How to use custom values in KiBot output file names?

[cdwilson]

Let's say that I have two assembly variants (variant_1 & variant_2) and I want to set output file name differently for each variant. For variant_1 I want the schematic to be named RED.pdf and for variant_2 I want the schematic to be named BLUE.pdf.

It appears that %I was intended to allow user-defined content in the output file name, but I'm not exactly sure how to set this value based on the currently active variant.

The documentation says:

output_id: [string=''] Text to use for the %I expansion content. To differentiate variations of this output.

It seems like I should set output_id: "%I.%x", but I'm not sure how to get %I = RED for variant_1 and %I = BLUE for variant_2 in the kibot.yaml file.

Essentially, I'm looking for something like a variable which can be defined differently for each variant inside the kibot.yaml file and then used in the outputs.

[set-soft]

Hi @cdwilson !
Use output_id: RED in one case and output_id: BLUE in the other.

If both variants share the outputs (without extend or similar mechanism to make them different) you can also use %v and %V: You can just name one variant RED and the other BLUE and use %V in the output pattern. The name of the variant is something arbitrary. Also note that variants has two fields, its name and the file_id (%v).

[cdwilson]

Hi @set-soft, sorry, I didn't do a good job describing what I was trying to accomplish in my original post. What you describe in your reply makes total sense in the case where each variant only needs a single modifier that is used in all the outputs (via %v and %V).

What I'm looking for is a way to define multiple modifiers for each variant. Specifically, for each variant I have a top-level part number for the assembly variant, e.g. BOM-1234. I also have a unique schematic document number for each variant, e.g. SCH-5678.

When I generate the BOM for a variant, I want to name it BOM-1234.csv. However, when I generate the schematic for that same assembly variant, I want to name it SCH-5678.pdf.

This is probably not the best way to implement it, but I'm imagining something like this:

# File: release_BOM-1234.kibot.yaml

import:
  - file: release.kibot.yaml

variants:
  - name: BOM-1234
    comment: BOM-1234
    type: kibom
    file_id: _BOM-1234
    variant: BOM-1234
    pre_transform: _var_rename
    set_variant_variables: <-- some mechanism to define a "variable" that can be used in the text variables and the output file names
      - name: SCHEMATIC_DOC_NUMBER
        value: SCH-5678

# File: release_BOM-9999.kibot.yaml

import:
  - file: release.kibot.yaml

variants:
  - name: BOM-9999
    comment: BOM-9999
    type: kibom
    file_id: _BOM-9999
    variant: BOM-9999
    pre_transform: _var_rename
    set_variant_variables:
      - name: SCHEMATIC_DOC_NUMBER
        value: SCH-7777

# File: release.kibot.yaml

preflight:
  set_text_variables:
    - name: SCHEMATIC_DOC_NUMBER
      text: ${SCHEMATIC_DOC_NUMBER}

outputs:
  - name: schematic_pdf
    ...
    options:
      ...
      output: "${SCHEMATIC_DOC_NUMBER}.%x"

[cdwilson]

FYI, for anyone else trying to do something similar in the future, I was able to achieve this very easily using python's Template strings.

I have a python script which automatically generates multiple <variant>.kibot.yaml files from a single template.kibot.yaml file. This actually simplified things, since it allowed me to have just a single template.kibot.yaml (rather than having to maintain separate configs for each variant that each import from a shared release.kibot.yaml file). The template.kibot.yaml file contains python template strings which are replaced by the python script, for example:

# template.kibot.yaml
outputs:
  - name: schematic_pdf
    comment: Export the schematic to PDF
    type: pdf_sch_print
    dir: +/Schematic
    run_by_default: true
    options:
      frame: true
      all_pages: true
      dnf_filter: _kibom_dnf_BOM
      monochrome: false
      output: "%f_V${PROJECT_VERSION}_Schematic_${SCHEMATIC_PART_NUMBER}_Rev_${SCHEMATIC_REVISION}.%x"

is transformed into:

# FCD-000035.kibot.yaml
outputs:
  - name: schematic_pdf
    comment: Export the schematic to PDF
    type: pdf_sch_print
    dir: +/Schematic
    run_by_default: true
    options:
      frame: true
      all_pages: true
      dnf_filter: _kibom_dnf_BOM
      monochrome: false
      output: "%f_V1_Schematic_FCD-000036_Rev_B.%x"

[cdwilson]

For someone else coming across this in the future: as @set-soft mentioned in #233 (reply in thread), as of 08a0628 KiBot now supports preprocessor @variable@ substitutions in the YAML config file. (Using an external preprocessor with python's Template strings is not needed to achieve this any longer.)