Feature request: find/add parts using the octopart api

[Snevzor]

Hi,

I found this neat project on the Kicad forum and tried it instantly.
What holds me back from using it in a medium sized company is the part entry stuff.
It is a lot of manual work (even with the batch import/edit) and errors can be made. Also the price information can be old.

Octopart has a nice API: https://octopart.com/api/home
Adding a part would be much easier as all the information (including prices from multiple distributors, a picture and possibly Kicad library parts) can be fetched automatically. I'm starting to dream now but perhaps email notifications can be sent when stocks at distributors get low for instance.

[SchrodingersGat]

Hey @Snevzor it's a great idea, but unfortunately the Octopart API terms of service do not allow caching of any downloaded data (i.e. you cannot store it in a database). I have actually reached out to the Octopart support and specifically asked about this.

I would love to know how to support this but not violate their TOS

[Snevzor]

Oh that's a pity. I've briefly searched for some alternative but none seem to live up to what Octopart has to offer.

[SchrodingersGat]

I think that the individual supplier APIs are worth looking at (e.g. Digikey / Mouser / etc) but this obviously would require a lot more work, and a careful analysis of the TOS of each API

[eeintech]

@Snevzor I have responded to your other issue: #566
I definitely think you should have a look at Ki-nTree 😄

[SchrodingersGat]

@eeintech I've added Ki-nTree to the list of third-party InvenTree integrations - https://inventree.github.io/docs/extend/integrate

Congrats, you've single-handedly doubled the length of the list 👍

[eeintech]

@SchrodingersGat Nice, thanks! Hopefully it lives up to the hype!

[eeintech]

OP is not active: @SchrodingersGat I think we should close this issue

[SchrodingersGat]

I will close it out for now. In the future I'd like to see such integrations, but it needs to be carefully considered.

[ndbroadbent]

If anyone else finds this comment - #541 (comment)

Here's the new link for the third-party InvenTree integrations page in the docs: https://inventree.readthedocs.io/en/latest/extend/integrate/