Initial import of gattrib 20040806

[geda-gaf/whiteaudio.git] / gattrib / NOTES

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This file contains a few notes I made while creating
gattrib.  These notes were useful to me in coming to grips with
understanding gEDA's data structures and gnetlist's operation.
The were also useful when architecting the workings of gattrib.
 
A spreadsheet holding function names is held in the file
called "ProgramArchitecture.gnumeric", which should live in the
toplevel directory.  This spreadsheet should help you wade
through the various fcns used during processing.

No guarantee is made that these notes are accurate, useful,
or even understandable to anybody else.  -- SDB 12.5.2003
                                            sdb@cloud9.net

Updated on 7.17.2004.  SDB.


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gattrib algorithm:
1.  Input sheets as in gnetlist.  Use fcns from libgeda.  Result is 
    linked list of TOPLEVEL entries.  (*pr_current)  This data structure
    comes from libgeda.

    The file is opened and read using:
        libgeda/noweb/f_basic.nw:f_open(TOPLEVEL *w_current, char *filename)

    f_open invokes o_read, which fills out the objects:
        libgeda/noweb/a_basic.nw:o_read(TOPLEVEL *w_current, 
                                        OBJECT *object_list, char *filename)
        
    At the end of this process, we have filled out (TOPLEVEL pr_current).

2.  Create (SHEET_DATA *sheet_head), which is the data structure intermediating
    between gEDA's TOPLEVEL and GtkSheet's gtk_sheet.  It holds all info
    important to drive the spreadsheet app in a form easy to access.  

3.  Build master lists which are part of SHEET_DATA.  The master lists
    are used when building the row and column label cells, and for
    keeping track of which components and attribtues are in play.

    Master lists are built for each of these objects:
    *  Component refdeses found in the design.  
        sheet_head->master_comp_list_head
    *  Component attributes found in the design.  
        sheet_head->master_comp_attrib_list_head
    *  Netnames found in the design.   
        sheet_head->master_net_list_head  (TBD) 
    *  Net attributes found in the design.  
        sheet_head->master_net_attrib_list_head (TBD)
    *  Component pins found in the design (TBD)

    *  Component pins attributes found in the design (TBD)

    Each master list is stored using a STRING_DATA struct.
    Attach pointers to these master lists inside SHEET_DATA.
    This stage of processing also counts up the number of each
    item.  These lists are used to index the table entries, and form the 
    row and column labels on the gtk_sheet.

4.  Create TABLE, which is the data structure holding the info to be displayed
    in the gtk_sheet cells.  TABLE is basically a 2D array of structs.  

    Tables are built for the following types of objects:
    *  Component refdeses & attached attributes.
        sheet_head->component_table
    *  Netnames and attached attributes.  (TBD)
        sheet_head->net_table 
    *  Component pins and attached attributes.  (TBD)

    After creation, attach TABLE inside SHEET_DATA.  The fcns which add components
    and nets to the internal data structs are called s_*_set_*"  Items in the table
    are referenced using a construct like:
    sheet_head->component_table)[i][j].attrib_value

5.  Then build gtk_sheet using fcns available in x_gtksheet.  They 
    take the data from SHEET_DATA and stick them into the gtk_sheet
    widget for display on the spreadsheet.

6.  Run gtk_main.  Wait for user clicks & invoke appropriate callbacks. 
    Callback fcns are specified in include/menu.h

7.  The save callback is x_fileselect_*.  Upon a save/saveas event invoked
    from the menu, take all data out of gtk_sheet and stick it into SHEET_DATA
    using various fcns named "s_*_update_*".  Then take data out of SHEET_DATA
    and stick it into (TOPLEVEL *pr_current).  Then use standard gEDA
    fcns to save out the data in .sch format.



