Swift - Pilot client progress

[Sascha Steingrobe 880415]

Hello,

 

I'm happy that there's going to be a new client.

 

If possible, I wanted to ask developpers to make the client accessible to those who are using a ScreenReader, by providing shortcuts for various actions of the client.

 

Thank you

Hi Hadi,

 

can you explain ScreenReader functions to me please?

 

If its not on our requirements list yet, it will not be included in V1.0 - just not to get on the wrong page. We got a loads of work to do and so much features, we will not head for anything new now.

 

Regards,

Sascha

[Ernesto Alvarez 818262]

Its what i mentioned during initial discussions. allowing programs to read from the screenfor text to speech and being able to type with voice to text.

 

fsinn is able to do this because the output on the screen is actual text, unlike squawkbox where the output is graphical.

 

From the screenshots of this client, it looks like both input and output is graphical.

 

you may have to do a plugin to export in text format, not sure howd you handle input, that one would be good for all users, especially on unicom

[Sascha Steingrobe 880415]

Its what i mentioned during initial discussions. allowing programs to read from the screenfor text to speech and being able to type with voice to text.

 

fsinn is able to do this because the output on the screen is actual text, unlike squawkbox where the output is graphical.

 

From the screenshots of this client, it looks like both input and output is graphical.

 

you may have to do a plugin to export in text format, not sure howd you handle input, that one would be good for all users, especially on unicom

I see what you mean. Yes the output will be graphical from the point I know. So I am not sure if we are implementing this feature for now or later. Let me check with tech crew in some weeks, as we are dealing with other codings at the moment and I do not wanna disturb them with that topic.

 

Regards,

 

Sascha

[Hadi Remonion 1198912]

Its what i mentioned during initial discussions. allowing programs to read from the screenfor text to speech and being able to type with voice to text.

 

fsinn is able to do this because the output on the screen is actual text, unlike squawkbox where the output is graphical.

 

From the screenshots of this client, it looks like both input and output is graphical.

 

you may have to do a plugin to export in text format, not sure howd you handle input, that one would be good for all users, especially on unicom

I see what you mean. Yes the output will be graphical from the point I know. So I am not sure if we are implementing this feature for now or later. Let me check with tech crew in some weeks, as we are dealing with other codings at the moment and I do not wanna disturb them with that topic.

 

Regards,

 

Sascha

 

Hello,

Thank you Ernesto for explaining.

I was kinda sure that the client is going to be pure graphical, but I was hoping that the chat input and output are simple text. that's why I asked for keyboard shortcuts. (e.g for connecting, disconnecting, switching transponder mode and go on...)

 

There are not allot of blind pilots in vatsim, maybe something around 9 or 10, so it's just not right to sacrifice design and features to make the client accessible.

However we will keep our hopes

[Chad Black]

There are not allot of blind pilots in vatsim, maybe something around 9 or 10

 

[Adam Trzcinski]

 

 

What do you wanna say, Chad? Spit it out!

[Hadi Remonion 1198912]

There are not allot of blind pilots in vatsim, maybe something around 9 or 10

 

 

Hi.

Um... what's wrong?

[Gary Tekulsky 1134195]

Do not despair if we are unable to provide screen reader support in the client, we only have a small group working on the client. As it will be open source, the feature can always be added by someone else if we are unable to do so, and then we could merge it into a release.

[Ben Lim]

Any news / updates?

 

Any idea when the beta testing will open to the public, or to a select few?

[Sascha Steingrobe 880415]

No information yet for release or beta testing phase as we are currently hard working on the basement and the structure of the high level requirements.

 

Please stay tune for more.

[Nelaka Rupasinghe 1186094]

Hello,

 

It's great to hear that you guys are working on a cross-platform VATSIM pilot client!

Looks quite promising.

 

I was wondering if this program may be able to support FlightGear?

MSFSX and X-Plane already have decent clients and now they are going to get an even better client but FlightGear's VATSIM connection is mediocre when compared to the options available for X-Plane and MSFSX.

 

Could you please support FlightGear?

It would benefit not only me but many other FG users using VATSIM.

 

Cheers,

N. R.

[Roland Rossgotterer 104726]

Hi Nelaka,

 

the client is designed to support all different flight simulators by a plugin system. We going to focus on FS and X-Plane since this are the most important one. But if any FlightGear user wants to support FG he could start developing a plugin and it should be usable directly.

 

SDK and plugin system will be released with the software. If someone wants to start right now, join the team and start developing

[Nelaka Rupasinghe 1186094]

So X-Plane and MSFSX support is to be built-in? And every other flight simulator is to be a plugin?

 

How do I start developing for it?

[Roland Rossgotterer 104726]

More or less - yes. All the implementations (FSX, FS9 and X-Plane) are going to be derived from a pure virtual interface. The clients engine is going to talk to the simulator via this interface by calling virtual methods and its the drivers responsibility to implement the simulator specific parts. If the drivers provided by us are plugins or linked statically is not defined yet, but just a minor thing.

 

Adding support for FG would mean, you look into the interface definition and think how you would implement each method using FlightGears multiplayer interface, build a plugin and the client should be able to use it.

 

Unfortunately the simulator interface is not stable enough and exists only in a draft version yet. We are currently creating the cl[Mod - Happy Thoughts]es and objects for different avionic objects, e.g. controllers, aircrafts. Based on this we are going to finish the multiplayer engine, which is managing all these objects and is going to provide the needed information to the drivers. So as you can see, there are a couple of things depending on each other.

To finally answer your question: if you want to have a working client with a stable plugin API, you would have to wait until its released. But if you want to contribute right now and maybe be involved in the interface design, you of course welcome to join us. If this is the case, send a PM to Sascha Steingrobe (or me, since Sascha is maybe busy right now) with some sentences about you.

