New AI Flight Planning Tool

[JohnG]

OK, second set of problems / suggestions / opportunity for improvements.

1. Each time I open the tool it bings at me and tells me the time zone I have selected. OK, if I haven't selected a time zone, it's probably a good thing, but as I already have, and it's there for me to see, subsequent stoppages to tell me what it is are more of an annoyance than a help.

OK, I'm testing and writing at the same time.

See the end of this message for details on invoking
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.OverflowException: Arithmetic operation resulted in an overflow.
at WindowsApplication1.FlightPlanner.UTCToLocalTime(String strTime, String strAP, Int32 nRepeat)
at WindowsApplication1.Arr_Dep.lbAirports_SelectedIndexChanged(Object sender, EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.OnSelectedIndexChanged(EventArgs e)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WmReflectCommand(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.ListBox.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
AI Flight Planner
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///D:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20Games/Tools/AI%20Flight%20Planner%20v066/AI%20Flight%20Planner.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------
Accessibility
Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.1434 (REDBITS.050727-1400)
CodeBase: file:///C:/Windows/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Accessibility/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Accessibility.dll
----------------------------------------
AIFPC_DLL
Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
CodeBase: file:///D:/Program%20Files/Microsoft%20Games/Tools/AI%20Flight%20Planner%20v066/AIFPC_DLL.DLL
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
<system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

Has just popped up on me (see attached screenie)

 

[gadgets]

Colin, Martin, all the issues you reported last night have been fixed, except one. The exception is the issue re leg list items not lining up. To fix that, I've got to totally rework the Leg list logic. I won't have that done until tomorrow.

John, welcome aboard. I don't know what the "bings" are. I don't get any on my machine. What OS are you using? Was the FSX base folder properly identifed by the system? If the bings are about 1/2 second apart, it may have something to do with the progress bar which is updated at that frequency. If its not absolutely regular at that frequency, then the "bings" are being generated by Windows. The only intentional beep should be on completion. The "Save AirportList.dat" button is supposed to be disabled until the airports have been corrected, which never occured because you aborted.

OK, next question - as I never managed to load all those flight plans, is there some way, once loaded, to easily identify all those lines with "missing airports"? Because I sure can't remember them, and I really don't want to have to stop the process each rime it recognises one!

Upon completion of loading, a message identifying all the missing airports is given.

BTW, does it have the ability to load a FS9 airport, correct the days, etc., and generate an FSX .bgl file? I hope so - the tool I am using currently is quite good, but command line based, and single purposed.

Yes. Under user control. It's described in the user manual.

1. Each time I open the tool it bings at me and tells me the time zone I have selected. OK, if I haven't selected a time zone, it's probably a good thing, but as I already have, and it's there for me to see, subsequent stoppages to tell me what it is are more of an annoyance than a help.

Easy to turn it off. What say the rest of you?


Re the time conversion exception, I'll track it down and have a fix in tomorrow's update.

Until tomorrow ...
Don

 

[JohnG]

I don't know what the "bings" are.

They are the standard Windows "Default beep" sound.

What OS are you using?

Windows Vistas Ultimate SP1

Was the FSX base folder properly identifed by the system?

Don't know quite what you mean by that, but if you are asking was it installed using the normal install method, and is it identified automatically by other tools, then yes, it was installed correctly.

If the bings are about 1/2 second apart

No they weren't - they were irregularly spaced, and I think that there was probably a process from the tool still running after I had chopped the main process, because when I went back to try again, it told me that the traffic file I was trtying to load was in use by another application.

The "Save AirportList.dat" button is supposed to be disabled until the airports have been corrected, which never occured because you aborted.

I ran the "collect airports through to what I though was completion, but it was greyed out. I have no idea which set of airports you have loaded as default (FS9? FSX? Both?) - I was just trying to make sure that I had the current set loaded before I started reloading flight plans.

Upon completion of loading, a message identifying all the missing airports is given.

