On ‎18‎.‎11‎.‎2017 at 3:34 AM, camrad1983 said:

As many of you know that PDF Kneeboard no longer works in V4, I was looking through internet to eliminate that problem and have found the program called "Always-On-Top".

Here is the video on how to use it, easy as 1-2-3.

You can download it here:

https://img.labnol.org/di/always-on-top.zip?_ga=2.172835363.1086715399.1510970198-244909298.1510847850

 

Thank you very much for pointing that out! Seems to be very helpful indeed.

 

Nice! Thanks!!

Is there no way to display this app on top of the P3D main window? I don't like flying in windowed mode..

For anyone interested in a "fullscreen version", try this: https://autohotkey.com/

All you have to do is install this tool, right-click on your desktop and choose "New --> AutoHotKey Script", then add ^SPACE::  Winset, Alwaysontop, , A to the bottom of the script, save (don't forget the .ahk extension) and run the script (a green H-symbol will appear in your taskbar).

Finally run your PDF reader application followed by CTRL + SPACE (specified by default in the script) to make that window your always-on-top-app and start P3D and all your sim apps normally. You can switch the always-on-top function on or off with CTRL + SPACE to show/hide the PDF reader window while actively running P3D.

I just tested this with v4.1 and Adobe Reader and it works flawlessly, an acceptable option as long as there's no 64-bit kneeboard available.

Where do I get  the PFD kneeboard that works with p3d v4? 

On ‎1‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 2:03 PM, Manny Ortiz said:

Where do I get  the PFD kneeboard that works with p3d v4? 

PDF Kneeboard doesn't work with P3Dv4. The whole purpose of this thread is to present an alternative that provides similar functionality. As I understand it, you use a pdf reader (or other program of your choice) to open the chart you want to view in a window, and then use the Always-On-Top program to keep the chart on top of the simulator window. And, you can even open more than one window at a time in the same way.

Al

19 minutes ago, ark said:

PDF Kneeboard doesn't work with P3Dv4. The whole purpose of this thread is to present an alternative that provides similar functionality. As I understand it, you use a pdf reader (or other program of your choice) to open the chart you want to view in a window, and then use the Always-On-Top program to keep the chart on top of the simulator window. And, you can even open more than one window at a time in the same way.

Al

Oh, ok I got it, Thanks

I put a small program called Kneeboard Viewer 2 (KV2) here https://simviation.com/1/browse-Prepar3d-143-0 that may be of interest. With KV2 you can open one or two 'kneeboard windows’ that will stay on top of FSX/P3D/X-Plane while you fly, or may be toggled on and off (shown or hidden) by user selectable keys (or key combinations).  KV2 works in window or full screen mode.

Al

Nice, will give that a try. But for the other methods, could we use any app? I would like to use google chrome since i like to surf internet while doing long haul flights, would be useful to keep that window on top of P3D and hide it when needed with a simple toggle.

Ultimately what would be best is if we can assign the always on top feature to multiple apps or windows, would this be possible? For instance, I usually always have my browser window open and also my pdf viewer. Could we make it so that both those windows stick on top above P3D? Or does it only work for 1 window/application only?

What's the best PDF viewer for looking at Charts and flight documents? I am trying to find something thats clean, elegant and minimal looking that supports night mode where the colors are inverse as well, and the ability to have multiple pdfs open and we can tab through them via keyboard shortcuts and  via the GUI. Most of the ones I've tried are ugly, complicated and really distracting for flight use. I wish there was a dedicated PDF viewer made for flight simmers in mind. If you guys know of one, please post it here. Thanks.

Edited June 18, 20187 yr by captain420

3 hours ago, captain420 said:

Nice, will give that a try. But for the other methods, could we use any app? I would like to use google chrome since i like to surf internet while doing long haul flights, would be useful to keep that window on top of P3D and hide it when needed with a simple toggle.

 

You should be able to select and then toggle "show or hide" just about any app, such as a web browser, in either of the two KV2 "kneeboard windows".

