Visual Basic External Gauges with FSUIPC (repost)

[JBaymore]

This is a starting point for moving prior postings from the "Homebrew Cockpits Survey" thread. Messages will likely get out of the original sequence.

[JBaymore]

Major Simulated Cockpit Programming Breakthrough Tonite

I plan on utilizing a bunch of "glass cockpit" features in my homebrew cockpit.  This basically means that you "hide" a monitor behind a wood or plastic panel and cut holes in the wood/plastic surface thru which you can see "gauges" that are actually on a monitor screen.  This cuts the cost of stand alone "instruments" and the associated I/O interface cards dramatically.

I am using a registered version of FSUIPC and WideFS to put the glass cockpit system onto a network that will "run" the cockpit.  I have also downloaded the FSUIPC SDK and have been looking at it with an eye toward developing some possible custom stuff.

There are a couple of well developed "freeware" glass cockpit setups out there that I have found so far.  Right at the moment I am "partial" to likely using FreeFD in my setup.  However...... while it certainly is GREAT as it sits....... there are some functions that I can envision that I want to implement that it does NOT (yet) have.  Since I am creating a "generic" cockpit...... I don't have to have exact Boeing or Airbus displays.

I also own the Visual Basic 6.0 professional development package....since I have written some very basic programs for my business.  In the FSUIPC SDK there is information about developing programs to interface with FS200X and FSUIPC in Visual Basic.  Great.

So I played around tonight to see if I could figure out how to get real time infomation out of FS2004 using FSUIPC and VBasic.  There is a great set of VB modules supplied in the SDK by Chris Brett that set the groundwork for accessing data.  That level of programming would take me a LOT of time to arrive at if I ever could have.  But it is there for you!

Making a not too long story even a bit shorter.......

[glb]I DID IT![/glb]

One example of a "glass cockpit "gauge" that I want to have available as a separate item was a square red "Stall Warning" light.  So I went in and using the docs.... found the hexadecimal address of the stall warning flag (1 byte at &H036C  with 0=OK  1=stall) in FSUIPC and wrote a short VB routine to definitively tell me that the plane is stalling.  It worked first try!  :)  The warning popped up in my little VB module just as the stick shaker started shaking and the stall warning light went off on the virtual aircraft panel.

This little test.........that took an amazingly little amount of time to actually figure out and write..... now shows me how relatively easy it will be to generate a lot of different types of glass cockpit gauges I might want.

I am NOT a highly skilled VB6.0 programmer.... if I can do it ........ most any "computer literate" person can learn to do this kind of stuff too.  The code by Chris Brett gets you pointed in the right direction.  (Thanks Chris!)

I'm pumped!


best,

....................john


PS:  You can download the FSUIPC SDK from Peter Dowson's site to take a "look see" for free........ even if you do not get a registered version of the FSUIPC program first.

[sboons]

Hi,

That sounds really great! I am planning to do exactly the same thing. I have a MIP and a screen behind it. At the point where my warninglights should be, there is only the background of my screen.

Would you mind sharing your code?

Thanks,
Steef

[JBaymore]

Steve,

Hi and welcome to both SimV and the Homebuilt Cockpits forum section.