Hackathon Proposal:POH Checklists: Difference between revisions

From FlightGear wiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search
No edit summary
m (split up layout)
(6 intermediate revisions by 2 users not shown)
Line 4: Line 4:
|image = FG1000 Checklist MFD page.png
|image = FG1000 Checklist MFD page.png
|imginfo = The [[FG1000]] already contains a [[Canvas]] based checklist implementation that could be extracted/generalized and turned into a standalone dialog/widget.
|imginfo = The [[FG1000]] already contains a [[Canvas]] based checklist implementation that could be extracted/generalized and turned into a standalone dialog/widget.
|sponsor=Stuart
|sponsor={{Usr|Stuart}}
|supporters=none
|supporters=Patrick Trottier <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/37126419/</ref>
|background=Stuart would like to improve how checklists are displayed within the simulator.
|summary = Stuart would like to improve how [[Aircraft Checklists]] are displayed within the simulator.
|background= The [[PUI]] (our legacy GUI engine) checklist dialog has a bug where selecting a new group doesn't update the checklist selection combo-box. Stuart has tried various tricks to update it, but thinks it's an underlying issue with PUI itself. <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/36292913/</ref>


The PUI checklist dialog has a bug where selecting a new group doesn't update the checklist selection combo-box. Stuart has tried various tricks to update it, but thinks it's an underlying issue with PUI itself. <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/36292913/</ref>
Trying to do something more complicated with [[Nasal]] (scripting) and PUI is a real pain, and Stuart doesn't think it's worth the effort. One thought he had a while back was it would be nice to replace the checklist function with some [[Canvas]] window (scripting 2D GUI rendering framework) that looked a bit more like a traditional paper checklist.<ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/36937987/</ref>


Trying to do something more complicated with Nasal and PUI is a real pain, and Stuart doesn't think it's worth the effort. One thought he had a while back was it would be nice to replace the checklist function with some Canvas window that looked a bit more like a traditional paper checklist.<ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/36937987/</ref>
Hopefully, as we move to using Canvas in the future we'll be able to improve the checklist display to include a set of dots linking the items.<ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/29824616/</ref>
 
Hopefully as we move to using Canvas in the future we'll be able to improve the checklist display to include a set of dots linking the items.<ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/29824616/</ref>


Stuart would be very happy to help anyone who is interested in creating either a generic MFD checklist feature, or to replace the [[PUI]] version with a better canvas implementation.  
Stuart would be very happy to help anyone who is interested in creating either a generic MFD checklist feature, or to replace the [[PUI]] version with a better canvas implementation.  
<ref>https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37992&p=373519&#p373519</ref>So if someone is looking for a Hackathon idea - using QML or [[Canvas]] to render checklists so that they look more like a traditional checklist in a POH would be quite a neat little project. <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/37124720/</ref>
<ref>https://forum.flightgear.org/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=37992&p=373519&#p373519</ref>So if someone is looking for a Hackathon idea - using QML or [[Canvas]] to render checklists so that they look more like a traditional checklist in a POH would be quite a neat little project. <ref>https://sourceforge.net/p/flightgear/mailman/message/37124720/</ref>
 
|details=Note that checklists are primarily PropertyList/XML encoded, so can be easily turned into a Canvas dialog - it would be pretty straightforward to do so using what we have already, unless people care enough to provide dedicated/custom widgets for a certain look and feel.
Note that checklists are primarily PropertyList/XML encoded, so can be easily turned into a Canvas dialog - it would be pretty straightforward to do so using what we have already, unless people care enough to provide dedicated/custom widgets for a certain look and feel.
And in fact, given the groundwork by rleibner, Thorsten and jsb, there's now quite a bit of library code to draw widgets procedurally.
And in fact, given the groundwork by rleibner, Thorsten and jsb, there's now quite a bit of library code to draw widgets procedurally.


There probably isn't anything missing to provide a Canvas front-end for checklists, as per Stuart's original idea.
There probably isn't anything missing to provide a Canvas front-end for checklists, as per Stuart's original idea.


And in fact, t seems that Stuart has meanwhile actually created a Canvas-front-end as part of his FG1000 work - so for someone familiar with Nasal and Canvas, it should be pretty straightforward to extract that code, generalize it and turn it into a generic checklist widget.
And in fact, it seems that Stuart has meanwhile actually created a Canvas-front-end as part of his [[FG1000]] (MFD) work - so for someone familiar with Nasal and Canvas, it should be pretty straightforward to extract that code, generalize it and turn it into a generic checklist widget.