Al

Edited June 18, 20187 yr by ark

Ark thanks a lot! I will give your app a shot! Are you still actively working on it and are you willing to take any sort of feedback on adding new features?

Can your app be used with more than 2 windows? I see that in the description that it allows only 2 windows. I would like to keep PFPX, Chrome, PDF Viewer and a few other windows. I hope this isn't a limitation.

Edited June 19, 20187 yr by captain420

4 hours ago, captain420 said:

Can your app be used with more than 2 windows?

No, sorry, only two windows, although for example, if the app in one window is a pdf viewer like SumatraPDF, you can have multiple files ( like approach plates, SIDs, STARs, etc), open in the pdf viewer.   KV2 is just an attempt to provide functionality similar to PDF Kneeboard for P3Dv4 users.

Al

Edited June 19, 20187 yr by ark

I am a professional software developer and I am currently developing a program that I am using during my P3DV4 simulation flights. This program can be runned on top or not on top and there is no need to run Prepar3D in Windowed mode. At the moment I am testing it.

With this program you can make coloured buttons per airport per chart category. All you have to do is specify for each button that you make, is the category, the pdf file that is used, the page number and the zoom factor. You can use a single pdf per airport or a pdf file per chart separately. This can be handy when you have a single pdf file for all charts for a certain airport, but it is also possible to specify the pdf chart file separately per button. Also I made a kneeboard function so you can save certain charts of a airport to the kneeboard. When a button is clicked, a pdf-file viewer is launched like Foxit Reader or Acrobat, that then automatically displays the correct page of the chart with the desired zoom factor.

The program can also display the metar information of the selected airport (whenever you like) and it is possible to display some general information about an airport that you setup yourself in the settings.

Further I made checklist functionality, so that per aircraft per checklist category the checklist items can be processed (by pressing a shortcut key). When all items for a certain checklist are processed, the program automatically advances to the next checklist.

Finally I made a website list, so that it is easy to open a certain website directly from the program.

The program easily "snaps" to the corners of your sreen and whenever you want you can make the program allways on top or not. I made also a function with which you can hide easily all shortcuts on your desktop or hide the Windows taskbar.

Below are some links of screenshots of the program I developed:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/t2xrroqo6sj9pz5/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_14-59-08.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/aemy0m4f9l20j4l/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_15-01-15.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/06f6vuxzyxlpk0f/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_16-29-07.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/tx37qou2xe9kbq9/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_15-03-58.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u6u87g3kw2aezq8/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_16-40-34.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/glwf88zur8u3yeb/Flight Simulation Assistant_2018-06-17_16-31-34.png?dl=0

 

 

Edited June 21, 20187 yr by richardz

Richardz, wow that's pretty impressive, I really like the clean UI. Would you be able to make this as a plugin for P3D? So you can go call it from the ADD-ONS menu? This way way it could be a part of the main sim itself, I like what you have so far and if you don't mind can I suggest a few things. I would pay to have a pdf/kneeboard app like this. I fly mostly commercial jets like 777/787/747/737/A320 etc, this would be extremely useful, Until this day no such app or add-on exists that comes close. An ultimate PDF kneeboard is highly needed and I would definitely pay for a quality one if somebody can make it happen. For the time being you can use a traditional PDF viewer and use these hacks to make the window stay on top but it's not exactly perfect from a flight simmer point of view. I would like someone to create a PDF kneeboard for a pilot's need, Which includes colored label for different Chart types, SID/STAR/TAXI/APPROACH/REF, ability to quickly search for charts by ICAO code, TABS to have multiple charts and pdfs open. Favorites for keeping all your mostly used Charts or PDFS. Ability to annotate our pdf or charts, like make notes or draw on them or highlight information. I will post screenshots of what I mean so you can get an idea.

1) UI Customization, such as let the user change the interface colors and such.

2) Night mode when viewing PDF documents. Like in XODO PDF Viewer, you can have many different colors when viewing your pdfs.

3) Could you implement something like Navigraph Charts app on iOS. The interface is similar to yours in away and its very clean looking.

 

Edited June 21, 20187 yr by captain420

Thank you for sharing this I was a looking for a way months ago