Default Taxi link Properties

[tgibson]

A question - why aren't the default taxiway line dialogs not available from the Settings menu? If you want to change something directly, that's the logical place I would look for them?

 

[scruffyduck]

Hi Tom. Do you mean in Settings >Options or with a separate menu entry in Settings?

 

[tgibson]

I would say it could be another tab in Settings/Options (Taxiways).

BTW, I have a friend that avoids ADE because it doesn't have an option that would automatically make the previously created taxiway the new default taxiway type. He doesn't want to have to keep manually changing the default type all the time. He creates new taxiway segments from scratch (not connected to other taxiways), so the current system doesn't work for him.

 

[scruffyduck]

I will add the change of settings location to the list for the next update Tom (1.65 is now frozen but for bugs). I am interested in your friends issue - it seems to me that it should be simple enough but I am not sure I understand. He wants an option where by the default for a type of link is based on the last link of that type drawn - and this should be automatic and not reliant of inheriting from the parent if there is one. If he makes them all disconnected then it is going to use the default value. Am I correct? If so it should not be that difficult and if it would be useful to the community then I can add that in for the next update on links as well.

 

[tgibson]

Hi,

The current ADE behavior is correct, *except* when drawing a *new path* (i.e. a link not connected to any link of the same type) he would like the option to use the settings of the taxiway just previously created, rather than using the default taxiway type currently defined. A check box in Settings would be fine.

I would not remove the current option to change the default by right clicking the currently selected taxiway and choosing Default Settings. I would suggest to *add* them to the Option/Settings box.

Thanks,

 

[scruffyduck]

Thanks Tom

To be clear is this 'use last link' link type specific? or just use the last one irrespective of what type it is? I can see that some link types could be considered similar but other are not

 

[tgibson]

The Parking Link probably should inherit the properties of the last Apron Route or Parking Link (whichever is later). I think the Apron Route would inherit the properties only of the last Apron Route, the Taxiway only from the last Taxiway, and the Runway only from the last Runway (if still on the same runway), if you include runway links at all (not required).

Hope this helps,

 

[scruffyduck]

OK I will see what I can do in the next new version.

 

[tgibson]

Thanks!

 

[Big777jet]

Why don't you keep memory edit when I select draw taxiway link. I select no light center mark off and turn solid off to blank edge. Stay center mark line. after I draw finished. Next one other ramp. I select taxi link and draw taxi. It turns it out repeatedly with solid and taxi edge line mark and center light on. I have to re do it turn off line and light center off. Can you try the memory what I am select should be leave it on while working on draw taxi for the last time alone? (It was working last first came out new ADE I think) AFCAD 2.21 is still working fine. LOL

Thanks,

Stuart

 

[scruffyduck]

Well I know you don't have a ProKey Stuart but that allows you to set default markings and lights by taxiway type. Are you asking that ADE always remembers the last settings irrespective of link Type?

 

[Big777jet]

Well I know you don't have a ProKey Stuart but that allows you to set default markings and lights by taxiway type. Are you asking that ADE always remembers the last settings irrespective of link Type?

Yes, that's what I am asking for it.

Stuart

 

[scruffyduck]

OK

 

[tgibson]

Jon, this "last taxiway drawn is the new default" is the same behavior we discussed in a different thread. I told you that a friend of mine would not switch to ADE until this was an option.

Hi Tom

Yes I assumed it was the same and I have it on the list

 

[sfrenchie]

Well I know you don't have a ProKey Stuart but that allows you to set default markings and lights by taxiway type. Are you asking that ADE always remembers the last settings irrespective of link Type?

Yes, yes, yes, I would go for that instead of for example drawing taxi links, selecting them one at a time (rubberband selection is a nightmare for now) and editing them.

 

[scruffyduck]

I am happy to offer this as an alternative but I would appreciate it if folks actually acknowledged that ADE does provide default settings for each type of link and that if you create one link from another then the new link takes to properties of the old. I am beginning to think that either I am rubbish at explaining how it works or that it has stopped working I don't understand why you need to select them and please tell me what is wrong with rubber band selection.

https://scruffyduck.screenstepslive...l/200252-setting-taxi-link-default-properties

 

[sfrenchie]

Jon, don't feel bad. You're explaining just fine, it's that most of us don't read manuals
Actually I spoke too fast and didn't point out the exact issue, sorry about that.
I do know about the setting of default link properties in the toolbar and I use it. I also know that while connecting to an existing link the new link will inherit the properties. I admit I didn't know about the right click. Actually

I read in the help file, "These defaults apply only when you are adding a new link that does not start on an existing link or node. In that case ADE will use the properties of the existing link or a link of the same type attached to the node." While this is true, it's not 100% exact. I explain: having a taxi links with no center line I create a parking spot near it. I then connect the parking spot to the link by dragging it from the spot to the existing taxi link and I end up every time with a center line on the link between the parking and the taxi link.
After typing this paragraph I just went to do some testing and realized that parking links are actually different from taxi links. Also, since I don't have the ProKey, I can't change the settings of the center line anyway.

