Is there a way to assert all buttons and switches?

[jim_in_nh]

Hello,

I'm using 

FSUIPC Version 4.974

FSX, SP2 10.0.61472.0 (fsk-sp2.20071210-2023)

and I have a physical control panel with about 40 inputs and levers which I use for practicing instrument procedures.  I've searched through the FSUIPC user guide but not found a way to force all switches to be asserted in one fell swoop.  I'm finding that the physical controls and switches are asserted only when they are changed, so unless the time is taken to cycle every control at least once, and leaving it in the desired position, the position of the physical control may be out-of-sync with the simulation that's running.  

I was wondering if there is an FSX or FSUIPC command, or some other means, that will assess and respond to the state of all physical controls, as if they had just been changed.  If a switch is in the "pressed" position, assert that response.  If it is in the released position, assert that one.  It would be a quick way of ensuring that the state of the physical controls match the simulation.  Perhaps it's already there and I'm missing it, in which case a pointer to it would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Jim

[Pete Dowson]

43 minutes ago, jim_in_nh said:

I'm finding that the physical controls and switches are asserted only when they are changed, so unless the time is taken to cycle every control at least once, and leaving it in the desired position, the position of the physical control may be out-of-sync with the simulation that's running. 

It's really up to the software in the aircraft system you are using to save the state of the switches. It is the change in the state which tells it to do something. It is dynamic. You are asking for a static state to be established.

I operate a full 737 cockpit. i always set the switches to match what i know has been saved for the cockpit state in the flight I am loaded.

I suppose you could make a program or Lua pllug-in to do what you want, but it is beyond the scope of the ideas behind what FSUIPC is made to do.

I can see one serious problem in implementing what you want  in any case: many functions in cockpits are implemented in the sim or the panels as "toggles" -- i.e there's only one control to turn them on or off, alternately.

No, I think it is much more reliable to just ensure you start with the switch settings as they were when you saved the flight being loaded. I think that should be easy and natural in any case.

Pete

 

[jim_in_nh]

Ok, thanks!  I guess I wasn't thinking that the plane would initiate in the configuration of the panel, but I'd like to be able to synch the simulation to the physical panel with one button press instead of 40.

One reason for wanting to do this is that I've designed my FSX instrument panel to not show the positions of the physical switches, leaving more room for the gauges to be full size.  For example, my physical panel has a fuel selector knob for OFF, LEFT, BOTH, RIGHT, but I don't have that knob echoed on the FSX panel.  The position of the physical switch tells me the state of the fuel selector, just like in the real plane I'm mimicking.  Another reason is that I run multiple instrument approaches, one after another with different flight files,  so there isn't one single configuration for the controls, or the settings when the files were created, hence it would be nice to make the sim match panel quickly, then adjust as appropriate for the flight condition.

I guess I thought that when FSUIPC see's a steady state switch change (like a toggle or other switch that remains active),  as long as the "control to repeat while held" box is not checked, FSUIPC sent a single command to FSX.  I assumed, (and I know what they say about that..), that FSUIPC knows (or could know) the state of every physical switch at all times, but maybe that's not the case?  Maybe it can only know the state of a switch when it changes?  I can see where that would be a challenge.  If FSUIPC can read all switches at anytime however, I was hoping there was a command to "read all defined switches and send the command associated with their current state".

Thank you for the feedback, though.  I'll go see if I can come up with something in a Lua plugg-in.

Jim

[Pete Dowson]

3 hours ago, jim_in_nh said:

I guess I thought that when FSUIPC see's a steady state switch change (like a toggle or other switch that remains active),  as long as the "control to repeat while held" box is not checked, FSUIPC sent a single command to FSX.  I assumed, (and I know what they say about that..), that FSUIPC knows (or could know) the state of every physical switch at all times, but maybe that's not the case

No, it isn't the case for all switches. Itcould do it for some, for those aircraft with standard panels. For more sophisticated aircraft, ones you are actually more likely to use with sophisticated switching hardware, it is far less likely to know. And is all cases it cannot always relate the switch assignment to the variable representing the result of that switch position internally.

The readouts it gets from the sim are values of variables relating to the state of flight and the aircraft's subsystems. Often those are a result of a switch setting, but there isn't always a one-to-one correspondence. Obviously there is with some, but I think a half-hearted attempt of doing what you want with some but not all panels on some aircraft could be less than helpful really.

Pete

 

[jim_in_nh]

Ok.  Thank you, Pete for the insight to how FSUIPC is working deep down.

Jim