After I reloaded the flight plans, I reached what I thought was the end, but no message was forthcoming.


OK, some more opportunities. The tool itself does not appear to generate any statistics. After I loaded the flight plans, it did not tell me how many I had loaded, how many airports I had used, or any of the other stuff which is useful to the developer. Most seriously, I have yet to find the key that tells me which airport facilities I have overloaded (in FSX), and a way to "smooth" out the use of those particular airports. Without such a tool, I would expect users to run into compiler errors as (I understand) FSX won't let you overload the parking spaces at an airport. The time slots and parking spaces that are overloaded are very important to FSX, BTW.

 

[gadgets]

The problem that John found is one I introduced in 0.67. It probably only affects daily flight plans. So, don't waste your time in that area. It will be fixed tomorrow. Weekly stuff seems OK.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gadgets
I don't know what the "bings" are.

They are the standard Windows "Default beep" sound.

I meant I had no idea what was causing them.

Windows Vistas Ultimate SP1

I'm still using XP. Anyone else with Vista having similar problems?

Quote:
Was the FSX base folder properly identifed by the system?

Don't know quite what you mean by that, but if you are asking was it installed using the normal install method, and is it identified automatically by other tools, then yes, it was installed correctly.

At the top of the "collect airports" dialog are a couple of text boxes that display what AI Flight Planner thinks are the base folders for FS9 and FSX.

I have no idea which set of airports you have loaded as default (FS9? FSX? Both?)

The tool ships with all the stock FS9 and FSX airports in AirportList.dat.

Quote:
Upon completion of loading, a message identifying all the missing airports is given.

After I reloaded the flight plans, I reached what I thought was the end, but no message was forthcoming.

I'm confused. You note below says you aborted the load process. Would you mind trying again with a smaller file to see whether I'm hitting a stop somwhere.

FSX won't let you overload the parking spaces at an airport. The time slots and parking spaces that are overloaded are very important to FSX, BTW.

I haven't given much thought to statistics. Pehaps you could be a little more explicit as to what statistics you think would be worthwhile - recognizing that AI Flight Planner doesn't analyse parking arrangements. It's somewhat simple-minded in that regard. If the user says to run a flight, that's what it does. Re your comment, I think you're referring to FSX TrafficToolbox, which uses a different compiler and has it's own set of problems.

More tomorrow.
Don

 

[JohnG]

Thanks, Don,
I have rebooted, and run the "open traffic bgl" again, and alowed it to run to completion. I do get a list of missing airports, but a couple of points:
* It is a big set of traffic plans, and in that it is not unique, and took over an hour to complete. During that time, I had to nurse maid it, because there were 49 stoppages for unknown airports. My thought is that on the first "keep going" stoppage, a checkbox similar to the Windows "treat every one like this in future on this run" would make life a lot easier, and allow the user to say, ignore them, and then go away, make a cup of tea, read a book, etc.
* SOME at least of the airports that are shown as 'not found" are actually in the standard FSX. Examples that were shown such but actually exist are 02MI, KFKS and ZYYJ. A whole series that doesn't exist (but were generated by the other tool) were also identified, which is good.
* I think it's a good thing to allow the user to overload an airport should they desire to do so. However, given that people will, and will want to know just how overloaded an airport is, a stat count, similar to that in AITM, which showd gate occupancy by time period would be useful, although by the scope of the necessary work, well down the track, I should have thought (unless you can leverage off something that the SDK tools already do). This is quite an important part of flight planning, BTW.
* I have checked those few in your FSX .dat file, and can confirm that 02MI (Greenville, Michigan), and KFKS, Frankfort, Michigan, are not included, although they are listed in FSX. There are others, but identifying two says that the data is incomplete. ZYYJ, on the other hand, is in the .dat file. It is Yanji, in China, and I suspect that the tool isn't picking that up because it is the absolute last record in the file. Perhaps that has something to do with it?
* It appears that you only have one chance to do anything about the missing airports, and that is to either add them, or ignore them, in toto. This isn't sufficient, as many times you will want to add some, and not others,. In light of that, the message is too ephemeral. There needs to be some way of either retrieving the list easily during run time, or dealing with these renegades individually. it would help, as well, if you threw out the list of missing airports again when the traffic file is reloaded. I've just checked - it doesn't!
* I supplied the path for FSX in Collect Airport Data, on the first occasion that I tried to use it, but it doesn't appear to keep it between sessions. Using the registry entries, it is certainly possible for the programmer to automatically retrieve this information, rather than asking for it each time. Many FS9 and FSX tools already do that.
* Now, here's an interesting tid bit. I tried to collect airports from FSX, and the tool did so, but the resultant list does not include either of the two recalcitrants - 02ML or KFKS!