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gattrib data structures:

TOPLEVEL: 
  Toplevel holds page info, and is a linked list with one entry per page/window.
  Defined in libgeda/include/struct.h, fcns to manipulate TOPLEVEL data live in 
  libgeda/src/s_project.c


SHEET_DATA:
  Holds data taken from TOPLEVEL in form relevant for display in spreadsheet.
  Definition:

struct st_sheet_data {
  STRING_LIST *master_comp_list_head;           /* Sorted list of all components used in design */
  int comp_count;                               /* number of components in design */
  STRING_LIST *master_comp_attrib_list_head;    /* Sorted list of all component attribs used in design */
  int comp_attrib_count;                        /* number of component attribs in design */

  STRING_LIST *master_net_list_head;            /* Sorted list of all nets used in design */
  int net_count;                                /* number of nets in design */
  STRING_LIST *master_net_attrib_list_head;     /* Sorted list of all net attribss used in design */
  int net_attrib_count;                         /* number of net attribss in design */

  STRING_LIST *master_pin_list_head;            /* Sorted list of all pins used in design */
  int pin_count;                                /* number of pins in design */
  STRING_LIST *master_pin_attrib_list_head;     /* Sorted list of all pin attribss used in design */
  int pin_attrib_count;                         /* number of pin attribss in design */

  TABLE **component_table;                      /* points to 2d array of component attribs */ 
  TABLE **net_table;                            /* points to 2d array of net attribs */
  TABLE **pin_table;                            /* points to 2d array of pin attribs */
};


TABLE:
  Is 2D array of structs.  Each struct member holds info about
  one particular attrib.

STRING_LIST:
  A linked list of strings.  Used to create the component and net
  master lists.

GtkWidget **sheets:
  These are the spreadsheet widgets themselves.  There are thre of them:
  1.  Comp attribs
  2.  Net attribs (currently TBD)
  3.  Pin attribs (i.e. pinseq and so on).


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********         How data gets from TOPLEVEL into GtkSheet               ********
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Here's what happens when the program starts, or file->save is invoked from the menu
and the data is read in.  (I handle data structure initialization elsewhere.)  Keep
in mind that gattrib is a thin layer between GtkSheet and TOPLEVEL.  When you read
in a design, libgeda functions are used to fill out the TOPLEVEL data structure.  The
the purpose of gattrib is to take all teh stuff out of TOPLEVEL and stick it into
GtkSheet for user manipulation.

1.  Loop on each page.  For each page in the design, read it in using 
    s_toplevel_read_page.  Then invoke s_sheet_data_add_master_*_list items.

2.  Create the tables using s_table_new.

3.  Load the tables using s_sheet_data_add_*_table_items.






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********  How data gets from GtkSheet into TOPLEVEL upon saving a sheet  ********
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Here's what happens when file->save is invoked from the menu.  Please keep in 
mind that gattrib is a thin layer between GtkSheet and TOPLEVEL.  When you save
out a design, the purpose of gattrib is to take all the stuff out of GtkSheet
and stick it into TOPLEVEL and then save it.

1.  Selecting "save" from the menubar invokes the callback s_toplevel_menubar_file_save.
    (callbacks are defined in includes/x_menu.h)
    This calls s_toplevel_gtksheet_to_toplevel.  

2.  s_toplevel_gtksheet_to_toplevel calls s_sheet_data_gtksheet_to_sheetdata. 
    Then it loops on all pages and calls s_toplevel_sheetdata_to_toplevel.  (Described 
    starting in item 6 below.)

3.  s_sheet_data_gtksheet_to_sheetdata calls s_table_gtksheet_to_all_tables.

4.  s_table_gtksheet_to_all_tables calls s_table_gtksheet_to_table individually 
    for each sheet (comps, nets, pins)

5.  s_table_gtksheet_to_table loops on the gtksheet and loads all the stuff it 
    finds back into TABLE (part of sheet_data).

6.  Back in s_toplevel_gtksheet_to_toplevel.  Now that the tables are loaded, 
    we loop on all pages and call s_toplevel_sheetdata_to_toplevel with a pointer
    to the first obj on the page as the calling arg.

7.  Inside s_toplevel_sheetdata_to_toplevel, we loop on all objs in teh page, 
    find the corresponding entry in TABLE, and then copy all attribs out of
    TABLE and back into the object's attrib list.

