Trying to get started on being able to take the FS2004 bgls, decode them, and place the information on a map (aka FS Navigator, FSFK, FS Scenery Commander, etc). First off, I am clueless on many things that will probably be required to do this like programming in general, but I'm willing to teach myself. I've already learned some stuff just by visiting this forum.However, my mind tells me that I have to break open the .bgl files to get usable data (as I read exists in the scenery sdk) so that I can then take this data and put it on a map. But, first thing is, I need to get those .bgl's open.I've looked for BGL2XML as this would seem a logical choice, but I can't find anything.Any help?Thanx,Chris FisherAVSIM FP Editor

I'm also looking for what you all think is a good programming language to easily learn...I'm think VB with .net...not that I really know what the .net means, but it seems like I need to have .net installed to run quite a bit of programs so I figure it's being used a bit.Thanks,

Chris,On the programming language - if you can bring yourself to do it, use C++. The FS SDK's come with C++ header files which make accessing FS variables and commands a whole lot easier. If you use something else, your only real option for accessing FS is FSUIPC. I like FSUIPC, but it is nice to have as it an option, rather being forced to use it to do all the reads and writes into FS.Doug Dawson

Roger that.Thanks, Doug.

Doug, if you're still reading, or anyone else, based on my incredibly limited programming experience, would Visual Basic offer the same capability as C++ with regards to the header (could they be translated) or would I be locked into using FSUIPC?Thanks again,

>Doug, if you're still reading, or anyone else, based on my>incredibly limited programming experience, would Visual Basic>offer the same capability as C++ with regards to the header>(could they be translated) or would I be locked into using>FSUIPC?>>Thanks again,>Basically there are two options when it comes to Windows programming these days:C# or VB.NET. Some would argue C# is targeted at the experienced programmer, VB.NET at the home programmer - can't say it for sure, but if you learn C# you can easily read VB.NET code as well - people using it the other way tend to have more problems, but this might also be due to generally less experienced developers tend to use VB.NET.With a very few exceptions you can do the same in both languages.VB (also known as VB.old) is dead. Microsoft no longer support it.C++ is still used for drivers, games and stuff, but there is no need to torture yourself with it. You can call C++ DLL's from .NET. It is a bit painfull, but not as painful as being stock with something as outdated C++.Directly hooking into Flight Simulator without using FSUIPC is a bit advanced if you know nothing about programming, so I would not be too bothered about it if I was you.

Lars,Thanks for your reply. I don't think I will need to connect w/ FSUIPC at all since this will be a stand-alone program (I want to make a flight planner).The three points that I'm at now are trying to gather resources for a programming language (which it looks like VB.net will be it; I've downloaded the new demo from MS), resources for "exploding" the *.bgl files so that I can read it as an XML and extract lat/lon code, and a resource for letting the program draw a simple map of the US, but that is lat/lon aware, so that I can put it all together and map the *.bgl.Thanks again,

My advice:Learn C#.

I suggest you download Winfried Orthmann's newbglanalyse_143281.zip from the library. As well as a program to decompile a .bgl to .xml, it also contains a description of the structure and contents of .bgl files.One possible solution to your requirements would be to decompile to .xml then develop an application to extract the data, reading the .xml files as text. Some may think this inelegant but its practicable and almost any programming language should be suitable.