| FreePCB User Guide | Version 1.2

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5. PCB Layout (continued)

5.8 Projects

In FreePCB, PCB layouts are referred to as projects. All of the information describing a project is stored in a single text file with the extension .fpc, which is usually stored in a folder with the same name as the project. For example, the project named "Motor" would be stored in the file Motor.fpc in the folder C:\FreePCB\projects\Motor

A new project is created with File > New. This will launch the Project Options dialog, which is shown below.

Note that most of the fields of the dialog are already filled in. These default settings are taken from a file called default.cfg which must be in the same folder as the FreePCB.exe application. If you don't want to use the defaults for your project, you can change them in the dialog. If you would like to change the defaults for all future projects, you can edit the defaults.cfg file with any text editor. The format of this file is described in Section 8: File Formats.

Each field in the dialog is explained below:

- Name: This is the name of the project. It should not contain spaces or any characters that are illegal in filenames.

- Project Folder: This is the folder where your project file will be saved. It is already filled in with the path to the default parent folder for new projects. As you enter the name of your project in the Name field, each character will automatically be appended to the path. For example, if you enter "Motor" in the Name field, the Projec t F older field will become "..\projects\Motor". If you would like to use a different project folder, you can override the default by entering a path directly into the Project Folder field.

  - Note: The default path begins with "..\", indicating that it is a relative path. Actually, it is relative to the location of the FreePCB.exe application. If you have performed the default installation into C:\FreePCB, the application will be in C:\FreePCB\bin, and the project folders will be in C:\FreePCB\projects. If you installed FreePCB somewhere else, the default path will still work as long as \bin and \projects are in the same folder. If not, you may want to edit the default.cfg file. For example, when I am working on the FreePCB source code, I run the application from E:\allan\SVNwork\FreePCB\Debug, but I still want to create my projects in C:\FreePCB\projects. Therefore, in E:\allan\SVNwork\FreePCB\Debug\default.cfg, I changed the line
    parent_folder: "..\projects\"
    to:
    parent_folder: "C:\FreePCB\projects\"

- Library Folder: This is the path to the folder which contains the footprint library files for FreePCB. The default path is relative to the application folder, but it can be changed in the dialog if necessary, and the default can be changed in default.cfg just as for the Project Folder (see note above).

- Number of copper layers: This is the number of copper layers on the PCB, between 1 and 8.

- Default trace and via widths (mils): These represent the default values for trace width, via diameter and via hole diameter. They may be overridden later on for particular traces or nets.

- Menu of trace and via widths: This is a list of trace and via widths which will be offered as a menu if you modify the widths of particular traces or nets. You are not limited to these values, but it is convenient to have them on a menu and it reduces the chance of error. You can use the Add button to add new entries to the list. If you select an item you can use the Delete button to remove it or the Edit button to modify it.

- Autosave: Enabling Autosave causes FreePCB to automatically save the project file every few minutes.

When you are satisfied with your entries, click OK. The project folder will be created if it does not already exist (however, the parent folder must exist or you will get an error message). The project file will not be written into the folder until you Save from the File menu. I usually do this immediately after I have created a new project.

By the way, the project Name is only used to create names for the project file and the default project folder. After that, FreePCB uses the name of the project file as the project name. You can rename the project file or use Save As from the File menu to save the project under a different name. You may find it useful to keep several different versions of your project in the project folder, under different names. For example, you could experiment with some new ideas in a design, but revert back to an earlier version if they don't work out.

As mentioned above, you can modify the defaults for new projects by editing the default.cfg file in the application folder. The format for this file is described in Section 8: File Formats, and you shouldn't have any trouble figuring out how to modify it (but save a copy just in case). You can also edit the project file, if you like. This is a more complex file, with sections describing the project options, footprints, parts, nets, text strings, etc. The options section is very similar to the default.cfg file. You probably don't want to mess too much with the other sections.

Once a project has been created, it can be closed, saved and opened using the usual selections from the File menu.

After a project has been created, the project options can be edited by selecting Options... in the Project menu. This will bring back the Project Options dialog with some fields disabled, as shown below. You can make changes to any of the enabled fields, and save them by clicking OK.

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