8.  Finally, the libgeda fcn s_page_save_all is called.  This saves out all
    pages in the design.


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Data structures used in gEDA.

These notes attempt to document the data structures used in gEDA.  I
present them here because they may not be familiar to those interested
in hacking gattrib.  I also want to record these findings somewhere
because it took me some time to figure this out. 

TOPLEVEL:       The basic data structure in gschem.  Basically holds info
                about the entire design.
PAGE:           Self explanatory.  The entire design is held as a
                doubly linked list of PAGEs under TOPLEVEL.
OBJECT:         A graphical object on the gschem page.  Can be a net
                segment, a component complex, a bit of text, a
                component's pin, or whatever.  Each page holds a
                doubly linked list of OBJECTs present on that page.
TILE:           A section of the graphical page.  Important in
                gschem, a TILE holds a single linked list of OBJECTs
                present in its subsection of the page.  Each page
                holds a two dimensional doubly linked list of TILEs.  
                A TILE is used to quickly locate a particular object 
                when handling the graphical drawing of a schematic.
NETLIST:        Important in gnetlist.  This is a doubly linked list
                of component objects and pins.


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Represenatation of components, component attributes, & pins in gattrib & gEDA.


From the top down to a particular graphical object on a schematic page:

(TOPLEVEL *pr_current)->(PAGE page_current)->(OBJECT o_current) 

That is, all objects in the design are graphical objects, and are held 
in a linked list.  Note that an object is any graphical object, 
such as text, a component (COMPLEX), an attribute, a line, a net, etc.
Stuff attached below the OBJECT level determine
what kind of object the graphic is, its visibility, its name, etc. etc. etc.  


----  Components with attributes  ----
Starting from a component (COMPLEX), an attribute is represented like this:
(OBJECT *component)->(ATTRIB *attribs)->(OBJECT *attrib_graphic)->(TEXT *text)->(char *string) // name=value string
                                                                              ->(int x, y)     // which coords?
                                                                              ->(int screen_x) // ???
                                                                                etc . . .
                                                                ->(int type)   // types defined in o_types.h
                                                                ->(int sid)    // unique identifier
                                                                ->(char *name) // something like text.3732

Note that ATTRIB is a linked list of (pointers to) attributes.
(OBJECT *component) points to the ATTRIB list, and "attrib_graphic" points
to the attrib OBJECT itself (which is a graphical element like everything else).  


----  Attributes  ----
Since each attribute is itself a graphical object present in the design, 
an attribute graphic is represented like this:
(OBJECT *attribute)->(TEXT *text)->(char *string) // name=value string
                                 ->(int x, y)     // which coords?
                                 ->(int screen_x) // ???
                                    etc . . .
                   ->(int type)  // for attribute, type is text
                                 // #define OBJ_TEXT       'T'
                   ->(int sid)
                   ->(char *name)
                   ->(ATTRIB *attached_to)  // points back to (OBJECT *component)
                   ->(int attribute)        // = 1 for attribute, = 0 otherwise.
                   ->(int show_name_value)  // #define SHOW_NAME_VALUE         0
                                            // #define SHOW_VALUE              1
                                            // #define SHOW_NAME               2
                   ->(int visibility)       // #define INVISIBLE       0
                                            // #define VISIBLE         1

Attrib_graphic is stored internally as a "name=value" string, and is disassembled
by various fcns when needed.


----  Pins  ----
As for pins, they are attached to components (COMPLEX) in the following way.
Starting from the component:
(OBJECT *component)->(COMPLEX *complex)->(OBJECT *prim_objs)->(int type)        // #define OBJ_PIN  'P'
                                                            ->(ATTRIB *attribs) // pin attrib list.
                                                            ->(int sid)         // unique identifier
                                                            ->(char *name)      // something like pin.3372


Pins also are held in the NETLIST data structure, which is a separate data structure.
NETLIST is more important in gnetlist than in gschem.  A pin is held in the following 
way:
(NETLIST *node)->(OBJECT *object_ptr)
               ->(CPINLIST *cpins)->(char *pin_number)
                                  ->(char *net_name)
                                  ->(char *pin_label)



