News:

Precision Simulator update 10.173 (24 February 2024) is now available.
Navburo update 13 (23 November 2022) is now available.
NG FMC and More is released.

Main Menu

Desktop Situation Icons

Started by turbodiddley, Tue, 24 Mar 2020 20:11

turbodiddley

Do we have the capability of assigning separate windows desktop startup icons for each situation file?

I would like to have the ability to start the simulator within each situation directly from the Desktop environment, without having to access the Instructor menu.

Thank you,

Kurt

turbodiddley

The only way I currently think of doing this is to have separate copies of the simulator mounted to the hard drive, and each with a default startup to a situation. This seems to be an inefficient way to do it.

Hardy Heinlin

You can start PSX with a program parameter. This parameter may contain a preferences file name (the name of any file in the Aerowinx/Preferences subfolder). A preferences file contains, among other things, the initial situ file that is loaded during sim start.

Example of a PSX start at the command prompt:

java -jar AerowinxStart.jar Captain.pref

In this example, Captain.pref is a pref file in the Aerowinx/Preferences subfolder. Captain.pref contains the situ file name that will be loaded at sim start. You just need to set the data on Instructor > Preferences > Basics and save it in Captain.pref, for example.

See also page 94 in the Aerowinx Operations Manual.


|-|ardy

Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers

I think you may be able to cook up a system that tells Windows that .pref = PSX, where PSX is a shortcut that specifies the Java-combo.

turbodiddley

Hardy,

OK, I see. Then using that command line with the preference file, I can attach it to a desktop shortcut.

Will give it a try in the morning.

Thank you very much!

Kurt

RogerH

Kurt, please let us know if this worked?

On any one evening I might want to practice circuits, crosswind landings, engine failure etc. It would be great to have a different shortcut for each.

Cheers,

Roger.

Hardy Heinlin

Roger, do you always want to exit PSX before you load another situ?

When I work with PSX during a special software test, for example, and need quick access to certain situ files, I utilize the fact that the situ file list on the Instructor is sorted in alphabetic order. So I just save those certain situ files with a common prefix in the name that moves these files up to the top of the list.


Example:


These are my preferred files, and they are cluttered somewhere across the alphabetic list:

fritzy.situ
wishiwashi.situ
zulu.situ


I add a prefix to the file names:

----001 fritzy.situ
----002 zulu.situ
----003 wishiwashi.situ


Now they are at the top of the list. (Dashes "---" are sorted higher than the number "0" and the letter "a".)


Regards,

|-|ardy

turbodiddley

#7
Okay, Thank you to all who helped me figure this out. Have it set up now where a Windows desktop icon will directly open to a simulator situation. Each situation can be attached to a different icon on the desktop.

As Hardy had indicated above, the mechanics of it are that a terminal command window is opened in the background, and the java command line calling the discrete .pref file is loaded, thus opening PSX into the situation with all preferences loaded.

Here is how to do it:

First, open the PSX simulator, and in the instructor screen select your desired situation. Next, go to the Preferences tab and save that situation with a descriptively named .pref file. Close the sim.

Second, right click anywhere on the Windows desktop, Select New, then Shortcut. In the Location box, type in this code. (Note that your initial folder directory will be different, and the perf file at the end will be different, for each situation.) Yes, include all spaces and quote marks, exactly.

%windir%\system32\cmd.exe /k "cd \users\Kurt\Desktop\Aerowinx" & java -jar AerowinxStart.jar Default.pref


Name the shortcut, and you are done! You can right click on the newly created shortcut icon and go to properties and fiddle with color, etc. Note that each time you open the sim in this way, a  command terminal window will open on the desktop, so you have to close that at the end of your session. 

I repeat again, the part after cd\ will change for your use, depending on where you have your simulator stored, and unless your name is Kurt! Also, the Default.pref part will change on the situation you are saving. So you will have a Takeoff.pref, V1.Pref, TOD.pref, etcetera.

There may be more elegant code out there, but this is the only way I could figure out to make it happen.

Best,

Kurt



RogerH

Thanks for the info and effort, both of you!

Hardy Heinlin

Thanks, Kurt.

Quote from: turbodiddley on Thu, 26 Mar 2020 05:25
First, open the PSX simulator, and in the instructor screen select your desired situation. Next, go to the Preferences tab and save that situation with a descriptively named .pref file. Close the sim.

To describe the details for all forum readers, I would do the following steps:

1 - Go to Situation > Load to see the situ file list
2 - On that list, single-click on the desired situ file
3 - On the keyboard press CTRL+C
4 - Go to Preferences > Basics and look at the edit field under "Start with situation"
5 - Delete the text in that edit field and press CRTL+V
6 - Go to Preferences > Save and look at the edit field under "Save current preferences as"
7 - Change the text in that edit field to, for example, Quick01
8 - Double-click on the button Save as Quick01.pref
9 - Go to step 1 and do the same for another situ and save another pref, e.g. Quick02


Regards,

|-|ardy


This feature does not only work for sim-start situ files but for all options on the Preferences pages (Basics, Screen, Audio, USB). For example, you can also set a sim-start layout file.

turbodiddley

All,

I had made an error in the posted code above. I have fixed it.

Kurt