Getting tired of double clicking frequencies in vPilot, i created a widget that actively informs me about:
- Controller Info whenever I switch to a frequency that matches an online controller
- ATIS whenever the ATIS is updated
- Online ATC frequencies whenever the list of online controllers changes
- Simbrief data (if Simbrief ID entered in settings) containing important data for your flight and offering direct prefiling to Vatsim
The Information is also displayed initially once the widget recognizes you being online on Vatsim. Simbrief data pops up very soon after spawning if there is a flight plan created less than 4 hours ago.
The intention of this widget is that you set it up once and then don't have to actively interact with it except for reading the popups and discarding them (close popups by clicking text in the respective popup once acknowledged or by setting up an auto-close interval in the settings).
ATIS, Controller Info and Online ATC Frequencies are only shown once you connect to VATSIM and have a Flight Plan attached (only possible if you enter the Pilot ID in the widget settings), it may take a minute after logging on plus the interval you set in the settings for fetching the data.
Initially the ATIS+Frequencies for the departure airport are shown. Once you go above 5000ft AGL, it switches to arrival airport. The widget always shows which airport is monitored. The case that a Departure and Arrival ATIS are available separately is also taken care of (e.g. EDDF_D_ATIS and EDDF_A_ATIS, the correct one will be chosen).
If Origin/Destination changes, it switches back to departure airport if you're below 5000ft (turnaround).
ATIS:
ATIS has some information highlighted (Info/Information, Wind, Runway,...) if it matches a certain standard wording.
Controller Info:
Controller info is highlighted if it contains CPDLC/DLC/PDC in the text.
If the controller info contains URLs, they are underlined and can be clicked to open a windows browser to that URL.
Switching to 122.800 shows "UNICOM" to confirm the right frequency is dialed.
Switching to a frequency with no controller online shows an information about this so that pilot is aware of wrong frequency switches.
Frequencies:
Frequencies are shown in a top-down order with color coded letters.
Hovering a frequency shows a tooltip with the controller info of that frequency (if available). If the controller info contains URLs, they are underlined and can be clicked to open a windows browser to that URL.
Clicking on the colored icon of a frequency sets this frequency into COM1 standby.
If enabled in the settings, the Frequencies window will also always show the CTAF Frequency for VatUS CTAF trial but only real world CTAF published by FAA.
Simbrief data:
If you enter a Simbrief ID (not the username, it has to be the numeric ID), you will get a popup when spawning showing your current simbrief flightplan if it has been created less than 4 hours ago.
The popup will show the most important data as an overview, each of the data fields has a tooltips with details or explaination if you hover it with the cursor.
If you have entered a Vatsim Pilot ID, this popup will show a "Prefile on Vatsim" button which will open a browser window prefilling all the data from simbrief in case you forgot to file. The button will be hidden once clicked or once you're online on vatsim and origin+destination match your routing.
Note that the Simbrief popup can be used without Vatsim Pilot ID and will simply act as a single popup showing the data without prefiling options and with no Vatsim popups.
If the widget in the wheel is clicked the monitoring/polling can be turned on/off, no matter if off or on you can get the current data by:
- scrolling mouse wheel "up" while hovering the widget in the wheel will update vatsim data only (simbrief popup will not show if closed)
- scrolling mouse wheel "down" while hovering the widget in the wheel will update vatsim+simbrief data and show all popups (if enabled)
The popup windows can be moved (together) across the screen using the title bar.
Each popup individually can be dismissed by clicking on its text content (there is also an optional individual auto-close interval that can be set in the widget settings).
NOTES / known issues:
If the last controller goes offline (no active frequencies) or the ATIS gets disabled (both resulting in an empty text), no popup is shown!
Polling is usually done every 2 minutes but can be changed - CAUTION: Every time it needs to download a ~1.5MB file from Vatsim, so be aware of that.
The Frequencies are found using the Airport ICAO code (IATA code for Kxxx airports), it only lists the frequencies that start with the airport code. Therefore Radar/Center are not displayed.
If multiple controllers are online with the same frequency (worldwide), all Controllers are listed in the Controller Info. Unfortunately it's complex to correlate current aircraft position to find the correct controller among those.
Controller Info is not updated automatically, it only shows when switching frequency or triggering a manual update (scroll mouse on the widget in the Flow Wheel or click to turn it off and back on again). Usually the info does not change and the auto-update led to the popup being shown when other controllers with the same frequency went online which is irrelevant.
Installation
Just put the content of the ZIP into your Community folder. After sim restart you'll have a Category "VATSIM" containing the widget.
Drag the widget on your wheel, on the right put in your VATSIM Pilot ID and check if the other settings suit your needs.
2 months ago
2 months ago
copper
NEILCM
Unfortunately the newest version is somehow not visible in Flow Pro.
I tried everything, it's just not in the settings where I can choose which addon I want to use. All your last versions where there and had no issues.
Anyway, i use the older one until a newer version will be out or I see what caused the problem.
Keep rolling...
Cheers
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