PSX Electronic Checklist

[flyer605]

Presenting PSX Electronic Checklist aka PSX ECL...



This is an attempt to try and recreate the 747-8 Electronic Checklist system for PSX. Obviously this system is not available as an option in real life on the 747-400 (although I'm happy to be corrected if I'm wrong), but I thought this would be an interesting project.

I've not tried to recreate every single functionality offered by the actual ECL on the -8, also the visuals are not identical, but I hope that some people may like the idea and get some use out of it.

I have not implemented sensed items yet. On the real -8, some checklist items (such as the parking brake), can be sensed and automatically checked as complete. This hasn't made it into the first version, but I plan to add it in the future.

Only normal checklists are supported. I'm not going to be implementing Emergency checklists due to the sheer number and variation of them.


Instructions:
- PC only at the moment (see future plans)
- Unzip the folder somewhere on the same computer as your Aerowinx installation*
Then either:
- Open the "PSX ECL.cfg" file and edit the "PSX=..." line to the directory of your main Aerowinx installation
Or:
- You can leave the "PSX=None" and the program will automatically open a window to select the main Aerowinx installation file
- Right now the cfg file must be in the order supplied
- The default pilot may be changed by editing the "pilot=..." line. Right now this is the only way to save your preference (the cfg file is not changed by the program)
- The "host=..." and "port=..." don't do anything at the moment (see future plans), but they must be present for the program to run
- The only options that currently work are as follows:
    > NORMAL MENU - Shows all of the checklists available for the currently selected pilot
    > PILOTS - Shows all of the selectable pilots (the currently selected pilot is in green)
    > NORMAL - Displays the next checklist in the sequence
    > ITEM OVRD - Overrides the currently highlighted (in white) checklist item. This is not especially useful right now, but will be useful when connected to PSX and sensing items is implemented
    > CHKL RESET - Resets the currently displayed checklist to be used again
    > EXIT MENU - Only displays when in a menu, self explanatory!
- There are three buttons at the bottom of the display which are used to control the cursor (magenta box) on the screen
- The counter-clockwise and clockwise buttons will move the cursor, I suggest trying them to understand the route the cursor takes while navigating the screen
- The SEL button will select the currently highlighted item on the screen. The result will obviously depend on the item selected, but it sould make sense
- If you have manually modified a checklist item with the challenge "Final Items", this will be displayed in a slightly different way to allow checklists to be completed "to the line" as some operators do
- Any issues, please report back and I'll do what I can to help

* Theoretically, you could save a copy of only the "Aerowinx/Audio/Pilots" folder and the program will detect all of the .pilot files



V0.11 Download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/awjyjg8xp25jeww/PSX%20ECL%20V0.11.zip?dl=0

V0.1 Download: (Previous version)
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dpvk88iq6ft3p00/PSX%20ECL%20V0.1.zip?dl=0
(The zip now includes the file "PSX ECL Test.bat" which should hopefully keep any errors displayed on the screen long enough to report them back to me - see the discussion below)



Notes:
Currently the display is pretty much fixed in its' dimensions. I had hoped to make this a bit more flexible, but it's beyond me for the time being. This means that the checklists can only be a certain length, otherwise they will not fit on the screen.

The program automatically checks for three conditions:
    1) Maximum of 40 characters for the combined length of checklist challenge and responses
    2) Maximum of 14 checklists per pilot
    3) Maximum of 9 lines per checklist

The only default pilot files to be affected by the above restrictions are, "KLM 1 - Roland.pilot", "NWA 1 - Mel.pilot" and "QFA 1 - Sean.pilot". I hope to be able to lift these restrictions in the future, but not right now. It could be possible to edit these files to make them work (for example "PREFLIGHT 1" and "PREFLIGHT 2"), but I will leave that up to you to modify.

Also, I'm very sorry that I couldn't get things working with a single exe file. Full disclosure, I use pyinstaller to create the exe, but whenever I used the option for a single exe file, my computer detected it as malware. It seems like that is a known issue and I've tried to fix the problem, but I don't like the idea of sending a file out there that will be detected as malware on others computers.

I'm hoping that this single exe file should be Ok for everybody and fix the issues people have been having. Let me know if there's any other problems!


Changelog:

V0.11:
The user can now select their Aerowinx directory if None is given in the config file
V0.1:
Updated the initial release to be a single exe file and added the ITEM OVRD functionality



Future plans:

- Connection to PSX to determine which pilot is in use
- Sensed checklist items that will automatically be checked off as complete
- Provide an option for multi-page checklists
- Mac version planned
- Further cfg file options from within the program
- Possibly interfacing with the audio checklist system within PSX

[Hardy Heinlin]

Hi,

it looks nice! Thank you for this add-on.

I'll try it when your planned Mac version is released :-)


Regards,

|-|ardy

[Ton van Bochove]

Flyer, thanks! This sounds great!

