TopSky plugin 2.4 beta 1

[Juha Holopainen]

The first beta of the next version for the plugin.

This thread is for bug reports and questions about the new features.

For a list of changes, please refer to the included version history document. Some highlights:

• "TopSkyCallsigns.txt" and "TopSkyCallsignsLocal.txt" data files are no longer read by the plugin. The callsigns are only read from "ICAO_Airlines.txt" (which was already an available option before), and the latter file is now called "ICAO_Airlines_Virtual.txt"
• The "R/T" button in menus to select whether a clearance is to be sent using CPDLC or RTF has been changed to separate "R/T" and "CPDLC" selection buttons. This makes the current selection clearer.
• "SBY" and "UNABLE" responses to level requests have been moved from the RFL menu to the CFL menu
• "+/-" options have been added to the ASP menu
• Plenty of new aircraft lists (EuroScope-style lists) - only available when using the latest ES beta r29, otherwise inhibited.
• "Sign In" (i.e. reading the local settings file) is now automatic by default, but can be inhibited using settings
• Division into "controlled" and "uncontrolled" tracks (has an effect on track coloring, eligibility for filtering, placement in the plugin's flight lists... This is a rather big change that may take some getting used to.
  • "uncontrolled" tracks are basically VFR flights that are not ASSUMED by anyone
  • "uncontrolled" tracks are subject to filtering (no more VFR cluttering the display!) and are shown in unconcerned color even inside your sector
  • new state "ON_CONTACT" can be set in the callsign menu. This colors the track with assumed color (and is network-wise the same as assumed, only this plugin sees the difference between assumed and on_contact) but does not make it "controlled"
  • In the callsign menu, "Assume" for an "uncontrolled" track makes it ASSUMED and "controlled". "Free" or "On Contact" makes it "uncontrolled" again

The package includes the plugin dll, the manual set, an example set of cursors and sounds, and a new data file "ICAO_Aircraft.json". It does not replace the ICAO_Aircraft.txt file, it only provides more data.

While the plugin can be used almost straight out of the box when updating from 2.3.1, some of the new functions may need some setup - the flight lists especially won't show anything useful until their contents are defined - so either be prepared to do some work setting things up, use only the features that work without having to do anything (to be fair, most of the stuff is like that), or wait until someone provides a ready setup with all the new shiny stuff available.

 

Edited August 11, 2021 by Juha Holopainen

[Ricardo Sousa (1110850)]

Area coordinates by CIRCLE:Lat:Lon:Radius:Spacing should do the BOUND line too, makes it defining a circle area just one line, instead of two nearly identical ones

[Matisse VanWezer (1385143)]

What an update, Juha!

Thank you for your tremendous contributions and continuous support from all of us at Belux vACC! You rock!

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

Thank you Juha for this big update!!

However I found a couple of problems:

- When I use "Setup_AutoSignIn=0" in my local settings file, I can't login and the personal settings aren't loaded. The login confirmation window is shown and it's possible to click YES but it looks like the local settings file is not loaded and in the Settings menu "Sign Out" is greyed out and "Sign In" is clickable meaning I'm not logged in. Normally I don't use the Auto sign-in and only sign-in on the 'main' ES instance but because of this problem (and the next point) all settings for the main screen re loaded on every proxy instance too which is very enoying.

- I have a couple of window lines (like this: Window_CARD=1,90,1250,500,250) in my local settings file but even with a "1", the windows are displayed on both main & proxy ES instances. 1 should be only for the main if I'm correct.

 I can't get the APW sound working. The "APW audible alarm" in the Setup menu can't be selected to ON.- 80% of the times I close Eurocope it crashes since I updated Topsky to 2.4.0. I think it has something to do with changes in the lists. If I did a change and exit ES, it crashes.

- I get an "unknown item error" if I use: List_VFR_1_Filter_Units or List_VFR_2_Filter_Units

- It looks like the SAP is working on the AFL in stead of looking at the profile when the profile is going over an Area. I have SAP ("M") in the label for every flight where the trajectory going over an area and the AFL is lower than the upper vertical level of the area. I don't think I had that problem in version 2.3.

- I know it sounds a little spoiled but is it possible to get 2 ETWR lists? 

Great job putting in the WTC coloring option and the areas display and filtering!

Erik

Edited July 9, 2021 by Erik Wachters

[Hongye Rudi Zhang (1326158)]

Hi Juha,

Thanks for the huge update! But i found one thing might be BUG? When I change the equipment to L and apply, everything is normal. If I open the FP again and change other items. The (XXXXXXX) behind the equipment will also be added to the AP data. Shouldn't this be automatically ignored? Or should this be added?

 

Edited July 8, 2021 by Hongye Zhang

[Hongye Rudi Zhang (1326158)]

Also found another BUG that i can't delete old METAR, it will automatic change back to the first search.

