how do you read your tutorials and stuff?

[Moach]

i'm just trying to probe out the necessity of a html/txt/pdf/doc reader utility module... or is there such a thing alreay?

i mean, even with two monitors the constant minimizing can be quite a drag, which makes reading tutorials and flightplans "on-the-fly" truly troublesome...

FSX had that "kneeboard" thing, which was basically an IE-based browser (which could even access the internet with the proper addons)... it made reading documentation in-game possible, and quite comfortable to do



maybe i'm missing something rather basic when i think i need to write up a plugin for doing this (am i?) - but if i'm not, then i find this feature is seriously missing, and i wouldn't mind doing it:idea:

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I wouldn't mind an MFD of some sort that would list the various hotkeys and their functions...
I've actually got a kneeboard (a LTjg left his in my helicopter and wasn't willing to shell out a case of beer to get it back). I make up a sheet listing all the keys/functions, as well as any oddball commands that I need for a particular craft that right there available when I need it (providing the documentation has them listed, most do, some... not so much).
Also listed are the freq's of the landing field (AIA, KSC, Woomera, Matagorda, etc) that I plan on using for recovery.

 

[djidji]

I play windowed and alt-tab between the two.. simple enough

 

[Xyon]

For checklists, nothing beats having a hard copy to refer to. I just had them printed out.

 

[jedidia]

i'm just trying to probe out the necessity of a html/txt/pdf/doc reader utility module... or is there such a thing alreay?

Well, there's an internet explorer MFD for 2006P1, I guess it should be able to read html...

 

[cinder1992]

There could be an internet client in the UVGCO project if someone will make it, I'm sure as hell not (writing a browser in MACHINE CODE? are you NUTS?).

 

[Urwumpe]

I have most Shuttle checklists and manuals printed and in white folders in a small cupboard next to my PC... and I just prepare a series of green folders about Mercury.

 

[Loru]

how do I read my tutorials and stuff?
hmm. Usually from left to right, letter by letter and word by word .

Now more serious. If something is vere complicated (eg: NASSP) I print manuals. With simple vessels I ussually note down keys, hints etc.

 

[Moach]

then i guess we sure could use an internal reader window :hmm:

i wonder if there are libraries i could use to speed up the whole coding thing.... creating the utility window itself should be rather simple via the SDK.... then it's just reading the files

 

[johan]

Doesn't it make more sense to do this as an MFD? I've just started flying the DGIV, and find its checklist screen MOST useful! The interface could be better, but I'm sure you can fix that if you did this as an MFD.

That said, I guess you could fix the interface equally well if you did it as a window

 

[jedidia]

two thoughts, one on topic, one off:

1. since the MFDs are rather small, it might make more sense to put a pdf reader into a dialogue box.

2. since it seems you got a lot of time on your hands, and seem to know quite a bit about 3dsMax scripting, have you ever thought of takling the task to create an animation format for the .msh file that would enable to manipulate vertices directly? The major use of this I can think of would be making UMMUs walk.

 

[fort]

This can possibly be done with html / javascript via the help window in Orbiter. But this window is not very graceful in it's presentation. This is the main problem. In fact, a window in C + + would be better.

 

[martins]

The help window can even display PDF, in addition to HTML and text. It's essentially just an embedded browser. It can link to local or remote files. The only problem is that local files need to be addressed by absolute path, which is a real pain. Although there may be workarounds (see http://www.cybertext.com.au/tips_HTML_chm_external.htm)

Edit: Also, with the restrictions that Vista/Win7 seem to impose on HtmlHelp/chm, most of the functionality may well be gone for non-XP users.

 

[fort]

The only problem is that local files need to be addressed by absolute path, which is a real pain. Although there may be workarounds (see http://www.cybertext.com.au/tips_HTML_chm_external.htm)

I do not really remember how i've made it ( it's - or it was ? - a work in slooowww progress, so old ) but i think that it was not - at least - with an absolute path.

Actually, i use it without preoccupations about the drive where i install Orbiter or if the folder for Orbiter is named Orbiter or anything else.

So, by example: Orbiter/Html/Scenarios/Default/Checklist > here the chm containing the htm containing the parser's code and in the same folder the main html file with all the code. The links in it are all relative.