[Will]

This looks fun! Thanks for your work.

However, I'm getting "Failed to execute script PSX ECL." Any idea where to begin troubleshooting? I already looked at the CFG file to verify the path to the Aerowinx directory, and the pilot's name. And I tried with PSX running and with PSX not running.

[simbro]

I agree that this looks like fun...  However I also have the same problem with a "Failed to execute script PSX ECL." error message after which the app terminates.
Strangely, I tried the same on another machine and didn't have the error there which seems to indicate that the problem lies somewhere in my setup.
Both machines are Win10Pro-v2004, Java8-271, 16GB.... though the 'not working' machine has a lot more apps installed - which might be interfering somehow.

regards
Simon

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

There is an Error.log file, that may contain interesting info. Mine has:

"C:\Flight Simulation\Aerowinx" directory may not exist.
Check "PSX ECL.cfg" and "Checklist Errors.txt" for errors.

So make sure you fix the configuration before you try it again.

I do have experience with the Python and Tkinter environment, including wrapping it into one .exe without all that loose garbage around, so I'll see whether I can find some time to help out.


Hoppie

[simbro]

I do not have a "Error.log" file in my PSX-ECL directory...
My "Checklist Error" log file seems to be a version which is generated by default & dated 05.01.21.... it is not in the zipfile and does not correspond to the date I first installed/excuted the .exe (08.01.21) so I don't know from where it originated.   It contains messages regarding "Checklist length error" for various pilots...
My config file is correct- the second installation seems to confirm this...

[Will]

My path to my Aerowinx folder is this:

PSX=C:\Program Files (x86)\Aerowinx

...but I seem to remember from the days of DOS programming that long path names or paths that had spaces were somehow treated differently. Using quotations, as seems to be necessary, gives a different solution: PSX ECL appears briefly in a window and then closes, without displaying the "Failed to execute script PSX ECL" dialog.

I have no idea if that finding is adjacent to the solution, but it does lead to different behavior from the ECL app.

[flyer605]

My apologies for the issues - it looks like I need to find that reference and fix it. I'll look into it.

Thanks for the help Jeroen, I might get back to you on that if I can't fix the issue. I'll keep working on a single exe to simplify things.


UPDATE...
Download link has been fixed to include a single exe while which should hopefully fix some of these issues.

[Avi]

Hi,

I don't know why I did it (it is so not me) but I deleted the "old" PSX ECL folder before downloading the new file so all I have is the .exe file and the .cfg file and this is what i get (for a split of a second):



Cheers,

[flyer605]

Hi Avi,

That's an awesome bit of info, thank you!

Sorry, I should have explained better, but yes, please delete everything from before and you should just need the exe and cfg file from the link above to work correctly.

I guess you edited your "PSX ECL.cfg" file PSX path to be correct (it needs to point to the root PSX folder, where the Audio directory is found)?

Did any files get created (error.log)?

I'll look into it.

Anybody else having trouble running the new exe?

Many thanks,

flyer

[Avi]

I edited the .cfg file and no error.log file.

Cheers,

[Will]

With the new .exe, I'm having the problems that Avi described. The screen flashes an error message briefly and then closes. Suggestions?

[simbro]

I'm also having the same problems as Avi & Will... (quick flash on screen then nothimg)

Regards
Simon

[Jeroen Hoppenbrouwers]

By first opening a CMD window and then running the .exe in that window, at least the console messages won't disappear.

[simbro]

Jeroen,

I'm afraid that doesn't work... A new console window appears briefly with the messages then closes again..

[asboyd]

I had to edit the cfg file as follows:
host=127.0.0.1
port=10747
pilot=BAW 1 - Sarah.pilot
PSX=D:\Aerowinx

I do not have the BOE pilot and my Aerowinx is on my D: drive (as you may have guessed).
The command windows opens, checks my list of Pilots then the Checklist opens. The command window stays open in the background...

Cheers,
AlexB

[flyer605]

So it seems the majority of people are having issues - let me get back to work on it 

Just to check, those of you who are having the problem, does an error.log file get generated at all? It should be in the same directory as the exe.

[asboyd]

I believe it is part of the checklist pilot checking. Before I set mine to BAW 1 - Sarah.pilot I had the same problem.

Some of the other pilots I have create a log file entry as their checklists are not long enough... For example the QFA 1 Sean.pilot does not include all the check lists BAW 1 - Sarah.pilot does.
I may have to record my own variant based on Sarah's wav files

I noticed if you close the command window the app exits as well....

Cheers,
AlexB

[simbro]

There is NO error.log file generated by my setup... just a short flash of a cmd window.

This is my .cfg file content:
host=127.0.0.1
port=10747
pilot=BAW 1 - Sarah.pilot
PSX=E:\Aerowinx

PSX ECL is installed in 'E:\Aerowinx\PSX_Utilities\PSX ECL V0.1'

Regards
Simon