[Juha Holopainen]

On 7/5/2021 at 4:25 AM, Ricardo Sousa said:

Area coordinates by CIRCLE:Lat:Lon:Radius:Spacing should do the BOUND line too, makes it defining a circle area just one line, instead of two nearly identical ones

It will in the next build. The CIRCLE line was a last-minute addition, initially only for maps but then I ported the code over to areas as well, just didn't have time to integrate the bound code to it.

On 7/6/2021 at 9:29 AM, Erik Wachters said:

- When I use "Setup_AutoSignIn=0" in my local settings file, I can't login and the personal settings aren't loaded. The login confirmation window is shown and it's possible to click YES but it looks like the local settings file is not loaded and in the Settings menu "Sign Out" is greyed out and "Sign In" is clickable meaning I'm not logged in. Normally I don't use the Auto sign-in and only sign-in on the 'main' ES instance but because of this problem (and the next point) all settings for the main screen re loaded on every proxy instance too which is very enoying.

- I have a couple of window lines (like this: Window_CARD=1,90,1250,500,250) in my local settings file but even with a "1", the windows are displayed on both main & proxy ES instances. 1 should be only for the main if I'm correct.

- I can't get the APW sound working. The "APW audible alarm" in the Setup menu can't be selected to ON.

- 80% of the times I close Eurocope it crashes since I updated Topsky to 2.4.0. I think it has something to do with changes in the lists. If I did a change and exit ES, it crashes.

- I get an "unknown item error" if I use: List_VFR_1_Filter_Units or List_VFR_2_Filter_Units

- It looks like the SAP is working on the AFL in stead of looking at the profile when the profile is going over an Area. I have SAP ("M") in the label for every flight where the trajectory going over an area and the AFL is lower than the upper vertical level of the area. I don't think I had that problem in version 2.3.

- I know it sounds a little spoiled but is it possible to get 2 ETWR lists? 

The code isn't handling the auto sign in setting correctly (it keeps reading it on every settings file reload instead of only on startup so when you sign in, it triggers a settings reload which, when seeing the setting there, immediately signs you out again...)

I didn't find anything obviously wrong with the main/proxy display code for the window settings. The problem may be that the code is run before the plugin gets the information that it's being run on a proxy instance. A settings file reload should then fix the situation (either manually, or automatically when a callsign change is seen by the code)

The APW alert sound button isn't connected to anything it seems. For now, the only way to change that setting is through the settings files.

I can't replicate any crash on exit. Probably best to test it by doing absolutely nothing except adjust a single list and then exit to see if it crashes to find out what exactly is causing it.

The "unknown item" error is a false alert for those two settings, the values should be applied correctly.

No comment on the SAP issue for now, I'll try to find time to check it out sometime next week. Any more detailed information is always helpful (AFL, CFL, RFL, XFL, area upper limit, aircraft's lowest EuroScope-calculated profile altitude within the area lateral boundary (including buffer), does the alert disappear immediately when AFL is above the upper limit, etc.)

If the real COOPANS build has two or more ETWR lists, I don't see a problem adding another one to the code, but if not, then probably not as the lists aren't exactly flexible code-wise and have a performance impact regardless of whether they are currently displayed or not.

On 7/8/2021 at 12:19 PM, Hongye Zhang said:

When I change the equipment to L and apply, everything is normal. If I open the FP again and change other items. The (XXXXXXX) behind the equipment will also be added to the AP data. Shouldn't this be automatically ignored? Or should this be added?

Seems to be a typo in the code there, it should only enter the single letter FAA code in that case.

18 hours ago, Hongye Zhang said:

Also found another BUG that i can't delete old METAR, it will automatic change back to the first search.

If you have "VATSIM" as the METAR source then this is normal. VATSIM METARs can't be deleted. EuroScope keeps downloading them in the background and the plugin just displays everything it receives. If you have "Plugin", then it should be able to delete them.

[Hongye Rudi Zhang (1326158)]

24 minutes ago, Juha Holopainen said:

Seems to be a typo in the code there, it should only enter the single letter FAA code in that case.

yep correct but if you edit others don't change that then you will get that issue

 

30 minutes ago, Juha Holopainen said:

If you have "Plugin", then it should be able to delete them.

That happened on Plugin source, but I can't delete I've no idea why. It works normally on Aerodrome under Info, only issued on METAR under MET

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

Thank you for the ansers

Quote

The code isn't handling the auto sign in setting correctly (it keeps reading it on every settings file reload instead of only on startup so when you sign in, it triggers a settings reload which, when seeing the setting there, immediately signs you out again...)

