SnapEDA plugin issues

[pstormarkG9SGY]

I'm experiencing two issues with the SnapEDA plugin for Fusion. I suspect at least one of them is due to a bug in Fusion.

1. The SnapEDA icon in the tools menu is often greyed out after closing the plugin window, forcing me to restart Fusion if I wish to open again. It seems to be greyed out at other ocassions as well.

2. Quite often, importing components from the plugin simply doesn't work. For instance when trying to import a model which has schematic, footprint and 3D model, it shows a loading symbol for a while, but then nothing happens. I've given it plenty of time, just in case something was running slow.

[jorge_garcia]

Hi @pstormarkG9SGY,

I hope you're doing well. Just letting you know that I have passed this thread along to the SnapEDA team.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,

[pstormarkG9SGY]

Thank you, Jorge. 

[faustarenas]

Hi @pstormarkG9SGY,

Faust here from SnapEDA. Sorry to hear about some difficulties you had with our Fusion 360 plugin. We just have some few follow up questions regarding your concerns below:

1. The SnapEDA icon in the tools menu is often greyed out after closing the plugin window, forcing me to restart Fusion if I wish to open again. It seems to be greyed out at other ocassions as well.
   - May we know what is the version of your Fusion 360 plugin that is installed? On our end, we see the SnapEDA icon under the Utilities menu shown below.

2. Quite often, importing components from the plugin simply doesn't work. For instance when trying to import a model which has schematic, footprint and 3D model, it shows a loading symbol for a while, but then nothing happens. I've given it plenty of time, just in case something was running slow.

   - May we know what is the part number you tried when you experienced the issue so we can further investigate? 

[pstormarkG9SGY]

1. The latest version, v2.1.2. Pressing Get updates gives the message This application has the latest version. 

I do also see the icon under utilities, usually not greyed out. I'm not able to recreate this exact issue at the moment which is quite strange because this occurred very often.

2. This happens with a lot of parts. An example is XU208-128-QF48 (XMOS), which does not have a 3D model. Another example is PCM3060PWR (TI), which does have a 3D model.

[anatrujillo99]

Hi @pstormarkG9SGY!

This is Ana from the support team stepping in for Faust. Nice to e-meet you!

Thank you for sharing these details and confirming the information. 

1. Regarding the icon being greyed out:

We are not able to replicate it on our end either. However, I have a couple of extra questions so we can better understand the situation on your end: 

- What version of Fusion 360 do you have?

- What operative system (OS) do you have? 

- Do you have the plugin installed on the same location (drive) as the Fusion 360 software?

- Does this only happen with the access under utilities? or has it happened on any other the other places? Note that you can access the plugin from the schematic and PCB by clicking under "Tools". 

2. About the parts not importing properly: 

We have tried the couple of examples you shared and we were able to import them successfully: 

- XU208-128-QF48: it is expected that the 3D model won't load since it is not available. However, if you go to the SnapEDA Library tab, it should be listed in the Components section as in the image below: 

- PCM3060PWR: in this case, it should have been added to the SnapEDA library as in the example above, but first opening the 3D tab. 

Could you please confirm if you are able to find the models under the SnapEDA Library? You can also check if the files where saved into your device by going to this location: C:\Users\<usarname>\SnapEDALibrary.

If you are not able to find the files, could you send us a screenshot of what it happens after you click Import Part from the plugin so we can investigate further?

Thank you and looking forward to your response. 

Ana Trujillo from the SnapEDA team.

[pstormarkG9SGY]

Hi, Ana.

1. 

 - Version 2.0.15299

 - Windows 10.0.19044

 - Yes, the plugin is installed on the same drive.

 - It happened with the icon at every location.

2. 

 - The part without 3D model didn't show up at all at all; no footprint or symbol imported either. Thus it is not listed in any of my SnapEDA libraries (The plugin has created 3. Bug?).

 - Doesn't show up in any of my SnapEDA libraries either and did not open in 3D view after clicking the import button.

To my surprise, they are indeed in the folder C:\Users\<usarname>\SnapEDALibrary.

I would assume it's something weird going on when I end up with multiple libraries called SnapEDA Library. It imports to the same library for a while and then creates a new one and goes from there. Very strange. I have a project called Libraries, as adviced by the Fusion team, and that's where I had my initial one.  Now it has created two more (when importing works) in the folder of my current project.

[faustarenas]

Hi @pstormarkG9SGY ,

Thanks for providing the additional information. 

