PCBNEW: Length Tuning Workflow Bug

Description

The new series of steps to set target length for the length tuner tool is redundant if using same length for multiple nets. For complex projects length tuning already takes a significant amount of time. The newest change in workflow for the length tuner tool (where you either set each target length with the new (very much appreciated) properties toolbar or create custom rules, where inputting each net class or net name would be required, in addition to the target length) is a regression and is blocking us from updating to newer releases.

Also, in version 8.0 onward the length tuning function exits out after you update the target length for the previous length tuned track. This means you have to hit the length tuning hotkey an extra time, the tool doesn't just stay open as it would previously.

Please let me know if I'm missing something in the documentation that says where to set a general target length before starting to create serpentines.

Ideally with some time we can develop a custom script that can export and import numbers and net names into custom rules from length tuning spreadsheets, but currently manually entering into custom rules would just take way too long. It's critical for us to have the optionality of general target length for a length tuner that can be easily and quickly applied to many nets, otherwise length tuning tasks just take even longer.

I'm uploading two videos where I length match 3 differential pairs using the same settings for each from versions7.0.7, and 8.0.2. To show how redundant the workflow is in 8.0.2 compared to before version 8.

kicad_lm_7.07

kicad_lm_8.02

Steps to reproduce

KiCad Version

Version: 8.0.2-8.0.2-0~ubuntu22.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.1
	FreeType 2.11.1
	HarfBuzz 2.7.4
	FontConfig 2.13.1
	libcurl/7.81.0 OpenSSL/3.0.2 zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.9 zstd/1.4.8 libidn2/2.3.2 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.2) libssh/0.9.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.43.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.5.17

Platform: Ubuntu 22.04.4 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, , 

Build Info:
	Date: Apr 28 2024 21:38:46
	wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.74.0
	OCC: 7.6.3
	Curl: 7.81.0
	ngspice: 42
	Compiler: GCC 11.4.0 with C++ ABI 1016

Build settings:

Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 7.0.7-7.0.7~ubuntu22.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.1
	FreeType 2.11.1
	HarfBuzz 6.0.0
	FontConfig 2.13.1
	libcurl/7.81.0 OpenSSL/3.0.2 zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.9 zstd/1.4.8 libidn2/2.3.2 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.3.2) libssh/0.9.6/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.43.0 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.5.16

Platform: Ubuntu 22.04.2 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, , 

Build Info:
	Date: Aug 13 2023 23:14:49
	wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.74.0
	OCC: 7.5.2
	Curl: 7.88.1
	ngspice: 38
	Compiler: GCC 11.4.0 with C++ ABI 1016

Build settings:
	KICAD_SPICE=ON