Looking into a list of US airports I downloaded aeons ago, it shows:

UNITED STATES : MICHIGAN
FRANKFORT / Frankfort Dow Meml KFKS
Position: N44 37.51318 W086 12.04850 Elevation: 632’; MagneticVariation: 01.00
Runways:
15: Length 4051’, Width 75’, ASPHALT, true 139.25°; PAPI4, 3°
33: Length 4051’, Width 75’, ASPHALT, true 319.25°; PAPI4, 3°
Approaches:
15 RNAV; Fix: TERMINAL_WAYPOINT ZIVKU
15 GPS; Fix: TERMINAL_WAYPOINT ZIVKU
33 RNAV; Fix: TERMINAL_WAYPOINT WECQO
33 GPS; Fix: TERMINAL_WAYPOINT WECQO
FS X Airports in the United States
1320
File: APX25160

and

UNITED STATES : MICHIGAN
GREENVILLE / Fairplains Airpark 02MI
Position: N43 9.42534 W085 8.91099 Elevation: 850’; MagneticVariation: 00.00
Runways:
09: Length 2000’, Width 100’, GRASS, true 90°
27: Length 2000’, Width 100’, GRASS, true 270°
File: APX25160

OK, I've done a little more research - not everything, but enough, I hope.

The two airports above are in APX25160. I've done a random check of others in that file, and it appears that none of them are collected, and that suggests to me that APX21560 at least is being missed during the airport collect phase.

BTW, if you want a copy of the reference I'm using, it's from AVSIM, and the file name is fsxairportsusa.zip. There's one for each region, if you need something to check back against.

Enough from me - back to you, for the time being.

 

[gsnde]

Thanks, guys. Looks like were making progress. I'm going to be out for much of the day so may not get these all fixed. But, I'll try to release fixes for any critical errors tonight.

Martin, why do you think this is invalid? All legs are now checked at time of FP save.

I'll respond to other commnets later.

Don

Finally I see what you are doing, Don

I have now very carefully analyzed each step of what you are doing when leg data is entered and I finally understand what is happening.

In case there are others as slow as me I will lay it out:

• Start a flight plan, go from EDTG to ETAR (other settings are irrelevant)
• add a second leg to go to LSFB => at this moment the departure airport of the first leg, EDTG is changed to LFSB
• now if I add a third leg going to ETSF, the departure airport of the first leg will be changed to ETSF
• ==> the tartget airport of the last leg will alway become the departure airport of the first leg

Okay... I think it took me so long to understand that concept because in a way it is messing with my intentions. You don't wait until I make an error and correct it afterwards, but you are assuming constantly I am making an error and add a corrective measure.

Mind you, Don, I am not saying this is bad, because it isn't. If the user fails to follow the rule of making a circuit trip, you will correct it.

Verdict: I like this

 

[gsnde]

About the bings:

Microsoft's MsgBox component is associated with a bing. In one program of mine I was so annoyed by the bings that I wrote a routine which set the sound output to 0 before each Msgbox I was displaying and back to the last value afterwards.

But this was much too much trouble.

The recurring questions about if an airport should be added has been reintroduced. Some time back in this thread we had already reduced that to one question.

