Datasheets in Library Device?

[Anonymous]

Hi

    I am kind of new to Eagle but wonder if there is a way to add datasheet to a library component? I am talking the datasheet you download say for something like an X5R capacitor. Rather than scrolling through hundreds of downloaded datasheets I want be able to click on the component and select from a small list of datasheets (X5R, X7R etc etc). It will be very organised this way.

-Andrew

[JamesLE32J]

Hi,

It is possible but not in the way you are asking - or at least this is the way I do it.

What I do is create a link to the Datasheet (either online or in a local location) using the <a href></a> tag in the description which is then clickable.

See the image below for what I mean.

[rachaelATWH4]

I add a DATASHEET attribute to the library part and use a ULP I created to add a context menu entry to launch the datasheet when right clicking on the device. My ULP is available in my GitLab repo but I am on my phone right now and don’t have the URL to hand. If nobody else jumps in with the link I will try and post it up tomorrow.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[JamesLE32J]

Interested in seeing your ULP @rachaelATWH4. Searched but can't seem to find it.

Hope you're surviving the weather.

[rachaelATWH4]

Hi James,

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@JamesLE32J wrote:

Interested in seeing your ULP @rachaelATWH4. Searched but can't seem to find it.

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Here is a link to my ULP repository: https://gitlab.com/rachaelp/eagle-utils

You can find the documentation on element14 here: https://www.element14.com/community/people/rachaelp/blog/2017/03/03/eagle-ulp-utilities-library

If you put the ULP in your ULP path then you can issue the following to install it:

run getDatasheet --install

Then you will see a "View Datasheet" option appear in the right click context menu for components in the schematic and board.

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@JamesLE32J wrote:

Hope you're surviving the weather.

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I'm staying indoors next to the log burner until the weather passes  I hope you are managing to avoid the worst of it too.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[JamesLE32J]

Hi Rachael,

Thanks for the links.

Unfortunately, I get a Syntax Error when running this. No other information 😞

[rachaelATWH4]

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@JamesLE32J wrote:

Unfortunately, I get a Syntax Error when running this. No other information 😞

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Hi James,

How far does it get? Does it install ok and give you the context menu? Is it failing when you try and view a datasheet?

Is there any error messages you can show? Does it give a line number where the syntax error is occurring?

Could you do a screen recording to show exactly what is happening? This works on my machines but I am running macOS/Linux and have done less testing of my utilities on Windows. I'd like to get this fixed if there is an issue though so any extra info you can give would be appreciated.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[JamesLE32J]

Hiya,

The error pops up as soon as I hit enter. Doesn't get anywhere or do anything and doesn't install.

This machine is a Windows 7 machine. I will check later @ home on Fedora.

The image below shows exactly what I'm seeing.

Am I doing this correctly? Command in to the Command Line.

**Edit:

I should add when I click 'Ok' to confirm the error the ULP opens up as a text file and I can see the code.

[Anonymous]

Hi
Thank you for the response. I also was thinking of this but it came a
time when I was on a long haul flight 14 hours (if I can recall) with no
internet I had had to tap through literally too many datasheets before I
can do any kind of calculations (was ready to throw my laptop like a
frisbee up the aisle)

Maybe Autodesk can create a new directly specifically for datasheets only
and with a right click on the component whether you are in SCH or BRD you
have the option to bring up the pdf datasheet.

That will be a real time saver.

-Andrew

[rachaelATWH4]

Hi James,

It looks like Windows has mangled the filename and put (1) after the file extension.... Plus you have a complicated path with spaces, special characters, etc.

Lets make sure there is nothing in your setup which can me making it go wrong:

1) Create a folder C:\ECAD\ulp

2) Rename the downloaded ULP to getDatasheet.ulp and place it in the C:\ECAD\ulp folder

3) In the EAGLE control panel choose Options->Directories....

4) Add ;C:/ECAD/ulp to the end of the existing ULP path

5) In the schematic or board run the exact command I gave previously: run getDatasheet --install

You should see this work without errors.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[rachaelATWH4]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Maybe Autodesk can create a new directly specifically for datasheets only
and with a right click on the component whether you are in SCH or BRD you
have the option to bring up the pdf datasheet.

That will be a real time saver.

-Andrew

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This is sort of what my ULP does already except you'd need to put the full path to the datasheet directory in at the moment. It could be enhanced to allow the specification of a datasheets directory location and pull up datasheets from there. I actually quite like that idea....

Best Regards,

Rachael

[JamesLE32J]

Hi Rachael,

Thanks for your reply.

That (1) isn't there on the filename - it's something EAGLE / ULP seems to be doing/reporting.

I've done what you asked and exactly the same results.  It has put the (1) at a different place this time...

See below images:

[rachaelATWH4]

Right ok, this is very odd.... I'm going to boot up a Windows VM and take a look...

Best Regards,

Rachael

[one-of-the-robs]

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@JamesLE32J wrote:

That (1) isn't there on the filename - it's something EAGLE / ULP seems to be doing/reporting.

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Is that a line number where Eagle thinks the error is to be found?

I wonder whether this is a file corruption thing? I've come across Windows doing crazy stuff with text files, like converting to UCS-2 and prepending a magic code (which I'm absolutely sure Eagle would consider a syntax error) to say it's done so. If you have a hex editor it might be worth a poke around, or if you open it in Notepad++ and check whether the character encoding is plain ASCII or some form of unicode.

[JamesLE32J]

You're correct @one-of-the-robs.

@rachaelATWH4

I've opened up the ULP in Notepad++ and had a look and the download seems to have added some HTML code to the beginning which has caused the error.

Removed that and everything is working fine.

Thanks @one-of-the-robs and @rachaelATWH4 (hope this hasn't wasted too much of your time).

[rachaelATWH4]

Glad to hear you got it working, and don't worry about wasting time, it's working now that's all that counts 

Let me know how you get on with it and if you have any suggestions for improvement let me know.

Best Regards,

Rachael