[BUG] Variables not expanded in the worksheet when using the default worksheet and the internal frame_plot_mechanism

[houkhouk]

Hi guys,
having some trouble specifying footer sheet information when exporting my layers to pdf using pcb_print.

What do you want to achieve?
I'm trying to properly fill the technical sheet information footer (title, revision, date, etc) when using 'pcb_print' export. However, I cannot find a .yaml configuration that updates theses info. What am I missing ?

Do you have some PCB/Schematic to use as example?
Unfortunately I am not at liberty to disclose this information

Do you have some configuration file (.kibot.yaml) that you are using?
Here is my current config

- name: 'PCB artwork'
   comment: 'Drawing of PCB layers'
   type: 'pcb_print'
   dir: 'Project_Outputs/Documentation'
   options:
     dpi: 800
     frame_plot_mechanism: 'internal'
     pages:
         - layers:
             - layer: 'F.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
             - layer: 'F.Silkscreen'
               color: '#FFFF00'
           title: 'Top copper layer and silkscreen'
           scaling: 1.3
           page_id: '%02d'
         - layers:
             - layer: 'F.Mask'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           title: 'Top solder mask'
           scaling: 1.3
         - layers:
             - layer: 'F.Fab'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           title: 'Top fab layer'
         - layers:
             - layer: 'In1.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           scaling: 1.3
           title: 'In1 copper layer '
         - layers:
             - layer: 'In2.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           scaling: 1.3
           title: 'In2 copper layer '
         - layers:
             - layer: 'In3.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           scaling: 1.3
           title: 'In3 copper layer '
         - layers:
             - layer: 'In4.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           scaling: 1.3
           title: 'In4 copper layer '        
         - layers:
             - layer: 'B.Cu'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
             - layer: 'B.Silkscreen'
               color: '#FFFF00'
           scaling: 1.3
           mirror: true
           title: 'Bottom copper layer and silkscreen'
         - layers:
             - layer: 'B.Mask'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           scaling: 1.3
           mirror: true
           title: 'Bottom solder mask'
         - layers:
             - layer: 'B.Fab'
             - layer: 'Edge.Cuts'
           mirror: true
           title: 'Bottom fab layer'

Environment (please complete the following information):
I am running kibot on a desktop machine:
Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64
Version: 8.0.7-8.0.7-0~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/2.5.18
Platform: Ubuntu 22.04.5 LTS, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, budgie-desktop, x11
OpenGL: Intel, Mesa Intel(R) Xe Graphics (TGL GT2), 4.6 (Compatibility Profile) Mesa 24.0.0-devel (git-3ca1f35cbf)
Build Info:
Date: Dec 3 2024 15:56:08
wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
Boost: 1.74.0
OCC: 7.6.3
Curl: 7.81.0
ngspice: 43
Compiler: GCC 11.4.0 with C++ ABI 1016

Additional context
I don't recall ever managing to make this work, even on previous versions of kicad/kibot

[set-soft]

Usually you use variables in your worksheet, i.e. you assign ${REVISION} to the box for the revision.

Then you use set_text_variables preflight to update the variable, i.e. assign the current commit hash to the REVISION variable.

In this way you can change any detail of the worksheet, and also text in the PCB layers.

Is that what you need?

[houkhouk]

Thank you for your fast response. This is what I tried, however no matter how I set it, the fields remain blank:

[set-soft]

As your project can't be disclosed I suggest creating a very simple test case, so you can detect what's going wrong.
This mechanism is used in various projects and examples.
Then you can post it here.

[houkhouk]

I have created a very simple board where I reproduced the problem. This "test project" inherits all kicad configuration used in the real one.
Revision is set as a text variable in the kicad project, titles for each page of the pdf created by pcb_print is set in the .yaml file.

The generated file I have problem with is located in Test/Project_Outputs/Documentation/test-assembly.pdf

Test.zip

Thank you very much for your help !

[set-soft]

Ok, a bug here. You can workaround it by providing your own worksheet, i.e.
default_wks.zip

[houkhouk]

Great thank you very much, I can work with this !

Keep up this amazing work :)

[set-soft]

And now the dev images should contain the fix.