 

[JohnG]

The recurring questions about if an airport should be added has been reintroduced. Some time back in this thread we had already reduced that to one question.

What a GOOD idea!

 

[gsnde]

Don,

As for the timezone msgbox: I guess that most users will probably never change that setting once it has been configured. So John has a point there.

As for the addition of unknown airports: When I import a bgl with unknown airports and confirm that they should be loaded, at the end I get to an empty mask where I am supposed to fill in the missing airports, right?

But at this moment I don't know what I should add. The information ICAO, position and altitude you decompile and store them in the work folder during the session. It might be a good idea (actually it is John's idea from some posts above) to keep all unknown airports in a accumulating text file, containing the ICAO, the position and the altitude. This file you should make editable in a way so that you can scroll through the incomplete airport list and add the missing pieces. As soon as a record is completed and saved, it goes out of the incomplete airport list and into the main airport list.

Can you see what I mean?

 

[gsnde]

Just found another small one: if you decompile a traffic bgl and click on a flight plan, the activity level is filled with the number and the percentage sign. If you then start to edit the leg, you get the message that only numbers are allowed in that field. So the percentage sign should stay out.

I see what is happening: in the flight plan the level is set to 30%. You take the last to characters: 0%. I noticed this after I removed the percentage sign and was then informed that the number has to be between 1 and 99

 

[gsnde]

Don,

Am I correct to assume that if a leg has the same airport for departure and arrival this is only valid for TNG operations? If so, maybe you can add the TNG flag automatically?

 

[JohnG]

it is John's idea from some posts above) to keep all unknown airports in a accumulating text file, containing the ICAO, the position and the altitude.

I agree that it should be kept as a text file, but as for position and altitude - if it's an unknown airport, I'd have thought that all that the tool will know about it is it's ICAO code?

 

[gsnde]

John,

decompile a BGL and have a look in your work subfolder below the traffic tool. There you will find a file name "Airports_<name of the bgl file>.txt".

Have a look at that for an airport that was not found.

 

[gsnde]

Don,

Just an idea which might help getting this lindworm of a thread under control again. Do you think it would help to break it apart in chunks related to each released version?

 

[JohnG]

I think that the BEST way to handle testing is to use a mechanism where you can log faults and suggestions, and track them one at a time. You don't overlook anything, and each issue is positively closed as it is resolved and tested.

Unfortunately, this type of forum doesn't lend itself to this type of tracking, especially in a pre-release piece of software.

Once the initial release has been made, you can log ideas, etc, and track them, but this is still in brainstorming sessions, and tracking is near impossible, as items go from ideas, to suggestions, to requirements, are modified as each person gives input, is coded, and reworked when it is found to be sub-optimal.

Short of developing a piece of on line software to act as a defect / suggestion log, the next best alternative is messy, at best, and even more disastrous at worst.

 

[gadgets]

Good morning (or afternoon or evening). You guys certainly have been busy.

The two airports above are in APX25160. I've done a random check of others in that file, and it appears that none of them are collected, and that suggests to me that APX21560 at least is being missed during the airport collect phase.

Thanks for following this through, John. There's probably a simple reason that those few aren't being collected.

My thought is that on the first "keep going" stoppage, a checkbox similar to the Windows "treat every one like this in future on this run" would make life a lot easier, and allow the user to say, ignore them, and then go away, make a cup of tea, read a book, etc.

Consider it done.

It appears that you only have one chance to do anything about the missing airports, and that is to either add them, or ignore them, in toto.

No. You can fix it when the flight plan is in the editor, or at any time using the Edit/Add Airport menu item.

I supplied the path for FSX in Collect Airport Data, on the first occasion that I tried to use it, but it doesn't appear to keep it between sessions. Using the registry entries, it is certainly possible for the programmer to automatically retrieve this information, rather than asking for it each time. Many FS9 and FSX tools already do that.

And so will AI Flight Planner - in the next release.

It is a big set of traffic plans, and in that it is not unique, and took over an hour to complete.

