000" x1="1000"
x2="1000" y1="19306" y2="1000"/></tt><br>
</blockquote>
<tt></g></tt><br>
<tt><g id="copper1"><g id="copper0"></tt><br>
<blockquote><tt><circle cx="13736" cy="10153" fill="none"
id="connector0pin" r="2750" stroke="rgb(255, 191, 0)"
stroke-width="2000"/></tt><br>
<tt><circle cx="32948" cy="10153" fill="none"
id="connector1pin" r="2750" stroke="rgb(255, 191, 0)"
stroke-width="2000"/></tt><br>
</blockquote>
<tt></g></tt><tt></g></tt><br>
</blockquote>
<tt></svg></tt><br>
<br>
Sometimes you will want to reuse the breadboard image as your
icon image. There is a shortcut for this under <b>File >
Reuse breadboard image</b>. You can also find the options: <b>File
> Reuse schematic image</b>, and <b>File > Reuse PCB
image</b>. <br>
<br>
For certain parts--like a breadboard--there is only one view
image. For technical reasons, you have to tell the Parts Editor
this is what you want. Use <b>View > Make only this
view visible</b> from the current view (one of Breadboard,
Schematic, or PCB) to make the part invisible in the other two
views.<br>
<br>
<big><big><b>Undo, save, show in folder</b></big></big><br>
<br>
The next big difference from the old Parts Editor is that undo
is always available, even after loading view images.
Furthermore, you can save your changes at any point and keep
working--the new Parts Editor is less like a dialog and more
like a full document window.<br>
<br>
If you start with a core part (i.e. a part from the Fritzing
distro), saving from the Parts Editor is disabled. You must use
<b>Save as new part</b>, because you cannot change a core part.
<b>Save as new part</b> creates a new part in your local storage
area (explained below) and this part is added to the "My Parts"
Bin--it is a copy of the original part (plus whatever changes
you have already made so far using the Parts Editor). If you are
editing a custom part that was in a sketch, the part will be
updated whenever you save. If you want the new part to display
in the My Parts Bin the next time you run Fritzing, remember to
save the bin (use the drop down menu at the upper left of the
bin). If you start editing from a part in the My Parts Bin you
have a choice between <b>Save </b>(which will overwrite the
part), and <b>Save As New Part</b> (which will create a new
part and add it to the My Parts Bin). If you copy a part into My
Parts Bin from some other bin, then probably <b>Save </b>will
be disabled.<br>
<br>
On Windows the local storage folder is something like
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Fritzing\parts\user\, and
SVGs are stored in
C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Fritzing\parts\svg\user\. On
Linux and Mac this would be ~/.config/Fritzing/parts/user/ and
~/.config/Fritzing/parts/svg/user/. <br>
<br>
To find the SVG image for the current view on the desktop,
choose <b>File > Show in Folder</b>. On Mac and Windows this
will open a folder on your desktop with the SVG file selected.
Under Linux you get the folder but no file selection (if anyone
has advice about how to get selection to work, we would be
grateful).<br>
<big><big><br>
<b>Associating a connector with its SVG counterpart</b></big></big><br>
<br>
The next task will be to associate each connector with its
counterpart in the SVG for each view. This is handled very
differently from before. For an example, I am going to use
images from a part created by Shunichi Yamamoto (who graciously
gave us permission to include them in this tutorial, and who
also helped beta test the new Parts Editor). <br>
<br>
The new part will have 39 pins, so we begin with a Generic IC
part and drag it into an empty sketch. There we use the
Inspector to change it a to SIP and give it 39 pins. Then we
open that in the new Parts Editor with a right-click. <br>
<br>
<img alt="starting up" src="images/start.png" height="363"
width="599"><br>
<br>
Next we load the new breadboard image using <b>File > Load
image for view</b>. In the Tools widget at the upper
right, you see a list of connectors. Choose one to make it the <b>current
</b>or <b>active</b> <b>connector</b>. If it has already been
associated with an SVG element, that element will display a
marquee highlight. Since we are just starting out, we will
choose pin1 which is not currently associated with any SVG
element.<br>
<br>
<img alt="pin1" src="images/pin1.png" height="319" width="419"><br>
<br>
To create the actual association click the "Select graphic"
button over in the Connectors widget. This basically puts you in
a "mode" that lasts until the next time you mouse down. If you
want to escape the mode, click anywhere outside the part or use
the escape key. You can only make the association when you are
