Source for items in TrafficLook

[LarryJ_KMSO]

Hello Pete,

The winters are long in western Montana so to pass the time and fend off the mental cob webs of old age, I decided to recreate your TrafficLook program using M$ C#.NET. I've attached my progress so far. I can read from the FSUIPC and sort the columns but I don't know where to find the data for some of the columns.

So I am wondering where you found the data for the "Rwy", "From", and "To" columns? Is it read from the Adventure Language interface? The other columns ( such as "Dist", "Brg", and "Alt Diff") I could probably calculate if necessary. My FSUIPC SDK doesn't include a reference for these items.

You'll need the .NET runtime (CLR) to run my program. http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/detalaylang=en. I've only tested it with WideFS so far.

Thank you for any help and thanks for WideFS and FSUIPC!

Larry Jones

near Missoula, Montana USA

AI_Traffic_List.zip

[Pete Dowson]

So I am wondering where you found the data for the "Rwy", "From", and "To" columns? Is it read from the Adventure Language interface?

No, I dn't think it's available there, is it?

There are new data areas for AI as mentioned in the recent release notices (see the History document). It'll all be covered in the next SDK version, which I hope to release over the weekend.

The other columns ( such as "Dist", "Brg", and "Alt Diff") I could probably calculate if necessary.

Yes, you have to.

Regards,

Pete

[Pete Dowson]

I've attached my progress so far.

I've tried it, and you are doing well. A few minor points:

1. You seem to include some entries even when their "reference" number is zero. That isn't right -- when that's zero the slot is free. The other data you show for it is outdated and just remains from the slot's previous use.

2. You print the reference as a large positive number. In actual fact it is a negative number, much smaller in size. In TrafficLook, since it is always negative for FS aircraft, I negate it before display.

3. The Latitude should really have "N" and "S" for North and South, rather than being signed, and similarly the Longitude (East for +ve, West for -ve).

I take it this is being done as some sort of learning exercise? It's a very creditable achievement. Now, wouldn't a graphic representation of the traffic positions be interesting, as an addition to TrafficLook's capabilities rather than a copy?

Thanks for letting us see it.

Regards,

Pete

[LarryJ_KMSO]

Good morning Pete,

Thanks for the information. I look forward to the new SDK!

I included the slots with a zero reference id just to see what FS2004 was doing with them. A zero slot means apparently that this zero slotted aircraft has moved out of the immediate area (or has moved from the "ground" list to the "airborn" list)and that slot is available for incoming aircraft. I noticed that the slots are re-used. Slots an id == 0 will not be shown eventually.

Yes , a simulated terminal ground radar display showing the all AI aircraft with a breadcrum trails would be fun. Perhaps that would extend my knowledge of C# .NET programing and perhaps produce a useful freeware utility at the same time.

Larry

[Pete Dowson]

I included the slots with a zero reference id just to see what FS2004 was doing with them.

That's quite understandable, though you should note that the concept of "slots" and the way they are handled is purely an FSUIPC implementation, to suit the "memory-map" image that the IPC interface uses.

In reality the information you see in those slots comes from all over the place inside FS, it is gathered for you and formatted as you see it by FSUIPC. To do this involves many calls into different parts of FS, which is why there is a "Traffic Scan per Frame" parameter in the FSUIPC INI -- so the sheer processing doesn't affect performance on lesser systems. If you want faster, smoother updates (for instance, for a graphics display), set that parameter to 100 in order to make FSUIPC scan al the traffic on every frame.

Version 3.135 of FSUIPC is being released today, along with a revised edition of the SDK.

Regards,

Pete