After a thorough investigation, the reason why you see multiple "SnapEDA Library" versions with a " * "  files like this after clicking Import Part using our plugin is because it hasn't been saved yet.

As mentioned in our Import Guide here, in this case for part number XU208-128-QF48, you need to follow Step 9 moving forward. And if in the case of a part number with a 3D model, you can start with Step 1.

Once you have followed our guide here, you will be able to add the imported parts to your schematic/PCB design.

Let me know if you were able to make it work following this solution.  

[pstormarkG9SGY]

Unfortunately that is not the reason. I always save the library after importing a part. I've always followed the guide to the letter. So this did not solve the problem. I'm not ruling out that I've done something else wrong, but this is not it.

[faustarenas]

Hi @pstormarkG9SGY ,

Sorry to hear that it wasn't the solution. Would it be possible if you can send us the log file located in this directory:

C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\SnapEDA.bundle\Contents\snapeda.log

You may send the log file via our email at support@snapeda.com or via chat messenger on our site.

We thank you for your patience and for helping us with the investigation. Once the log file has been sent, we're going to forward it to our software team so they can investigate further.

Thanks!

[pstormarkG9SGY]

I did a reboot of my computer and tried importing the models, as the log file was almost empty. Importing of both parts went without problems now. I sent the log file anyways, just in case there is something of significance, which I doubt. The first few lines of the log file are from before I rebooted my machine, which might be relevant.

I haven't tried importing more parts, so I can't know for sure whether it's fixed. It's strange, but it's not much you can do about it without more information.

[anatrujillo99]

Hi again @pstormarkG9SGY!

Thank you for trying again and I am happy to hear that you were able to import the models now. 

We will take a look at the file you shared in case it provides any insights about the problems you were encountering.

Please let us know if the issue raises again. 

Ana Trujillo from the SnapEDA team.

[pstormarkG9SGY]

The issue showed up again while trying to import part G6K-2F. SnapEDA plugin log:

DEBUG:comtypes:CoInitializeEx(None, 2)
INFO:comtypes.client._code_cache:Imported existing <module 'comtypes.gen' from 'C:\\Users\\pstor\\AppData\\Local\\Autodesk\\webdeploy\\production\\aa5acb965e635aafefbe0657ed470ebc997e829c\\nspylib.zip\\comtypes\\gen\\__init__.pyc'>
DEBUG:comtypes.client._code_cache:Path is unwriteable: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: 'C:\\Users\\pstor\\AppData\\Local\\Autodesk\\webdeploy\\production\\aa5acb965e635aafefbe0657ed470ebc997e829c\\nspylib.zip\\comtypes\\gen\\tmpuf45bw5r'
INFO:comtypes.client._code_cache:Using writeable comtypes cache directory: 'C:\Users\pstor\AppData\Roaming\Python\Python39\comtypes_cache'
DEBUG:adsk.dls.streamer.neutron_support.update:Create Update class instance for live update.
DEBUG:root:Preparing to do final log configuration
DEBUG:comtypes:CoInitializeEx(None, 2)
DEBUG:comtypes:CoUninitialize()

I opened the plugin just after opening Fusion, so no library or file opened.

[pstormarkG9SGY]

Again, it seems to be fixed after a computer restart. It is bothersome, as I can't restart my computer all the time just to fix this issue.

If someone from the SnapEDA team were to read this, is it possible to choose where the 3d models of the imported parts go? They always end up in the last used project. However I have a separate library project with a model folder in it where it should preferably end up.

[pstormarkG9SGY]

The issue with the inactive SnapEDA button is still happening to this day. I'm restarting Fusion multiple times a day to be able to use this plugin, as restarting the software enables the button again. I still don't know what causes this. Has there been any update on this? Maybe it shouldn't be ruled out that this is a bug in Fusion. 

[a_tekautz]

Hi all!

I got aware of the great plugin a couple of days ago. Before I always manually downloaded the library files and added them to my library, then added the 3D representation when available. This plugin really saves a lot of time and makes it much easier to get library assets.

In the last days I used the plugin for a couple of elements and today, after opening the project again, I have the same issue as the TO, namely greyed out plugin button. A restart of Fusion, however, fixed the issue for now.

Thanks, Andreas

[tyler_huxley]

The greyed out button still seems to be an issue. Any news on a fix?

[jorge_garcia]

Hello @tyler_huxley ,

I hope you're doing well. Have you downloaded the most recent version of the app? If you are on a Mac it won't work.

Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you.

Best Regards,