I think it's a good thing to allow the user to overload an airport should they desire to do so. However, given that people will, and will want to know just how overloaded an airport is, a stat count, similar to that in AITM, which showd gate occupancy by time period would be useful, although by the scope of the necessary work, well down the track, I should have thought (unless you can leverage off something that the SDK tools already do). This is quite an important part of flight planning, BTW.

I want to revisit the time-consuming processes. But, first, I want to get everything working and make the initial release to get some user feedback. I understand the need for useful statistics, but it involves a significant amount of additional work. So, I think I'll defer any action on statistics to the "second round" also.

Finally I see what you are doing, Don

And, yesterday, I reworked that area to keep the starts-at airport if you enter it

The recurring questions about if an airport should be added has been reintroduced. Some time back in this thread we had already reduced that to one question.

The last time this came up, we were (at least I was) referring to repeated reports for the same airport. That's what I fixed. John is asking for the ability to suppress further reports for all airports.

As for the timezone msgbox: I guess that most users will probably never change that setting once it has been configured. So John has a point there.

I was getting a little annoyed with it too. Its gone!

As for the addition of unknown airports: When I import a bgl with unknown airports and confirm that they should be loaded, at the end I get to an empty mask where I am supposed to fill in the missing airports, right?

Yes, if you answer "yes".

It might be a good idea (actually it is John's idea from some posts above) to keep all unknown airports in a accumulating text file, containing the ICAO, the position and the altitude.

Yes, that is a good idea. I already have the capabilty to extract airport information from a TTools airport file. I just need to run it (Well, there's a little more to it than that, but is should be possible.)

Am I correct to assume that if a leg has the same airport for departure and arrival this is only valid for TNG operations? If so, maybe you can add the TNG flag automatically?

the same departure and destination airport triggers an error unless TNG operation is specified. Since TNG is an exception,I'd like to leave it that way.

Just an idea which might help getting this lindworm of a thread under control again. Do you think it would help to break it apart in chunks related to each released version?

We're almost through this phase (I hope). As John suggests, lets keep it to a single thread until release. It's no more work for me and (aside from statistics and ral-time improvements) these aren't enduring topics.

I still hope to get another release out today, but I doubt that everything mentioned i this post will get done.

Have a good one,
Don

 

[JohnG]

I'm off to bed... (no yawn or snore, unfortunately)

 

[gadgets]

Ta-da!!! 0.67 is here.

Much to my surprise, I was able to do everything we talked about, save for statistics, of course. John, that was a good tip you gave me re the Yangi airport. I was looking at the end-of-file status after reading the last line but before using it. Re some of the missing airports, that was due to bglAnalyse raising an error flag regarding some special runway record. Don't know how many other airports were suppressed by this situation, but at least KFKS and 02MI are back (as well as the others in the same file). Also, your FS9 and FSX base folder entries are now preserved and you won't be annoyed any longer by the time zone announcement.

Colin, the columns in the Leg List should now be OK. Believe it or not, that was the most difficult of the lot to fix.

Martin, if you tell the system a flight starts in Timbucktoo, it will believe you and not forget. And, if your last leg terminates anywhere else, it wil object.

Missing airport and aircraft messages may now be suppressed entirely (after the first one ). As well, if there are missing airports and you want to put them in AirportList.dat, the airport editor will be opened and the missing ones will be read from the TTools (or decompiled) airports file. You even have the ability to add other information such as airport, city and country names in the process.

Not bad for a day's work, if I do say so for myself! That being said, I made a lot of changes (mostly little ones) in a lot of places. Everything still seems to work, but I'll be amazed if I didn't break something.

Have a great weekend,
Don

 

[JohnG]

Excellent work, Don. We find 'em, you fix 'em!

 

[gsnde]

Don,

Like always it will receive a good test ride.

There is something funny about me recognizing (and approving) a concept of yours in the last second before it is gone.

Enjoy your weekend!