BlackBox Gauge Debugging Utility:As a gauge builder novice, much of my learning is trial and error based. To help me out, my son wrote an XML gauge development utility that I find to be exceptionally useful whilst debugging my XML gauges. This tool,

Hi,Thank your son!A very nice utility.Jan"Beatus ille qui procul negotiis..."

Hi Bob,Just given the utility a try and it's extremely useful - I wish I'd discovered it ages ago. Please pass my thanks onto your son too.Cheers,DD

Have you any screenshots?I was wondering that if you have a complex gauge there may be a problem showing all the variables?cheers,nick

Jan and DD:Sincere thanks for your feedback. It is very encouraging for Robbie. - BobNick:That

Here's a shot of the utility in action, helping me debug my first attempt at a panel:http://www.mikesteven.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk...er_blackbox.jpgThe text in the top left corner is generated by BlackBox. I've scaled down the image for the forum so it may be a bit hard to read, but it's perfectly legible when you're actually using it.Cheers,DDEDIT: After reading Bob's last post, I've put the BlackBox gauge on its own panel so now I can use the little 3" TFT (which I normally use for a GPS or FMS CDU) as a gauge debugging screen. This allows me to have a full view of the panel I'm testing on my main screen, whilst at the same time I can also see the values of all the variables I'm interested in on the little one, all updating live as I fly- very very handy :).

It occurs to me that one thing which would make the program even more useful would be the ability to display the result of an entire . This would be very handy when you have a script with lots of nested logical operators, so that as well as being able to see the value of each variable making up the script you could also see the end result. I've no idea how technically feasible this is, but if Robbie can pull it off he gets my vote for gauge testing utility designer man of the millennium :).Cheers,DD

DD:Is this what you have in mind? ... if the end result of the code you are writing can be stored into an L: variable, like,Entire expression (>L:EndResult,number)then BlackBox will display the result as L:EndResultBob

Hi Bob,I realise I can edit the code of a gauge to assign the value of an expression to a local var as you suggest, but part of the beauty of BlackBox for me is that it extracts all the vars from the gauge automatically without my having to make any changes at all to the gauge I'm testing. If the program could also spot tags and automatically add the corresponding expression id to the tickable list of vars it allows you to select from (and then display the value of the expression if it's ticked), this would eliminate any need for editing the gauge itself. For example, if a gauge contains the following text:..then BlackBox could allow you to select from:(A:COM STATUS:1,enum)(A:SELECTED DME, number)(A:NAV DME:1, Nautical miles)(A:NAV DME:2, Nautical miles)Expression4If you ticked "Expression4" then it would display the value of the whole expression. Possibly I'm just being lazy, though :).Cheers,DD(Edited to add example code).

Hi,BlackBox is definitely a great utility, and works perfect even with complex gauges (I've tested a bunch of mines). But I'm afraid what you would like to know -the result of an expression- is not possible to obtain unless the blackbog gauge actually duplicates its source, which IMHO would be impractical.Instead, what would be very simple to add is the possibility to capture variables from different gauges and merge them into only one inspector gauge.Tom

Ahh...Shows how little I know... I've never used before. I'll ask the expert, Robbie, to see about it. Do you have an example of code we can use as a 'go-by'?Regards,Bob

I agree with Tom - BlackBox would have to duplicate the code within in order to display the result.And, capturing variables from different gauges and merge them into one inspector gauge is a good idea and very do-able... I'll make the change and post the upgrade when it is done.Robbie

Nick:The best solution I can figure out for long variable lists is to display BlackBox in a separate (undocked) panel.cfg Window ... Regards,Bob

Hi DD,Thank you for your suggestion. There are some new things for me to learn about ..:) Cheers, Bob

My apologies, but I am a newbie here.I read of this very interesting utility, but... where is it?I mean, how can I download it?Thank you.