Window idents...

[dc6tryer]

Hi,

when you want to add or change gauges in a panel sometimes there are these ident numbers which seem to have no connection with anything, but which must do ! but how are they assigned ? I have treid just using any ole number but the gauge won't show up then, so I'm obviously doing something wrong, but i haven't figured it out yet, so am looking for an explanation hopefully !

Thank you,

Andy.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

They are indeed assigned randomly. I normally use a number 1 (or 10) higher or lower than any other subpanel in the panel. Make sure you don't duplicate any ident number in that panel.cfg file! That's the only time they won't show up.

They are used by the icon gauges to identify which subpanel to pop up (i.e. "display the subpanel with ident number 10050").

You may also replace the number with a few specific word phrases that FS understands:

MAIN_PANEL
RADIO_STACK_PANEL
COMPASS_PANEL
ANNUNCIATOR_PANEL
ANNUNCIATOR2_PANEL
COLLECTIVE_PANEL
THROTTLE_PANEL
MINI_CONTROLS_PANEL
IFR_MAIN_PANEL
GPS_PANEL
OVERHEAD_PANEL

These are from the SDK, and thus some are probably not correct.

Hope this helps,

[dc6tryer]

Hi,

thanks for the reply.... are you saying there is a link through the icon gauge, something that is written into the gauge ....in which case i think i begin to understand why some of my pop-ups windows don't function...i change the number and still hope it'll find the gauge!

Like those cargo cults tribal peopleI laughed at in Mondo Cane in the 60'ies.
Karma; now it's my turn to look expectantly into the sky and I stare stupidly into the screen expecting to see a pop-up but all I get is cross-eyed. Back to the drawing board!
Thank you Tom.

Andy.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

No problem. Yes, those numbers are hard coded into the icon gauge. If you change the ident number of the target subpanel it will no longer show up. Of course, this means you can number whatever subpanel you want to that specific number and it will show up when you click the icon.

[dc6tryer]

Hi,
Beginning to get a grasp of it now !
Thanks again.

Andy.

[dc6tryer]

Hi,
The original difficulty I'd had was to want to add another pop-up window with a gauge and also put an icon on the panel..There were no 'spare' icons, so I'd copied one and added it to the panel,but of course it hadn't worked due to the coding thing...! i've had a look in gauges and cannot seem to find the 'icon' innards to alter the number encoded, so as to be able to copy it, but perhaps the added window can be brought up with Shift + [the next number] so that will by-pass the re-writing ?

Thanks as always!

Andy.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

The code is pretty simple. Here is one that brings up the overhead panel with an ident of 10010:

<Gauge Name="OVERHEAD_PANEL" Version="1.0">
<Image Name="overhead.bmp" ImageSizes="80,40"/>
<Mouse>
<Cursor Type="Hand"/>
<Click>10010 (>K:PANEL_ID_TOGGLE)</Click>
<Tooltip ID="">Display/Hide Overhead</Tooltip>
</Mouse>
</Gauge>

Hope this helps,

[birdguy]

Here's something I wrote for Flightsim.com about 4 years agoregarding panel windows. It may help you.

Standardizing Panel Windows
By Noel Sivertson (4 January 2005)

One of the things that has bugged me about FS2004 is the lack of standardization for panel windows. Panel Window 2 might be the radio stack or the overhead panel or the GPS or whatever.

It's fairly simple to standardize them yourself and make them consistent throughout your fleet of flyable aircraft. Simply rearrange them in the panel.cfg file. You can use any order you like. Mine are as follows:


[Window Titles]
window00=Main Panel
window01=Overhead Panel, Switch Pan, Start Panel, Lower Panel, or
whichever panel your switches are on.
window02=Radio Stack
window03=Pedestal or ECU
window04=GPS
window05=T-Stack View
window06=IFR Panel
window07=Environmental or Cabin Pressure Control Panel
window08=Spare (Any panel unique to a particular aircraft such as the
Buss Panel)

Once you have the panel window order to your liking just rearrange the panel definition order to match the window titles order.

Some aircraft have few panel windows. To maintain the integrity of the panel window order I simply insert a null window. For an aircraft that does not have radio stack window or a T-Stack window the list would look like this:


[Window Titles]
window00=Main Panel
window01=Overhead Panel
window02=Null_2
window03=ECU
window04=GPS
window05=Null_5
window06=IFR Panel

The panel definition for a null window would look like this:

[window02]
size=1
position=0
visible=0
ident=12 (or any number not used by another panel definition)

I have also remapped part of my keyboard in the controls assignments window so the same keystroke brings up the same panel window in any aircraft I fly. I used the 'ZXCVB' row for this so 'Z' always brings up the overhead or switch panel and 'X' always brings up the radio stack. Of course you can use any set of keys you like. Stick and throttle control buttons can be remapped the same way.

The first thing I do with any new aircraft I install is to alter the panel.cfg file to conform to my personal panel window standard.

You might also look into Jorge Salas's switch, buttons, lights, and icons gauge collection which are a collection of items you can add to panels. Codes for the icons and switches are included in the readme file. It's available at AVSIM.com's files library. cptts1.2.zip

Noel Sivertson

[jesse]

Aaah, now you tell me Noel, seeing as how I no longer burn holes in the blue. ;D Sounds like a good program to have on board.

Jesse

[Tom/CalClassic]

Great idea. MS did standardize the subpanels - it was us other guys that messed it up.

MS's standard arrangement is:

1 Main Panel
2 Radios
3 GPS
4 Throttle or Annunciator
5 Overhead/Compass/Clock
6 Minipanel

Now for those panels with fewer or more windows they don't keep the exact same panel numbers after #4 or so, but 1 through 4 is true for almost all panels.

Hope this helps,

[birdguy]

I did tell you Jesse; 4 years ago. And some of the altered panels I sent you had the same configuration and a read-me file. Of course the read-me is the reference of last resort.

Like you I am having to curtail my computer operations; especially when it exceeds an hour or so at a stretch. The glaucoma is slowly progressing and I'm on my third type of eye drop now.

Since bird photography is my first priority my simulator time has been greatly curtailed as I am downloading my photgraphs and processing them on the computer on a daily basis. And my activity priority has my volunteering at the wildlife refuge first. We counted over 6,000 ducks and 8,000 sandhill cranes yesterday. Birds are like airplanes. They are just covered with feathers instead of aluminum.

lower40.smugmug.com

Noel

[chrisd]

Just seen on Avsim a tutorial which could possibly be of help on this matter - by David "Opa" Marshall and is titled 'iconpop.zip'.

[dc6tryer]

Hi,
Many thanks to all of you for this very helpful advice. i have just d/loaded the file from David Marshall and shall try studying it!

Andy.

[Tom/CalClassic]

Hi,

A new tutorial on adding icons that pop up subpanels:

library.avsim.net/esearch.php?CatID=fs2004misc&DLID=132531

Hope this helps,

[dc6tryer]

Hi,
This post is fascinating...I have now d/loaded the 'corrected'? file from David Marshall and Joge Solas' switch and icon set.. thank you Noel for the pointer to those, and I also had a quick look at some of your beautiful photographs

It will be a learning time for at least a couple of weeks, and then I will try my hand at some slight changes to a couple of the panels I use.

As always, many thanks to all of you. This is such a wonderful site! ;D

Andy.