I didn't find anything obviously wrong with the main/proxy display code for the window settings. The problem may be that the code is run before the plugin gets the information that it's being run on a proxy instance. A settings file reload should then fix the situation (either manually, or automatically when a callsign change is seen by the code)

If the first point is solved then my problem will be solved too. The problem is that when auto logon is always on, windows are loaded for all ES instances. The settings are indeed loaded again if you connect to Vatsim but all the windows that are already on the proxy instance stay open after the reload. So on startup all windows for the main instance are displayed on all ES instances and after connecting to the network they stay open and you have to close them all manually.

Quote

The APW alert sound button isn't connected to anything it seems. For now, the only way to change that setting is through the settings files.

Even with APW sound on in the setting file we can't get the sound to work.

Quote

I can't replicate any crash on exit. Probably best to test it by doing absolutely nothing except adjust a single list and then exit to see if it crashes to find out what exactly is causing it.

I'll try that.

Quote

No comment on the SAP issue for now, I'll try to find time to check it out sometime next week. Any more detailed information is always helpful (AFL, CFL, RFL, XFL, area upper limit, aircraft's lowest EuroScope-calculated profile altitude within the area lateral boundary (including buffer), does the alert disappear immediately when AFL is above the upper limit, etc.)

OK, I'll try to make a little movie for you next week. I think it has to do with FPCF because I saw yesterday when I was online the same strange behaviour with MTCD. 2 aircraft in oposit direction about 2NM nose to nose, one level at AFL 120 and one AFL 230 with CFL 120 got an MTCD until the passed eachother. As soon as I gave the second one CFL 120 the MTDC kicked in. I'll try to record that too.

[Juha Holopainen]

4 hours ago, Erik Wachters said:

Even with APW sound on in the setting file we can't get the sound to work.

OK, I'll try to make a little movie for you next week. I think it has to do with FPCF because I saw yesterday when I was online the same strange behaviour with MTCD. 2 aircraft in oposit direction about 2NM nose to nose, one level at AFL 120 and one AFL 230 with CFL 120 got an MTCD until the passed eachother. As soon as I gave the second one CFL 120 the MTDC kicked in. I'll try to record that too.

Just to get the most obvious problems ruled out on these two: You do have the APW alert sound file in the plugin folder, right? (the menu item should be greyed out if the file is not found though) And when you enable the alert using the settings, does the item in the menu appear as selected (it does show the state of the setting correctly, just doesn't have the capability to toggle it). And the FPCP thing, what is the state of your "FPCP_4D" setting? It's on by default in the COOPANS version, off in the other. If you make a video of the situation, please display the Vertical Aid Window in it, showing the path of the aircraft in question, as without the vertical path information it may be hard to tell whether the behavior is as intended or not.

[Juha Holopainen]

21 hours ago, Hongye Zhang said:

That happened on Plugin source, but I can't delete I've no idea why. It works normally on Aerodrome under Info, only issued on METAR under MET

With "Plugin" selected as the METAR source, I tested the following sequence of actions:

1. Open the Weather Messages Window
2. Click "METAR/SPECI"
3. Select one or more airports from the list, click "Ok" -> METARs loaded
4. Click on one of the METARs to view only it, making "Del" clickable
5. Click "Del"
6. In the Confirmation Window, click "Yes"

The result is that the selected METAR is removed from the list and does not appear again. Are you doing something different, or did I understand the issue wrong?

[Hongye Rudi Zhang (1326158)]

1 hour ago, Juha Holopainen said:

With "Plugin" selected as the METAR source, I tested the following sequence of actions:

1. Open the Weather Messages Window
2. Click "METAR/SPECI"
3. Select one or more airports from the list, click "Ok" -> METARs loaded
4. Click on one of the METARs to view only it, making "Del" clickable
5. Click "Del"
6. In the Confirmation Window, click "Yes"

The result is that the selected METAR is removed from the list and does not appear again. Are you doing something different, or did I understand the issue wrong?

Yeah i did the same thing. 

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

Quote

Just to get the most obvious problems ruled out on these two: You do have the APW alert sound file in the plugin folder, right? (the menu item should be greyed out if the file is not found though) And when you enable the alert using the settings, does the item in the menu appear as selected (it does show the state of the setting correctly, just doesn't have the capability to toggle it).

Yes, the file is there. What setting are you refering to? I can't really find a related variable in the developer .xls. Probably that's the problem because the button is not greyed out (so the .wav file is there) but it's not selected in the menu.

Erik

Edited July 11, 2021 by Erik Wachters

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

OK, the FPCP/SAP/MTCD is solved. It was the "FPCP_4D" setting. I can't remember that it was changed before I upgraded to 2.4.0.

 

Edited July 11, 2021 by Erik Wachters

[Juha Holopainen]

I can't seem to be able to replicate the METAR delete issue. I've been able to delete every METAR I've tried so far, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

The APW sound setting is "APW_AlertSound", it seems to be missing in the documentation. "1" for on, "0" for off.

