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VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax

Postby leechpool » Tue Jun 07, 2022 11:43 pm

Hi everyone,
I'm really not sure where I should post this question, so apologies in advance if this is the wrong place.
I've been using VfrFlight.org flight planner. I like it very much despite the fact that the developer appears to have stopped working on it some time ago. It has the ability to export map data to xml file, where you can make changes and then import it. I was thinking of effectively using flightgear's nav.dat file to make VfrFlight match flightgear in terms of navaids.
The XML exported from the map has VOR and NDB etc so I can see the syntax I need to use.
Trouble is my initial map in VfrFlight contains no ILS or glideslope info because it came from openaip, hence I have no lead as to how the navaid data should look for ILS or glideslope and there appears to be no way to contact the developer. At least I assume he doesn't want to be contacted because he appears to have removed all contact details from the site :). I only use Flightgear, so cannot use other options available in VfrFlight to import data from X-Plane, FSX installations etc. I have the same issue if I want to try to use other options like littlenavmap......

Does anyone use VfrFlight who has ILS / glideslope data on their map such that they could indicate the format used in the xml export output? I know little about this subject, so I don't know whether the developer used an existing xml format/template or created his own or even whether what I'm panning to do will work. Any info on this would be helpful. The dream would be that someone else has already created a Flightgear map for use in VfrFlight and could somehow share....

Thanks
:)

This is an example of xml I edited to add a NDB at Cardiff EGFF where there is one missing in VfrFlight:

Code: Select all
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<VfrFlightData>
    <Obstacles/>
    <VfrPoints/>
    <Navaids>
        <Navaid ident="CDF" type="NDB">
            <name>CARDIFF</name>
            <pos>51.39337800N,003.33790300W</pos>
            <elevationInFt>0</elevationInFt>
            <frequency>388</frequency>
            <magvar>-0.92</magvar>
        </Navaid>
    </Navaids>
    <IfrRoutes/>
    <IfrPoints/>
    <AirspaceAreas/>
    <Airports/>
</VfrFlightData>
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Re: VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax

Postby MariuszXC » Wed Jun 08, 2022 12:51 pm

Judging by the choice of illustrations an also from metadata left in the site code, he left enough clues to be found. Try LinkedIn :)
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Re: VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax  

Postby leechpool » Sun Jun 12, 2022 1:17 pm

MariuszXC wrote in Wed Jun 08, 2022 12:51 pm:Judging by the choice of illustrations an also from metadata left in the site code, he left enough clues to be found. Try LinkedIn :)


Thanks MariusZXC, I was pretty sure I could find the developer on social media if I wanted to but was trying to avoid bothering him as he seemed to have stopped working on the planner.
Anyway, I managed to get what I was looking for from elsewhere. The XML code for the ILS at Cardiff EGFF looks like this:

Code: Select all
            <Runways>
                <Runway>
                    <pos>512347.7000N,0032035.7000W</pos>
                    <surface>TARMAC</surface>
                    <length>2350.62</length>
                    <width>46.02</width>
                    <number>12</number>
                    <elev>220</elev>
                    <heading>120.79</heading>
                    <magvar>-4.0</magvar>
                    <Ils>
                        <Ils name="ILS/DME 12" ident="ICDF">
                            <pos>512328.4000N,0031934.7000W</pos>
                            <elev>220</elev>
                            <heading>116.79</heading>
                            <frequency>110.7</frequency>
                            <magvar>-4.0</magvar>
                            <width>5.37</width>
                            <pitch>3.0</pitch>
                        </Ils>
                        <Ils name="ILS/DME 30" ident="ICWA">
                            <pos>512407.1000N,0032137.4000W</pos>
                            <elev>220</elev>
                            <heading>296.79</heading>
                            <frequency>110.7</frequency>
                            <magvar>-4.0</magvar>
                            <width>5.19</width>
                            <pitch>3.0</pitch>
                        </Ils>
                    </Ils>
                </Runway>
            </Runways>
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Re: VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax

Postby leechpool » Sun Jul 10, 2022 3:19 am

HI,
For anyone interested in this, I managed to create scripts which took flightgear data from nav.dat and apt.dat and import it all into VfrFlight. So VfrFlight now has a World which matches Flightgear in terms of navigation aids and airports. It seems to work really well. I love the flight planning programme. It was a hard process as I pretty much had to learn to program in BASH etc to do it but I thoroughly enjoyed the journey. A language better suited to non integer maths would have made things easier but you live and learn. One thing to note was that to get ILS to work properly so I could plot a route which intersects an ILS glide slope, I had to learn how to connect to the hyper SQL database which sits in VrfFlight and create some SQL scripts which ticked a few fields according to certain parameters. Only difficult because I had never used SQL before but anyone else fiddling with import / VrfFlight might benefit from knowing this this necessary.
Shame the developer appears to have stopped working on VfrFlight; I really like it, but I assume, as it is a Java thing (I know little about Java), it will continue to work for a while at least....
Thanks
:D
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Re: VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax

Postby V12 » Sun Aug 14, 2022 1:55 pm

Waste time. You managed to close FG even deeper into its obsolete word.
Much better solution should be script that updates obsolete FG airport runway designations and navigation data to current AIRAC cycle.
Last edited by V12 on Sun Aug 14, 2022 5:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: VfrFlight Planner import / export xml syntax

Postby polly » Sun Aug 14, 2022 4:18 pm

Well Done, in BASH no less !
Accomplishing one's goals while learning a new paradigm is by no means a waste of time in my books. Python, along with its spyder development environment could be of interest. ( BASH am Byth ! )
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