----  Example  ----
Component objects (COMPLEX) have lots of other other fields in teh struct.
Here's an example taken  from a real design:

(OBJECT *component)->name                                 = complex.188       // unique ID of component

                   ->attribs->object->name                = complex.188       // first "attribs" points back to component
                   ->attribs->next->object->name          = text.272          // attrib text
                   ->attribs->next->object->text->string  = refdes=C1         // actual attrib
                   
                   ->complex->prim_objs->name             = complex-head.189  // head of prim_objs list                      
                   ->complex->prim_objs->next->name       = pin.190           // actual object

Each list attached to a component has a head, followed by the actual list
items.


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From include/struct.h:

/* ----------- SDB note about philosophy behind globals -------------- *
 * I made the "TOPLEVEL project" and all the GTK window stuff into
 * global variables.  I know that this is supposedly bad programming form.    
 * However, here are some observations:
 * -- I wanted to use gEDA's TOPLEVEL structure as much as possible, at
 *    least to hold info about the design's netlist & components.  
 *    The TOPLEVEL strucuture is architected to hold info about gschem's 
 *    window also.  HOwever, gschem's windows are architected differently
 *    than mine in gattrib.  This is because my windowing system does
 *    completely different things, and also uses the GtkSheet widget, which
 *    is architected completely differently from TOPLEVEL.
 * -- Since I couldn't easily or naturally cram my windowing scheme into 
 *    TOPLEVEL (or so I think), I decided to use a separate set of windows 
 *    from those defined under TOPLEVEL for my application.
 * -- The problem arises when using callbacks.  Callbacks from GTK allow
 *    only one argument to be passed.  Given the way I set up the menu bar, 
 *    I didn't have easy acces to the information inside both the GtkSHeet
 *    objects *and* the TOPLEVEL stuff while only having one callback
 *    argument.  This makes it hard to have access to e.g. a GtkSheet window 
 *    and a list of files (in TOPLEVEL) simultaneously.
 * -- Therefore, I decided to make both the window stuff and TOPLEVEL 
 *    globals.
 * -- Similarly, because I couldn't cram the SHEET_DATA struct into any
 *    hook in TOPLEVEL, I just made it a global also.
 * -- Finally, in my defense, in gschem and gnetlist, (TOPLEVEL *w_current 
 *    or pr_current) is passed  to almost every function.  Since it 
 *    is just a pointer to a huge struct of stuff, manipulating 
 *    the stuff in the struct has a global
 *    effect.  That is, manipulating w_current (or pr_current) has side 
 *    effects, so it is basically a global anyway.  The real problem with 
 *    globals occurs when you have a global variable caled "i" or "temp"
 *    which conflicts with a global in a module written by somebody else.
 *    Since pr_current is a very uncommon name, this should not be a 
 *    problem here.  Therefore, I decided 
 *    to make life easy for myself dealing with callbacks by making both 
 *    the windows and TOPLEVEL global variables.
 * If there is a better way to solve this problem, I'd like to hear it.
 * ------------------------------------------------------------------ */


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To be done:
1.  Before building spreadsheet, create and sort component and net 
    master lists.  They are used to index components in the TABLE,
    and also label the gtk_sheet rows and cols.
2.  How to handle attribute visibility?  Maybe right-click on cell & set 
    vis.  Default = invisible and "both name and value".
3.  Need fcns to allow for adding and deleting of entire attrib
    columns.  Don't need to allow for adding/deleting components
    -- users should use gschem to add/delete components because 
    gattrib can't do anything about the graphical position data
    required for this.



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Here's what the filename prefix letters mean:

        a_ : Action (this was a really poor choice, and will be removed)
        g_ : Guile related functions
        i_ : Interface related functions
        o_ : graphic Object related functions
        x_ : X related functions
        f_ : File related functions
        m_ : Math related functions
        s_ : data Structure related functions

        I've tried to keep the function names in the files correct, but
        sometimes I failed.  (look at libgeda/a_basic.c for an example of
        a file which has a bunch of functions which shouldn't be in there)

                                                                -Ales
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