during the last couple of weeks, I have developed and now added a new FGPanel implementation to FlightGear.
FGWebPanel or FGPanel 2.0, whatever it will be called, is based on current web standards and runs in any modern web browser and on a wide variety of devices.
Without the need for writing a single line of code you can now create almost any kind of instrument. This is the perfect solution for cockpit builders who want to display great looking instruments on a separate screen. No matter if you need classic steam gauges or want a state of the art PFD. FGWebPanel does them all.
Creation of instruments is a simple and fast progress:
- Start FlightGear with it's internal web server enabled
- Design your instruments in whatever kind of vector graphic design software you like (Inkscape does a great job)
- Create a simple set of text files to define the properties and how they animate the instrument's scalable vector graphics.
- Define the layout of your panel and place the instruments by creating a html page using standard html techniques for the layout
- Load your new html page through FlightGear's internal webserver and enjoy the result.
- If you are not satisfied, correct any errors, hit "Refresh" on your browser and immediately see the result. No need to ever restart FlightGear.
Facts:
* Scales without artefacts from tiny icon sized instruments to giant megapixel retina displays.
* Adds almost no load to your FlightGear.
* Based on web standards and widely adopted JavaScript libraries.
* Cross platform, runs on OSX, Android, iOS, Linux, Windows - on a Raspberry PI, on tablets, smartphones, desktop pc.
* No need for software installation. Just enter a URL into your browser.
* No need to write code.
* No need to write fancy protocol definition files.
* No need to create fancy multi-screen FlightGear installations
With latest git, you can check out a simple example at http://localhost:8080/gui/examples/FGPanel-Sample.html
use
- Code: Select all
--httpd=8080
The code for this PFD style attitude indicator can be found under $FGDATA/webgui/examples/
A little more complex is the work-in-progess 2d panel for the SenecaII:
Use
- Code: Select all
--httpd=8080 --aircraft=SenecaII
Future plans:
- Complete the animation system to support text-, scale-, skew-, matrix-, color- and select animations.
- Implement the animation system in core FlightGear to make the instruments reusable on a FlightGear Canvas.