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UI within FSX

  • Thread starter Thread starter B21
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B21

B21

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unitedkingdom
Anyone tried creating much of a UI using the Simconnect_Text menu function ??

I've got "file select" and an "info display" page working pretty well, but for *input* it looks pretty limited. Everything is overlaid onto the assumed 'menu' structure (for my info display page the menu option number effectively become simply line numbers of the text...).

It would be easy to create a hacked-up 'menu' that allowed numeric input (you have menu options 0..9 which you'd use to update the value one digit at a time...) but any other kind of input looks tricky.

Anyone even thought of trying it ???

B21
 
I use that function quite a bit in the Console Sample app in my managed SDK to implement a multi-level menu system, in the samples case to run different tests, but I'm not trying to actually accept numeric or text input with it, that probably wouldn't work well.

There are folks who have figured out how to show dialog boxes/child windows from within FSX (possibly even in the Wiki here), but it's not something we supported/suggested as GDI windows and DirectX can get into "issues" with each other sometimes.
 
Thanks Tim - I actually have the 'menu' working pretty well as a 'page forwards/backwards' list of files, plus a 'detail' page with a couple of options when you select a particular file - in this case the data I display is spread across the 10 menu items (file name is the 'prompt') with the bottom couple of menu options being things like 'delete' and 'return', and if the user clicks on any of the 'text' lines it does the same as 'return'...

IMHO the using the menu feature within FSX gives a more integrated feel to the add-on module, if you can live within the limitations...

But I was wondering what trick to use for simple user input - e.g. for numeric input for a field displayed on a 'page' (actually a menu, as always) I could have the user click on the field, that would open a new menu displaying the value at the top (i.e. in the 'prompt' field), and each numeric option (0..9) would update the value. Slight snag is there's only 10 menu options and I'd have used them all up on the numeric keys with nothing left for save/cancel - so I'd have to double up on something.

For alphanumeric input I *could* use the same technique but split the characters across menu items and use two key presses for each character (1. ABCDEFGH (-> then 1.A, 2.B, 3.C etc), 2.IJKLMNOP etc). Each key press always re-loads the menu with the alphanumeric value updated...

No-one else ever tried it?? I guess folks are happy with the Windows windows...

FYI if you want to load the *same* menu after a user clicks an option (as I do on my file select menu if the user clicks 'Next') it seems to me you have to toggle between TWO client event id's in the simconnect_text call putting up the same menu - otherwise the 'menu remove' action that automatically happens when the user clicks on (in my case) the 'Next' option interferes with the attempt to re-display the same menu you're putting up in the menu event handling routine. But if you simply navigate from one menu to another on a user click, and these have different client event id's, this issue doesn't arise.

B21
 
No new news really, but here's an example of an 'info' page displayed using the FSX menus...

checksum_detail.jpg


I just treat a click on an info line the same as option 0.

B21
 
Hey B21,


Yeah, its pretty limited when you talk about simple "user input", like fields. However, FSX generates windows (not like the ATC one), but those like you select failures, and others, that actually has "fields" where user can enter text, numbers and so on....maybe you can "experiment" trying those. Because as far as i can see...and i think you already know, is that FSX has it's own ui....like when you click a button, and others windows events it's all handled by one module...i think it's ui.dll, im not sure.


Best Regards,


Manuel
 
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