identify-layers

@tracespace/identify-layers

Try to guess Gerber files' layer types based on filenames. Part of the tracespace collection of PCB visualization tools.

This module is one part of the tracespace render pipeline, and you may not need to use it directly. See @tracespace/core to integrate the full render pipeline into your project.

npm install @tracespace/identify-layers

usage

Pass identifyLayers an array of filenames from a PCB, and it will give you back an object keyed by filename with the best guess it can make for the type and side of each file. If both side and type are null, the filename cannot be identified as a Gerber / drill file.

import {identifyLayers} from '@tracespace/identify-layers'

const filenames = ['my-board-F_Cu.gbr', 'my-board-B_Cu.gbr', 'foo.bar']
const typeByFilename = identifyLayers(filenames)
// {
//   'my-board-F_Cu.gbr': {type: 'copper', side: 'top'},
//   'my-board-B_Cu.gbr': {type: 'copper', side: 'bottom'},
//   'my-board-notes.gbr': {type: 'drawing', side: null},
//   'foo.bar': {type: null, side: null},
// }

layer types and names

There are 12 available layer types, were a type is an object of the format:

{
  side: 'top' | 'bottom' | 'inner' | 'all' | null,
  type: 'copper' | 'soldermask' | 'silkscreen' | 'solderpaste' | 'drill' | 'outline' | 'drawing' | null,
}

You can get an array of all types with:

import {getAllLayers} from '@tracespace/identify-layers'

const allLayers = getAllLayers()

side	type
'top'	'copper'
'top'	'soldermask'
'top'	'silkscreen'
'top'	'solderpaste'
'bottom'	'copper'
'bottom'	'soldermask'
'bottom'	'silkscreen'
'bottom'	'solderpaste'
'inner'	'copper'
'all'	'outline'
'all'	'drill'
null	'drawing'

constants

Side and type constants are exported for your usage:

import {
  // layer types
  TYPE_COPPER, // 'copper'
  TYPE_SOLDERMASK, // 'soldermask'
  TYPE_SILKSCREEN, // 'silkscreen'
  TYPE_SOLDERPASTE, // 'solderpaste'
  TYPE_DRILL, // 'drill'
  TYPE_OUTLINE, // 'outline'
  TYPE_DRAWING, // 'drawing'

  // board sides
  SIDE_TOP, // 'top'
  SIDE_BOTTOM, // 'bottom'
  SIDE_INNER, // 'inner'
  SIDE_ALL, // 'all'
} from '@tracespace/identify-layers'

checking if a layer type is valid

You can check if any given string is a valid layer type with:

import {validate} from '@tracespace/identify-layers'

const type1 = {side: 'top', type: 'copper'}
const type2 = {side: 'foo', type: 'silkscreen'}
const type3 = {side: 'bottom', type: 'bar'}

console.log(validate(type1)) // {valid: true, side: 'top', type: 'copper'}
console.log(validate(type2)) // {valid: false, side: null, type: 'silkscreen'}
console.log(validate(type3)) // {valid: false, side: 'bottom', type: null}

supported cad programs

We should be able to identify files output by the following programs:

• KiCad
• Eagle
• Altium
• Orcad
• gEDA PCB
• DipTrace

contributing

Please read the Contributing Guide for development setup instructions.

If you're adding or modifying a filetype matcher, please remember to add or modify an example filename in @tracespace/fixtures/gerber-filenames.json to ensure your change is tested.