This being said, my personal opinion on remembering the last settings, as suggested by Pierrot, would sit well with me. If it's feasible to do it per link type then that would be even better. In order to please everyone you might have a checkbox in the settings screen, "Remember last link properties".

As for the rubber band selection, I and others have already expressed the inconvenience of the orientation. You already explained it was due to the thirds party graphic engine. Still it would become so much user friendly if you could think of a miracle solution. I know nothing about the engine you are using so this is a shot in the dark...couldn't you use the Windows graphic API's (GDI) to draw the selection rectangle?

My problem and the why I don't use the rubber selection is that it selects everything and I don't see a point to it, except for moving a bunch on object all together. Back to my issue with the parking links and center line. How could I select all my parking links to edit them as one? If I use the rubber band it selects the parking spots, the parking links, the taxi links, and whatever else is around. It's faster to hold shift and click on each parking object.
The solution/request/dream I imagine is: select an object, R or even Shift+R, and rubber selection would select only the type of objects similar to the original selection.

In any case, thank you for being so concern about your users' requests. We certainly all appreciate that you are so close to us and always listening when we ask, complain, fuss, b.... Do what you can and think is right, we'll just suck up the rest.

 

[scruffyduck]

Thanks Patrick. That makes sense to me.

I don't know if this helps but you can select a specific group of objects via the List function so you could select and edit all parking links from there.

I have been thinking about this remember last link properties but it give me a problem in so far as when do I assume that a user has defined a new set of properties? I need to articulate this better but essentially I need to know when to update those properties. Do I do it each time the user edits link properties at any time or do I do it when a user edits the properties of an existing link? or when they edit the properties of a newly added link, or when the user links up to an existing link with different settings to the last drawn link, and how do we handle multi edit?

 

[tgibson]

Hi Jon,

What we are really talking about is the way that AFCAD handles these issues (both link defaults and rubber band selection). Those seem to have some significant advantages over the way ADE currently handles them.

With link defaults I'll try to be as clear as possible, since you appear to think that our request has something to do with the link properties box. It does not. The properties of the *last link you drew* becomes the default in all cases of a new, virgin link without connections. You have nothing to decide, other than "is this a link without any connecting links?". The only exception to this is if the properties of an existing taxiway is changed. If so, *this* becomes the new default for this taxiway type. In ADE, changing the default properties should also change the next unconnected taxiway to be drawn. In other words, anything that changes properties should become the next default (easy to remember too).

Here is the scenario:

1. You create a link attached to another link (starting from that link's node), which inherits the properties of the original link. This behavior is correct, and the same in AFCAD.
2. You now want to create another link, which has exactly the same properties as the one you just drew. It will NOT be connected to any existing link.
a. AFCAD behavior: the new link will be created using the properties of the link just previously drawn.
b. ADE behavior: the new link will be created using the properties of the default settings.

So in ADE I have to manually reset the default to the desired properties, rather than just draw the next line. At a given airport, it is much more common to have a group of links that will all have the same properties (center line, no edge lines, etc.) than to have the default properties of the previous airport I worked on (current ADE behavior). Many of these will not be connected to taxiways of the same type, and thus you cannot use the "inherit" technique.

We simply want to be able to select "a" above, rather than the current "b". I personally think it would be logical that parking spot links and apron links would inherit each others properties (since I commonly create those together and often need the same properties); regular taxiway links could have their own separate inheritance. But keeping those separate would be OK too. Pretty much 50-50 to me.

To be honest, unless all the link types already exist in the ADE file (which is not that uncommon, but certainly not always true), then the only difference is in the workflow procedure (i.e. changing the properties of the first link used using the Properties box vs changing the default in the defaults box). But I've been using the AFCAD behavior for almost 20 years, and it's hard to break that routine.

One thing you could do to improve on AFCAD (in my opinion) is to sense the direction I create a line that connects to another taxiway. In AFCAD, no matter what direction you draw the line the new line inherits the properties of the existing line. I would prefer that this inheritance occur only when I start at the node of an existing line, and *not* when I start it "in air" (not connected to any line) and I draw it to the existing line. In that case it would use the default line properties (as defined in the default properties, or the line I last drew (our request above)).

As for rubber band selection, AFCAD has the following behaviors:

1. The sides of the selection rectangle are aligned with the screen, not with true north. Thus you can rotate the airport to select a diagonal runway, for example.
2. And just as important, while AFCAD will select everything in the square as does ADE, the properties of those objects is handled *very differently*. If you right click on a selected taxiway link and choose Properties, *all the properties* of that taxiway link are available in the resulting dialog box, not just the properties in common with all of the object types selected (ADE behavior). When the properties are then changed, they will be changed only for that object type you right clicked; all other selected object types are ignored. If I want to change an apron surface instead, I can right click any selected apron, and the apron properties box will appear, allowing me to choose the surface type of all selected aprons. The surface type of any selected taxiway links (for example) is *not* changed.

The AFCAD sub selection process is typically what is needed, not the current ADE behavior of displaying only the properties in common with all the selected items. That is why Patrick has to choose the links one by one, since there is no way to get all the link properties displayed when you use an ADE rubber band selection.

Hope this helps,

 

[scruffyduck]

Thanks Tom

I will take a look at this in details as soon as I am settled in FL