in this mode (this keeps you from accidentally associating a
connector to a graphic when you didn't intend to). <br>
<br>
In the mode, move your mouse over the SVG. As you do so,
different SVG elements will highlight. It is often the case that
any given mouse location can refer to multiple SVG elements (or
groups of elements). Use the shift-key plus the mouse wheel to
highlight other elements above or beneath the currently
highlighted one (in the z-order)--the mouse wheel without the
shift key will pan or zoom as usual (depending on your
preferences setting for wheel events). If you are already on the
bottom layer then the next wheel "downward" will make the
element flash white; a similar white flash will occur if you are
already at the top layer and wheel "upward". In other words, the
flash signifies you can't move any further in the z-order in
that direction.<br>
<br>
Here are three highlights from the same mouse position, using
the mouse wheel + shift:<br>
<br>
<img alt="highlight1" src="images/highlight1.png" height="161"
width="348"><br>
<img alt="highlight2" src="images/highlight2.png" height="160"
width="350"><br>
<img alt="highlight3" src="images/highlight3.png" height="159"
width="349"><br>
<br>
The first highlight is the one we want so we mouse down when the
wheel gets us back to that small rectangle. Now the element has
a marquee to show that it is the current pin, and you also see
the <b>terminal point</b> as a crosshair which defaults to the
center. The terminal point is the place where a wire attaches to
the connector.<br>
<br>
<img alt="assoc1" src="images/assoc1.png" height="161"
width="349"><br>
<br>
After associating pin2 and pin3 we have:<br>
<br>
<img alt="pin3" src="images/pin3.png" height="160" width="347"><br>
<br>
<big><big><b>Adjusting terminal points</b></big></big><br>
<br>
In PCB and Breadboard view the terminal point is usually the
center of the connector so you don't have to do any thing
else. But in schematic view the terminal point is usually
near the end of the connector. So let's go to schematic
view. We start with the original SVG image. Note how the
connectors are already showing their anchor points. Pin3 is the
current connector.<br>
<br>
<img alt="schematic" src="images/schematic1.png" height="573"
width="718"><br>
<br>
Now we load the new schematic image and start associating pins.<br>
<br>
<img alt="schematic2" src="images/schematic2.png" height="640"
width="519"><br>
<br>
Here is what the Connectors widget looks like with pin3 as the
current connector:<br>
<br>
<img alt="tools1" src="images/tools1.png" height="463"
width="348"><br>
<br>
Notice that since we have selected graphics for three of the
connectors, those connectors are checked in the connector list.<br>
<br>
You can use the buttons or spinners to adjust the terminal
point. Here is a close up after hitting the W button, and
clicking the X spinner twice (look at the pin marked 'AN2'): <br>
<br>
<img alt="schematic3" src="images/schematic3.png" height="492"
width="536"><br>
<br>
You can also drag the terminal point directly by mousing down on
it when its SVG element is highlighted.<br>
<big><big><br>
<b>Setting internal connections</b></big></big><br>
<br>
An internal connection is when a two or more connectors in a
part are already connected, for example the GND connectors on
the Arduino UNO. You can specify and edit internal connections
by clicking on the "Set internal connections" checkbox in the
Connectors widget--it's beneath the connectors list (you can see
it in the image of the Connectors widget, above). Since we are
talking about the Arduino UNO, here is what it looks like when
Set internal connections is checked:<br>
<br>
<img alt="bus1" src="images/bus1.png" height="319" width="419"><br>
<br>
The green lines represent the internal connections. To remove an
internal connection, right-click the line and choose "Remove
internal connection". To add a new connection, just drag a line
out from one connector to another.<br>
<b><br>
</b><b><big><big>Known limitations</big></big></b><br>
<br>
The following feature are due in phase two: <br>
<ul>
<li>adding holes</li>
<li>mixing THT and SMD connectors--for now you must start with
an SMD part to create a new SMD part, and start with a
through-hole part to create a new through-hole part. <br>
</li>
<li>control over SVG element layering</li>
<li>direct manipulation of SVG elements</li>
<li>setting up parts with bendable legs.</li>
</ul>
<b><br>
</b> <b><big><big>Bye for now</big></big></b><br>
<br>
That's pretty much the phase one story. We hope you like what
you've seen. Stay tuned for phase two.<br>
<br>
<br>
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