Ground Radar plugin dev question

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Hi,

I'm trying to make my own plugin for ES to extend some info on the departure lists. Works ok, but I have not found a method in Euroscope.h to SET ground state of the flight plan. I can GET it, but not set it. Same for clearance flag.

If you don't mind sharing info on how GR plugin does it and since GR has also custom ground states like ON FREQ, how is this status passed over the network to other controllers (using also GR plugin of course) to see this status. Thru Euroscope or external sync between all GR plugins?

Many thanks

Bostjan

[Juha Holopainen]

Hi,

the ground states can be set by setting special scratchpad texts (See EuroScope documentation for the available ones). The data communication of the plugin for its custom states and stand assignments are documented in the developer guide, chapter 4. In short, the code does three steps for each change:

1. get the current scratchpad text
2. set the desired text (for example "CLEA" to set the clearance flag)
3. set the original text (even if empty)

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Thank you kindly, Juha.

What about ON FREQ and LINEUP status? Also, please share dev docs link (for that chapter 4 you mentioned), the one I have is dated 2010.

Thanks again.

Bostjan

[Juha Holopainen]

The documentation is contained in the plugin package, the download link is in the Ground Radar plugin 1.5 thread.

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Juha, hi,

thank you for this, found it all. 

One question though: I get the sending of status thru scratchpad. However, when some AC has set TAXI, seen in column of Ground Radar for example, when reading/getting Scratch pad, it's empty.

I would expect TXIN in the scratchpad.

Does it mean scratchpad "commands" for ground states are only working one way - to set them? I see I can get ground state from euroscope's getGroundState but that would not give me GR specific statuses...

Thank you

Bostjan

[Juha Holopainen]

The plugin doesn't leave the special scratchpad texts in there (I don't think EuroScope does either), they are just set there momentarily to pass the message. The default ground states can be queried using GetGroundState but the plugin's custom states naturally won't be understood by EuroScope as being ground states. If you want to use those, you'll need to monitor data type scratchpad and ground state changes in OnFlightPlanControllerAssignedDataUpdate to maintain a list of currently set special states, and when checking for a ground state, first check that list for a possible custom state before checking GetGroundState.

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Juha, thanks, this works.

I'll try to figure out how to hold custom statuses per callsign etc, so I have full sync of departure list between my windows app and euroscope.

At the moment only issue left is reading or changing/setting runway on departure list. Do you have any info how this is done?

Thank you 

Bostjan

[Juha Holopainen]

You can use the GetDepartureRwy function or parse the flight plan route string to get the runway. For setting the runway, the easy way is to use EuroScope's default runway selection popup. The hard way is to directly edit the flight plan route string. Starting the route string with "adep_icao_code/rwy_id" assigns the runway and "sid_id/rwy_id" both the runway and SID (editing the route string is what the respective EuroScope popups do).

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Juha, would it be possible for Ground Radar to get additional field type, let's say GNDS for ground status so that it could be displayed as a track label (section 3.4.5 in the developer manuals of GRP)? Optionally, if displayed, clicking on this type on the tag would open a menu to choose a new ground status (which now works if one clicks on the callsign).

And a question: I'm on the specter of colorblind people meaning like many I have difficulty in distinguishing between certain nuances of red and green so is there a way to adjust colors for lines in the app path window?

Thank you

Bostjan

[Luc Schweizer (1492633)]

Hi Juha,

I am using this post to ask some questions as well, if you don't mind.

I started getting more into depth with the plugin, especially regarding label colors and other functions in order to match as closely as possible the real radar screen of Geneva Tower / Apron.

These are my questions:

- In Geneva IRL they use background fill colors to identify departures (blue) and arrivals (yellow). On GRP, it is only possible to use background fill colors for mouse over labels. Would it be possible to consider this option for all the labels on the screen ? (like the SMR plugin, which is no longer supported)

- Second, DCL clearances. Would there be a possibility to integrate Hoppie DCL clearances somehow ? 

Thanks in advance for your answers, and I wish you all already a Happy New Year.

Luc

[Bernardo Reis (1096507)]

3 hours ago, Luc Schweizer (1492633) said:

- Second, DCL clearances. Would there be a possibility to integrate Hoppie DCL clearances somehow ? 

Not sure if relevant to your question but this is supported trough the Topsky plugin

[Juha Holopainen]

I don't generally comment on feature requests unless they are already done, will definitely be, or cannot be due to network or other limitations. When I resume working on this plugin, I will be going through the discussions on this forum, but whether a specific feature will be implemented, and when, depends on my priorities and available time. Features from other A-SMGCS systems will be a low priority.

All the colors in the approach path windows are adjustable. The settings all start with "Color_AppPath_".

DCL isn't completely out of the question, but it would be much better handled by some other plugin.

[Bostjan Laba (1190497)]

Thank you for the information, I appreciate it.