So if there are folks who are interested in seeing a non PUI front-end (without depending on an optional dependency like Qt5/QML), their best bet would indeed be to look at the FG1000 repo and reuse Stuart's checklist implementation there.
So if there are folks who are interested in seeing a non PUI front-end (without depending on an optional dependency like Qt5/QML), their best bet would indeed be to look at the FG1000 repo and reuse Stuart's checklist implementation there.
Line 37: Line 35:
|skills= [[Property tree]], [[PropertyList XML File]], [[Nasal]], [[Canvas]]
|skills= [[Property tree]], [[PropertyList XML File]], [[Nasal]], [[Canvas]]
|opportunities=</p>
|opportunities=</p>
* [[Aircraft checklists]]
* [[Aircraft checklists]] - details the existing implementation
* [[Canvas Snippets]]
* [[Canvas Snippets]] - contains snippets of useful Nasal/Canvas snippets get going quickly
* [[Canvas Image]]
* [[Canvas Image]] - Canvas library to load/handle raster images
* [[Howto:Creating a Canvas GUI Widget]]
* [[Canvas draw library]] - library to for procedural drawing using OpenVG paths
* [[FG1000]]
* [[Howto:Creating a Canvas GUI Widget]] - introduction to creating Canvas widgets from scratch
* [[Canvas MFD Framework]]
* [[FG1000]] - moving map MFD containing the existing Canvas based checklist implementation
* [[Emesary]]
* [[Canvas MFD Framework]] - the underlying framework used by the FG1000
* [[Emesary]] - the messaging framework used to hook up the FG1000 front-end and back-end (not necessarily needed here)
}}
}}

Revision as of 21:41, 10 October 2020


Title: POH Checklists

The FG1000 already contains a Canvas based checklist implementation that could be extracted/generalized and turned into a standalone dialog/widget.
Potential mentors: Stuart
Intro: (short intro)
Interested Parties: Patrick Trottier [1]
Status: n/a
Summary: Stuart would like to improve how Aircraft Checklists are displayed within the simulator.
Background: The PUI (our legacy GUI engine) checklist dialog has a bug where selecting a new group doesn't update the checklist selection combo-box. Stuart has tried various tricks to update it, but thinks it's an underlying issue with PUI itself. [2]

Trying to do something more complicated with Nasal (scripting) and PUI is a real pain, and Stuart doesn't think it's worth the effort. One thought he had a while back was it would be nice to replace the checklist function with some Canvas window (scripting 2D GUI rendering framework) that looked a bit more like a traditional paper checklist.[3]

Hopefully, as we move to using Canvas in the future we'll be able to improve the checklist display to include a set of dots linking the items.[4]

Stuart would be very happy to help anyone who is interested in creating either a generic MFD checklist feature, or to replace the PUI version with a better canvas implementation. [5]So if someone is looking for a Hackathon idea - using QML or Canvas to render checklists so that they look more like a traditional checklist in a POH would be quite a neat little project. [6]

Details: Note that checklists are primarily PropertyList/XML encoded, so can be easily turned into a Canvas dialog - it would be pretty straightforward to do so using what we have already, unless people care enough to provide dedicated/custom widgets for a certain look and feel.

And in fact, given the groundwork by rleibner, Thorsten and jsb, there's now quite a bit of library code to draw widgets procedurally.

There probably isn't anything missing to provide a Canvas front-end for checklists, as per Stuart's original idea.

And in fact, it seems that Stuart has meanwhile actually created a Canvas-front-end as part of his FG1000 (MFD) work - so for someone familiar with Nasal and Canvas, it should be pretty straightforward to extract that code, generalize it and turn it into a generic checklist widget.

So if there are folks who are interested in seeing a non PUI front-end (without depending on an optional dependency like Qt5/QML), their best bet would indeed be to look at the FG1000 repo and reuse Stuart's checklist implementation there.

the checklist handling stuff from the FG1000 is to be found here:

Looking at the code, anyone wanting to just use Stuart's code "as is" would be best off by instantiating a fresh MFDDisplay object and simply adding Stuart's ChecklistPage to that (otherwise empty) MFD - the MFD would then merely act as the boilerplate, but could trivially be shown inside a Canvas GUI dialog. That way, even aircraft without an MFD could use Stuart's checklist work to render a Canvas-based checklist.

To learn more about Richard's MFD framework (which is what Stuart's FG1000 is using under the hood), see: Canvas MFD Framework [7]

Ideas:
Required skills: Property tree, PropertyList XML File, Nasal, Canvas
Learning Opportunities:

Notes:
References