Can I program F2 on a button?

[Tom_G_2010]

I have the buttons on my yoke programmed as various aircraft functions with two exceptions. I have a button on the left hand grip set to press and release the cap lock key for radio use in multi-player. And I tried to program the button on the right hand grip to send F2. But I can't seem to figure out how.

Can FSUIPC send function keys based on a joystick button? If so how do I program that? I attempted to use the "set" button like I did to capture the cap-lock key for the other button but that would not work as it did not seem to see the key press when I hit F2. If it can send a function key, how do I program that?

Thanks!

Tom G.

[Pete Dowson]

I have the buttons on my yoke programmed as various aircraft functions with two exceptions. I have a button on the left hand grip set to press and release the cap lock key for radio use in multi-player. And I tried to program the button on the right hand grip to send F2. But I can't seem to figure out how.

What's wrong with going to FSUIPC's Buttons & Switches tab and assigning F2 to that button on the left-hand section? Or, more efficiently, if it is "throttle decr" you want it to do (the default FS assignments for F2) use the right-hand side and assign directly to "throttle decr".

Can FSUIPC send function keys based on a joystick button? If so how do I program that?

Of course it can. Look in the FSUIPC Documents folder, in your FS Modules folder, and find the Buttons section in the User Guide.

In general, though, you only really want to assign buttons to keypresses when the keypress is being used as an extra control by an add-on. All of the default FS-assigned keypresses are simply assigned in FS itself to send FS controls, so why not assign the button to the FS controls in the first place? It is obviously going to be more efficient to send the control that send a keypress which FS has to look up to find out what control to send!

I attempted to use the "set" button like I did to capture the cap-lock key for the other button but that would not work as it did not seem to see the key press when I hit F2. If it can send a function key, how do I program that?

Er, there aren't many keys FSUIPC can't set, and none of the F-keys are among them! Sounds like either your keyboard is broken or something else you are running is stealing the keypress before FSUIPC can see it? Anyway, it is best to use the control for what you want to do, not the keypress.

Regards

Pete

[Tom_G_2010]

Pete,

It is for an Add On, I run a TrackIR 5 Pro and use my F2 key to suspend tracking when needed. And, I did read your documentation, in fact I have it printed out in a binder with my other flight sim apps so I can make notes on it etc. Nothing I found in the docs indicated this shouldn't work, hence my puzzlement and the reason I posted here.

One thing you said in your reply caught my attention ". . . or something else you are running is stealing the keypress before FSUIPC can see it?" As it turns out the very Add On I wanted to control was stealing the key press ahead of FSUIPC4. So, I shut down TrackIR, booted up FSX, and sure enough I was able to map F2 to my joystick button. I reloaded the TrackIR and now the joystick button sends the F2 and controls TrackIR just as I want it to.

I've made Note of this on my documentation for future reference.

Thanks again for your support!!!

Tom G.