 

Cheers

[Richard Bowcott 934080]

I just quickly went though posts on this topic & didn't see anything about p3d , will the client work with p3d, sorry if it was asked before just didn't see it.

 

Riche

[Paulo Santos 1232678]

Yes, it will:

 

Requirements

 

1. Target Platform

1.1. Runs on Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8

(Does not exclude platform independent development)

1.2. Compatible with FS9, XPlane, FSX (and Prepar3D). See Poll viewtopic.php?f=6&t=62695

1.3. Compatible with current server infrastructure (voice, FSD, tools)

1.4. Written with QT Framework

Other features: https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?resid=16502B8BFD93B494!307&app=Word&authkey=!AOnt_C7WD0N7OVs

[Joel Strikovsky 1136335]

Is it possible to integrate in the client ACARS system, e.g. xACARS? for all us VA pilots.

that way all of us VA pilots won't need to load another Online client.

[David Zhong]

I would suggest that something like that would be feature creep... how many different ACARS systems are out there? Do they even all do the same things?

[Joel Strikovsky 1136335]

there are many acars programs out there, however they all usually transmit at the same method.

there is also a generic ACARS system , like xACARS which you could implement in the client code as many use them

and it's pretty much suitable for any VA airliner.

the programs knows what VA to contact and transmit based on pre defined XML config file that you load into the program.

most VA Airlines have that XML config file available for download on their web site.

so I believe using this method as xACARS is a safer bet for the most generic cover.

Edited September 28, 2013 at 05:11 PM by Guest

[Luke Kolin]

there are many acars programs out there, however they all usually transmit at the same method.

 

Which is pretty primitive, rather stateless and doesn't allow for real-time two-way communication. If your ACARS system uses HTTP, you're probably doing it wrong.

 

the programs knows what VA to contact and transmit based on pre defined XML config file that you load into the program. most VA Airlines have that XML config file available for download on their web site. so I believe using this method as xACARS is a safer better for the most generic cover.

 

While it's the safest, it's probably one of the less functional and data-rich implementations. We shouldn't focus on safe - we should try and raise the bar every now and then in terms of what data gets recorded and submitted.

 

My team was pretty disappointed when we added XACARS support in order to support X-Plane users. There was a LOT less data than they were used to getting, and a lot more problems getting data submitted reliably - which is something else you see with a lot of ACARS packages - all sorts of cryptic errors, needing to reserve flights, etc. etc.

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

[Joel Strikovsky 1136335]

I believe you (as the developers of the new VATSIM Client) will know better what is better to implement and how if at all.

all I am asking is if you could look into it and investigate a bit more about the ACARS option in the client.

I am sure you will get better coding information then I will as you understand better.

 

here is an example of the "xacars.ini" config file for my VA Airline.

 

[Server]
Address = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/acars/xacars/acars

PIREP = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/acars/xacars/pirep

FlightInfo = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/acars/xacars/data

User = XXXXXXX
[ACARS]
POSReportTime = 1
EnableLiveACARS = 1
EnablePIREP = 1
AutoPIREP = 1

 

VA - Template

[VA_CONFIG]
DOWNLOADURL = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/fsfk/vaconfig_template
DOWNLOADURL_LIVEACARS_TEMPLATE = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/fsfk/liveacars_template
DOWNLOADURL_PIREP_TEMPLATE = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/fsfk/pirep_template
DOWNLOADURL_EMAL_TEMPLATE = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/fsfk/email_template
DOWNLOADURL_AIRTV_TEMPLATE = http://malaysiava.org/action.php/fsfk/airtv_template

EVENT_LOG_MODE = FULLPLUS
FORCE_RECORDING_OF_ALL_EVENTS = FALSE

AUTOCONNECT_LIVEACARS = FALSE
DISABLE_DISCONNECT_LIVEACARS = FALSE
AUTO_WEB_PIREP = FALSE
AUTO_EMAIL_PIREP = FALSE
AUTO_FLIGHTCRITIQUE = TRUE

DISABLE_WORLD_MENU = FALSE
DISABLE_AIRCRAFT_MENU = FALSE
DISABLE_FLIGHTS_MENU = FALSE
DISABLE_OPTIONS_MENU = FALSE
DISABLE_ALL_MENUS = FALSE

DISABLE_PAUSE = FALSE
DISABLE_SLEW = TRUE

MAX_SIM_RATE = 2
FORCE_CRASH_DETECTION = FALSE

 

EDIT: added xACARS example config file

P.S. correction, it is not an XML config format but a regular *.ini config file.

[Luke Kolin]

I believe you (as the developers of the new VATSIM Client) will know better what is better to implement and how if at all.

 

Who would you rather fly with, one with zero hours under his belt or 600,000?

 

Cheers!

 

Luke

[Hadi Remonion 1198912]

Hello,

 

Maybe integrating an ACARS system that would track/record all aspects of your flight into VATSIM's new client would be a good idea as well?

Allot of airlines would use the client to also track their pilots and then we wouldn't have to have two clients running beside other extra add-ons or w/e.

[Sascha Steingrobe 880415]

Just a small info from the back office:

There are no plans at the moment for an ACARS like XACARS to develop at the moment. We are planning the CPDLC system as said and settling up VATSIM own service structure, but ACARS not completely at this stage.

As its open source and a plugin in system as well available, feel free to add an ACARS later on.

 

Thanks Luke, but I think we have the most skilled team ever worked on a client code. Nothing to be worried about, so keep your belt better fasten .

[Richard McDonald Woods]

Could we have the ability to import the ATC FP as a flight booking into VATSIM, and then into the new client. Then the ATC FP from my PFPX can be automatically be 'filed'?

 

Many thanks.