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

The APW sound setting is "APW_AlertSound", it seems to be missing in the documentation. "1" for on, "0" for off.

That works. Thank you!!

From my side these two things remain open and mainly it would be solved if the "Setup_AutoSignIn" would work:

- When I use "Setup_AutoSignIn=0" in my local settings file, I can't login and the personal settings aren't loaded. The login confirmation window is shown and it's possible to click YES but it looks like the local settings file is not loaded and in the Settings menu "Sign Out" is greyed out and "Sign In" is clickable meaning I'm not logged in. Normally I don't use the Auto sign-in and only sign-in on the 'main' ES instance but because of this problem (and the next point) all settings for the main screen re loaded on every proxy instance too which is very enoying.

- I have a couple of window lines (like this: Window_CARD=1,90,1250,500,250) in my local settings file but even with a "1", the windows are displayed on both main & proxy ES instances. 1 should be only for the main if I'm correct.

 

Thank you again!!

[Hongye Rudi Zhang (1326158)]

2 hours ago, Juha Holopainen said:

I can't seem to be able to replicate the METAR delete issue. I've been able to delete every METAR I've tried so far, so I'm not sure what's going on there.

I tried do in INFO-Aerodrome and it works for getting new METAR

AND I've tried move back to 2.3.1 it works normally!

Edited July 11, 2021 by Hongye Zhang

[Alexander Arlow]

On 7/9/2021 at 6:02 PM, Juha Holopainen said:

If the real COOPANS build has two or more ETWR lists, I don't see a problem adding another one to the code, but if not, then probably not as the lists aren't exactly flexible code-wise and have a performance impact regardless of whether they are currently displayed or not.

The real COOPANS only has one ETWR List.

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

Quote

The real COOPANS only has one ETWR List.

I don't see the advantage of only 1 ETWR list in Euroscope. At the moment we have the standard departure list with all the departures for all active airports. It sould be nice to have that list split up.
We have 2 major airports and 5 External tower airports. It should be nice to have one list with only the 2 majors and one with the 5 ETWRs.
If we can have multiple ETWR lists it's possible.

E.

[Alexander Arlow]

I did not (and will not )argue about the usefulness of multiple ETWR-Lists, I merely pointed out a fact of the real system.

Be aware though, what the ETWR is supposed to be doing in RL - it displays flights for *external* airports, meaning airports outside the system-area, in notified or coord state. For some units even the local airports are considered "external" since they are not part of the actual topsky system (for example where Topsky is only used in the upper portion of a certain airspace) but the intention for that list is to have departures displayed from airports that you do not actually control but that is in such proximity to your airspace, that they are a concern to you.

[Erik Wachters (815026)]

2 hours ago, Alexander Arlow said:

I did not (and will not )argue about the usefulness of multiple ETWR-Lists, I merely pointed out a fact of the real system.

Be aware though, what the ETWR is supposed to be doing in RL - it displays flights for *external* airports, meaning airports outside the system-area, in notified or coord state. For some units even the local airports are considered "external" since they are not part of the actual topsky system (for example where Topsky is only used in the upper portion of a certain airspace) but the intention for that list is to have departures displayed from airports that you do not actually control but that is in such proximity to your airspace, that they are a concern to you.

Right I see. In that case we need Departure lists that can filter on ADEP 
Thanks for the explanation!!

Edited July 12, 2021 by Erik Wachters

[Jonathan Hougaard (1457572)]

3 hours ago, Erik Wachters said:

I don't see the advantage of only 1 ETWR list in Euroscope. At the moment we have the standard departure list with all the departures for all active airports. It sould be nice to have that list split up.
We have 2 major airports and 5 External tower airports. It should be nice to have one list with only the 2 majors and one with the 5 ETWRs.
If we can have multiple ETWR lists it's possible.

E.

The way it is configured where I work is that departures from main airports (i.e. the airport(s) associated with the approach control unit) are displayed in the Global Departure List, whereas departures from sattelite airports are all displayed in the (single) ETWR list. But it's a matter of local configuration for sure.

[Alexander Arlow]

Bugreport:

Now: When entering an altitude or FL from the textbox in the CFL-window, the leading zero needs to be written when clearing an aicraft to for example A080.

Should be: The user should be able to omit the leading zero in such cases.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Alexander Arlow

[Alexander Arlow]

Austria has completely switched to 2.4 by now and people are very happy with the changes and new features! We have not found any showstoppers so far and no crashes have been reported to me.

[Bernardo Reis (1096507)]

17 hours ago, Alexander Arlow said:

Austria has completely switched to 2.4 by now and people are very happy with the changes and new features! We have not found any showstoppers so far and no crashes have been reported to me.

We are still having the problem of loading maps. We have to either logon to a position or reload settings. What do you guys do to load the maps?