FSX:SE Resizing gauge windows

[QVA70]

Hi all,
sorry if this is posted elsewhere but I have spent 6 hours today looking all over the net, to no avail.
I have a panel for an aeroplane which allows some gauges to be resized and others not.
Is there a way to make them all resizable as I need to adjust to cover multiple monitor spread.
I have attached the panel.cfg, in *.txt format.
As an example I can resize the GPS but not the FMC.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[DragonflightDesign]

What happens if you:

1. put the FMC in its own window and then try to resize it
2. Increase/decrease the panel.cfg dx and dy numbers for the FMC?

I've never heard of a gauge that refuses to let you resize it. OTOH, I can see how it could be done and I think I know why, assuming it's written in C/C++. If the FMC relies on you clicking on certain areas to enter data, a mouseclick placed on top of a MAKE_STRING starts misbehaving above a certain (not known) size. I say (not known) because I hit this problem with an internal gauge debugger I wrote; after a couple of hours of trying to figure out why the mouseclick areas and the strings ended up in different places despite having the same co-ordinates when the window was expanded past a certain size, I dumped the lot and re-wrote it as an external debugger using SimConnect. Preventing a resize is relatively trivial code; you check the window size and if it isn't what you wanted, you force it back to the required size.

 

[spokes2112]

Normally any popup window can be resized if undocked.
If docked, it may not be able to be resized if the uncommented bold entries below are used.
And.. As Dai mentioned, there could be some internal code preventing a resize if the gauge is C/C++.
You could try to comment out the possible offending lines as shown below in bold.

[Window02]
size_mm=456,378
window_size=0.5
position=8
BACKGROUND_COLOR=0,0,0
VISIBLE=0
ident=GPS_PANEL

gauge00=fs9gps!gps_500, 0,0

[Window16]
Background_color=16,16,16
size_mm=325,512
window_size_ratio=1.000
window_pos= 0.0,0.40
visible=1
ident=1008
//window_size= 0.255, 0.475
//window_pos= 0.745, 0.520

gauge00=HoneywellFMC!fmc, 0,0,325,512

 

[QVA70]

Thanks for the help there guys, unfortunately I do not get the undock option when right clicking on the respective windows

 

[rcbarend]

Hi Andrew,

I had a quick look at your panel.cfg, but I think it's time to do some "cleaning-up " ...LoL

I have made dozen's of complex addon 2D-windows panels, but I have never understood the true meaning (in FSX) of lines like:
- child_3d=
- render_3d_window=
- window_size_ratio=

And what they actually do.
So I don't use them.
But I'm sure one of these blocks a 2D window from being undocked.

Futhermore, I never use
position=

but Allways
window_size=
window_pos=

which let's you specify almost exactly where the 2D-window should pop up and at which size.

Also, one of your 2D-windows uses:
sizeable=0
For sure, that prevents the window from being resized by dragging it ….LoL

A few other lines I frequently use, where applicable:

zorder=
To determine the overlay-priority of 2D-windows.

nomenu=1
To make the 2D-window not visible in the FSX menu line Views-InstrumentPanel.

type=SPECIAL
This overides visible=
When you load a panel, a 2D window with this line makes the 2D-window invisible at aircraft/flight load, but once you opened it it remains visible when you change camera views.

Lastly, two another tips:
- If you change things like window_size and window_pos, make sure you do an aircraft-reload.
Because if you load an existing flight with an aircraft for which you have changed the panel,cfg, FSX uses the coordinates and size saved in the .flt file; not the ones in your new panel.cfg.
- When right-clicking a 2D-window to undock it, make sure it's not on a gauge-defined right-click spot.

And Yes: it's possible in a C/C++ gauge to block the gauge from being resized in a 2D-window.
(as far as I know: not from within an XML gauge).
So that might be a reason why your 2D FMC window can't be resized.
Or the window itself can be resized, but the gauge in it is not scaled. (ie. when you schrink the window, the size of the gauge remains unchanged, so the gauge is truncated).

Hope this helps solving your problems.

Rob