Some code here ( post number 7 )

http://orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=144

My poor experience ( but it works ).

http://www.orbiter-forum.com/showthread.php?t=4097&highlight=chm

Old topics about different things as java applets.

http://www.orbitersim.com/Forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=15869

http://www.orbitersim.com/Forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=17881

http://www.orbitersim.com/Forum/Default.aspx?g=posts&t=16710

Edit: Also, with the restrictions that Vista/Win7 seem to impose on HtmlHelp/chm, most of the functionality may well be gone for non-XP users.

I think so. And with XP SP2 > IE7 some restrictions about javascript in an html file ( the yellow bar at the top of the window ).

EDIT

By the way, Doctor, i did not see, at the first time, the code in your link to cybertext wich can seem interesting too for simple files out of chm files.

 

[Moach]

2. since it seems you got a lot of time on your hands, and seem to know quite a bit about 3dsMax scripting, have you ever thought of takling the task to create an animation format for the .msh file that would enable to manipulate vertices directly? The major use of this I can think of would be making UMMUs walk.

hmm... i wish... man, i wish
:jiggy:
but creating an animation format would be very cool... i guess it really could be done by maxscript, and have the animations exported as a separate file, which could tap into the existing meshgroups....

but having it work with bones and mesh skinning tho, is a whole other nine yards, i fear:uhh:

:threadjacked: now, back to the original idea, i guess embedded browser is the best way to go... it should make the whole reading thing very easy... i wonder if my good trusty DXStudio could save me a couple of weeks worth of headache (it has a built-in browser - which even supports flash) and it's supposedly very simple to embed in another app....


man, i wish my "c++ for windows" course had started already :jiggy:

 

[jholley309]

Doesn't it make more sense to do this as an MFD? I've just started flying the DGIV, and find its checklist screen MOST useful! The interface could be better, but I'm sure you can fix that if you did this as an MFD.

Hmmm...perhaps a "generic" checklist MFD that developers could plug in their own checklists?

For example:

Add-on developer builds Rocket X complete with autopilot and custom functions for animating various parts. ChecklistMFD uses a standard input format that the add-on developer uses to generate spacecraft-specific checklists; such an MFD could be configured and manipulated via the scenario file, right? All the developer needs to do is build the checklist and add the proper entries in his scenario files to make sure the correct checklisk gets loaded.

Or maybe we could just print out the add-on docs...

Cheers!

 

[Moach]

hmm... i don't go too much for the MFD approach... it sounds cool, but it really only takes up an MFD for no good reason - and it's easier to read documentation from a regular window

i though of a MFD first, but then decided "meh..." for that reason... also, this way, you can read docs that weren't really made with in-game readablity in mind - and if you have a second monitor, you can make the most of it :thumbup:



funny you should bring this thread up again.. just today i was looking for a PDF, TXT, HTML reader library... (slow day at work... my game is going through beta, and sometimes i have to sit and wait for new bugs) --

anyways, any recomendations of libraries i could use for this?
i did find one for reading ebooks which supported html, txt, rtf and some others, but no pdf....

 

[computerex]

I have a cool app that allows me to make any window "top most" by shift + f12 That way I can play in full screen and still have the documentation visible.

 

[Moach]

do share! is it freeware? :yes:

 

[computerex]

do share! is it freeware? :yes:

You should probably continue with your projects plans, because this one is a hackish, and inelegant solution to the problem

(notice, the focus is in orbiter, so you can do things such as modify MFD state, but the browser is still visible)

#define _WIN32_WINNT 0x0500
#include <windows.h>
bool shift()
{
	return (GetKeyState(VK_SHIFT)&0x800);
}
int main()
{   
    ShowWindow(GetConsoleWindow(), SW_HIDE);
	HWND hwnd = GetForegroundWindow();    
	SetConsoleTitle("winop");   
	hwnd = FindWindow(NULL, "winop"); 
	ShowWindow(hwnd, FALSE);       
	DWORD flags;  
	while ( true ) 
	{         
		Sleep(100);   
		hwnd = GetForegroundWindow();       
		flags = GetWindowLong(hwnd, GWL_EXSTYLE);              
		if ( shift() && GetAsyncKeyState(VK_F12) )      
		{          
			if ( (flags & WS_EX_TOPMOST) )          
				SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_NOTOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE);     
			else               
				SetWindowPos(hwnd, HWND_TOPMOST, 0, 0, 0, 0, SWP_NOMOVE | SWP_NOSIZE);  
		} 
	} 
	return 0;
}