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1.3 Component objects

When a symbol is instantiated in a schematic (e.g. by the user selecting it from the lepton-schematic component library and placing it on the page), a compound object known as a component is created.

Like a page, a component contains some number of object elements. When a component is created from a symbol, the contents of the symbol’s page are copied into the component.

In order to allow the component to appear in the correct place on the schematic page, at the correct orientation, etc., a transformation is applied to every object in the component.

Normally, when the schematic page is closed, the parameters of the transformation are stored in the schematic file along with the basename of the original symbol, but the object contents of the component are discarded. When the schematic is subsequently re-opened, the original symbol is retrieved from the component library, and used to recreate the component.

However, a component may optionally be embedded. In this case, its contents are stored in the schematic file.

Note: A component cannot contain another component – only other types of object.