Support virtual jumper connections (off-board connections) between pads
Original title: Why not assume pads with the same number are connected? (lp:#1843993)
Original report created by Piotr Gałka (piotrgalka)
Not bug, but suggestion to consider changing assumptions.
See attached screen shot. It is defined by me touch key placed at PCB.
To have clear DRC I had to connect many physically already connected pads
in whole keyboard.
Assuming (didn't checked it) the pads are seen being connected if one of
them covers the center of another to make such footprint being internally
connected I would need to add many pads just to catch a center and have a
new center 1/2 closer to corner and so on till having a center in the
corner region. And the same for all pads you see here.
I didn't tried to use custom pads yet. May be it would help me here (I'm
not familiar with any CAD program I suppose would be needed in preparing
custom shape). But why to use something potentially complicated if my shape
is simple set of rectangles - it should be possible to use only standard
pads.
Things would be much easier if the KiCad would assume pads with the same
number in footprint are just connected even if they are far away one from
another. I don't see any serious argument against it.
During more then a year of my watching KiCad forum I sow few times people
asking what to do with 4 pin touch buttons as the pin pairs are internally
connected in button but KiCad wonts them to connect them again but they
need to go across such connection with other traces. They are advised to
change 2 layer PCB into 4 layer and make this connections at internal layer
and then not send that layer gerber to manufacturer (don't know but may be
it is not compatible with Gerber job file if they use it). The other
example of such footprint is 3 pin battery to be soldered in PCB.
I would like to suggest considering taking following basic assumptions:
1. Pads with the same number in footprint are just connected - need not to
be connected at PCB.
2. In connection line generation such pad set is (at the beginning)
understood as one point. Then when drawing each line the nearest pad from
set is selected.
3. The connection line disappears if what was pointed by it was connected
to any other of pad set (got automatically if point 2 realized correctly).
4. User is allowed to connect pads in such pad set. It is not assumed being
a redundant track to be removed even if "Remove redundant tracks" option is
active.
Original tags: pcbnew
Edited by Jon Evans