Hi James, >> There were major changes on the GPS and Route-Manager since August (3 Months >> ago already!) >>
I had not noticed because I have not tried using the autopilot for many months. >> written flightdirector like Syds Aircrafts (Citation Bravo works perfect) or >> with own yes, Citation Bravo works for me too. >> configured autopilots like the senecaII, c172p, PA24-250. >> Well yes, but I expected the default aircraft to work. Since the manual and help windows give instructions on using Ctrl-A, Ctrl-W, Ctrl-H, etc, and F11 does open the autopilot settings, I would expect these to work. >> True-Heading can be used with the DTO-Mode in the GPS-menu in the Menubar. >> Ok, I figured out how to give a destination. > The issue / feature here is that the route-manager code has 'always' (for > years, at least) directly set /autopilot/settings/true-heading-deg based on > its internal route-following logic. Personally I don't think it's a great > feature, but people do use it (the route manager) in conjunction with the > generic autopilot dialog to quickly navigate between waypoints. When I broke > the feature by accident, it was noticed, and people asked for the feature > back. > > As far as I know, the old route-manager code behaved much the same as my code > does now - but it sounds as if you disagree? > I guess I do. In the past this property stayed nil until set by somebody wanting autopilot to navigate on a specific heading. Or yes, if route-manager gets Activated, then it did and does set true-heading-deg as you said. As long as route-manager was deactivated or had no waypoints set, it looked like the right place to tie in my buttons on the panel. > For the record, my perception is that entering a value in the generic > autopilot dialog for 'true heading' has never worked, because the value would > **always** be over-written by the route manager. > No, it is not overwritten when route-manager is disabled. And if it never worked, then how did the Ctrl-W, Ctrl-H ever work?? I still think something in this part is broken. > What *has* changed is that the value now actually comes from the GPS code, > not the route-manager. Both are equally 'generic' (just like the autopilot > itself), it was just simpler from a code design perspective to handle the > autopilot interaction in the GPS code, and keep the route-manager separated. > > Does this fit with what you're seeing? > > Yes. Without a destination, the gps code sets wild headings into true-heading-deg, and makes the old autopilot controls act broken and confusing. With a destination set, the GPS code works. Should the old autopilot dialog be ripped out of the c172p? and have all references to using the autopilot removed? I don't think so. The wing leveler and simple heading autopilot had value. Is there a way to set a steady heading without writing my own code, which I thought was discouraged "reinventing the wheel" :) Maybe I am supposed to study and borrow the flight director code or some part of it that makes smooth turns to a set heading? Actually, flying the c172p (in yesterday's CVS) around in circles for 10-15 minutes trying to get the heading to go on autopilot, even setting the GPS destination, did not work for me. If it isn't really broken, it sure looks like it. And if I can't figure it out, I doubt any first-time flyers will. Maybe the fix for half of this, is to Deactivate the New gps code when it has no destination set. Stewart ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Flightgear-devel mailing list Flightgear-devel@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/flightgear-devel
