I'm a new developer or perhaps I should say I want to become an FSX developer. I have a developers background in Window Apps using C, C++ and C# and with open source web development languages such as PHP and Javascript.

 

I have installed the FSX SDK onto my Win7 machine.

 

I am currently active on this site in the PMDG 737NGX forum where I spend my time making video tutorials on the 737NGX.

 

As a new developer to SFX I have some questions which I hope I can find some answers to here. Thank you.

 

1. What IDE is recommended to do the development work with? Is the open source Eclipse IDE an option to use?

 

2. Is there a preferred language to develop in?

 

3. I want to develop an add-on to display some textual data in a transparent window as the users are using FSX on a flight. I want to be able to configure the window transparency and I'd like to be able to click in the window and be able to expand some text and collapse it much like an hierarchical/nested view of text. An outliner usually has this ability to expand and contract text elements.

 

Thank you for any help and guidance. 

Any IDE will do but the most common used is MS Visual C++ so most examples will use that as an example. I use 2010 version but compile with the 2008 toolset (as that is closer in time to the original FSX so usually means most users will have the runtime libraries installed).

 

For example, here is a link to a tutorial on how to configure the SDK with C++ Express:

http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/showthread.php?158992-Configuring-Platform-SDK-with-C-Express

 

You can use C but don't. 99% of examples are in C++.

 

You can use XML but there are limits to what XML can do which only can be achieved via C++ (for example, I think with C++ you should be able to control the transparency of your gauge as you wish but not with XML).

 

You will need to get Dai Griffiths guide simply because it fixes a number of bugs in the headers that MS supplied (and also contains a tutorial on C++ programming for FSX). Search the avsim file library for Dai Griffiths for something like: sd2gau32.zip (I think 32 is the latest version).

Exactly the kind of info I was looking for...many thanks...and the add on ends up being an exe vs a dll? I assume FSX has a hook to get your add on onto the Add On menu so the user can select its various menus for example? And last question: how does your add on communicate with FSX? Windows messages?

It all depends on the addon and what it's going to do.

 

A gauge has to be in a gauge file, which is a DLL. An exe can be used for an external process that is used by an addon interface... but a DLL is needed to make an addon module that can show up in the menu.

 

The SDK is really what you need to go through... inside and out.

You have a couple of options on how to get your addon working. You can create a .gau (which is really a .dll but renamed) but this needs to be added to each aircraft via the panel.cfg.

 

The other option (which is what you are talking about ) is either as an exe or dll. This needs to be added to the exe.xml or dll.xml files to be recognised by FSX.

 

FSUIPC is an example of a dll , EZdok camera is an example of an exe. Most of these seem to use a windows that is external to FSX so I'm not sure if you can use a dll or exe to draw directly in FSX (that is beyond my level of experience) although Instant Scenery does this so I guess it must be possible somehow.

 

You need to have a look at the fsxdk.chm in the SDK folder. Under Index look for Simconnect. This section will show you how to add a simconnect addon. There are a number of examples which you can try (although a couple of them have bugs in them so they don't work out of the box but there are fixes on the internet for them). A couple of them show how to create a dialog box and menu items which you may find of use. Simconnect is used to communicate with FSX.

 

You may find that creating a simconnect addon is actually a fair bit easier than creating a C++ gauge which requires a fair bit of coding just to get it working with FSX.

 

Get one of those simconnect samples up and running and you will be well on your way to starting to building your own addon.

Thank you again...I'm thinking what i'm trying to do with a text window and text inside it may be easier than trying to create a gauge but, lol, it's all up hill for me regardless.

 

Ahhh SimConnect is how my add-on talks to FSX...good to know that piece of the puzzle.

 

I want to display a text window on the FSX screen with informational help text that the user can read. It will work with a hot key to pop up and then pop down (remove from view). How I interact with the text is something I will have to figure out using the tools I choose to develop with (I don't think selecting parts of the text or changing the text will have anything to do with FSX). My help text will be in an ascii text file and be read into memory when my add-on is loaded up. The user will be able to edit this help text with any text editor to sort of customize it for their own use (outside of the add-on).

 

Looks like I will be developing C++ code in VS Express.

 

Actually, sd2gauXX is pure C-code, the same as all FS SDKs have been. I avoided C++ because I figured out a few ways to crash FS with it and decided that was not a Good Idea. And yes, 32 is the current version. There will be at least one more update if only to remove that stupid note-to-self that I left right in the middle of it B)

 

-Dai

According to the FSX SDK:
 

Gauges.h has been updated for the release of the Flight Simulator X SDK. To use the samples and updated header file, C++, rather than C, must be used as the development language.

 

NM.

 

-Dai

I'm installing VS Express C++.

 

I installed the FS SDK into its own folder. Inside that I see an html file: sdk overview. Where is the main doc for the SDK? Or is this it?

 

To create a window with text in it, that lays over the FSX area, which of the following kits would I use to do that:

 

Core Utilities Kit

Environment Kit

Mission Creation Kit

SimObject Creation Kit

 

Thank you...

All the SDK documentation is in the fsxsdk.chm file. When you open that ignore the CONTENTS tab in the left hand side and instead click on INDEX tab. You can then have a look at SIMCONNECT and C GAUGES. There are other sections which you will need (eg SIMULATION VARIABLES) but this are usually hyperlinked.

 

The INDEX tab is much more useful than the CONTENTS tab. The SEARCH tab is also really handy.

 

The SimConnect SDK (which contains the examples) is found in the Core Utilities Kit while the C gauges stuff is found in the SimObject Creation Kit/Panels and Gauges SDK.

I guess that is what I am not seeing, the fsxsdk.chm file. I have my SDK installed into its own folder and I did a search on fsxsdk.chm and its not on my drive c:. I installed the FSX SDK from my FSX DVD.

 

I must need to do something further in regards to install the SDK.

Have you installed the SDK correctly?

 

This is a bit tricky because if you install the SDK that comes on the disks with FSX you need to install the SP1 SDK and then the SP2 SDK. Unfortunately you can't just install the SP2 SDK, you have to install the RTM versions first followed by both the SP1 and SP2 SDK's.

 

Here is a link to how to do it:

http://www.fsdeveloper.com/wiki/index.php?title=SDK_Installation_%28FSX%29

 

The links for the SDK's may no longer be valid though as MS has discontinued support of FSX. You should be able to search the AVSIM file library and find SP1 SDK and SP2 SDK.

According to the FSX SDK:

Gauges.h has been updated for the release of the Flight Simulator X SDK. To use the samples and updated header file, C++, rather than C, must be used as the development language.

 

That only means the samples won't work, since they're written in c++, not c. Language is unimportant.

 >Have you installed the SDK correctly?

 

I don't know. Apparently not since I can't find the .chm file. In saw the SDK folder on my Disc #1 so I ran its setup.exe app and installed it into C:\FSX_DSK

 

Then I ran the SP1a .exe and it removed the existing SDK (I assume the one I installed) and then installed SP1a.

 

I checked the link you referenced (http://www.fsdevelop...tallation_(FSX)) but I'm not sure what the RTM (Deluxe) means?

 

I have FSX Gold Edition and I installed the Acceleration disc.

As far as I know, I have the SDK installed with SP1a.

In my SDK folder I can see the 4 kit folders.

But I still cannot find the help file.