IPad Manual
Introduction
Installation
Information on how to install both Air Manager and the X-plane or FSX/P3D plugin, please go here.
Release notes
If you are looking for the release notes for both Air Manager and it's plugins, go here.
X-plane and FSX Plugin
The X-plane and FSX plugin are the bridge between the simulator and Air Manager. The plugin acts as a TCP/IP host, this can be either local or remote. Multiple instances of Air Manager running remote may connect to the same plugin. The FSX plugin works with both FSX and Prepar3D.
Air Manager
Tab: Instruments
In this tab you can start instruments and create instrument panels.
The left side displays a list off all the instruments in the current group. This is called the instrument list. The right side shows detailed information about the instrument you have selected in the instrument list.
Adding new instrument(s)
Click the Add button, and a window will come up. In the pop-up window you can select the instruments you would like to add. You can select multiple instruments by holding the control-key on your keyboard.
Instrument settings
This section describes all instrument settings. These settings can be changed by selecting an instrument in the instrument list.
- 'Name' : The name of the instrument, you can change this name to whatever you like. Default are the aircraft and instrument type name.
- 'Type' : The default aircraft and instrument type name.
- 'Window left' : The X-coordinate of the instrument, in other words: how many pixels from the left does the instrument start.
- 'Window top' : The Y-coordinate of the instrument, in other words: how many pixels from the top does the instrument start.
- 'Window width' : The width of the instrument in pixels.
- 'Window height' : The height of the instrument in pixels.
- 'Preserve aspect ratio' : Preserves the aspect ratio when you change either the width or the height.
- 'Window lock' : Locks the position of the instrument, now it can't be moved by clicking and dragging.
- 'Always on top' : When selecting this the instrument will always be on top.
Notes:
By dragging the instrument to the right place on your desktop, the X and Y coordinates are updated.
Window lock, Always on top and closing the instrument can also be done by right clicking on the instrument.
Show / hide instrument(s)
Click the eye-icon on the left of the instrument name to show the instrument. Clicking the eye-icon in the Instrument ribbon menu will show or hide all of the selected instruments. Showing and hiding multiple instruments at once can be done by selecting multiple instruments in the instrument list. Hold the control-key to select multiple instruments.
It is also possible to show or hide all the instruments in the list at once. This can be done by clicking the 'Show' (eye-icon) in the Group ribbon menu.
Removing instrument(s)
Select the instrument you want to delete from the instrument list and click the 'Remove' button in the Instrument ribbon menu, or by pressing the delete-key on your keyboard. Select multiple instruments to delete multiple instruments at once.
Selecting a group
The group icon (colored cubes) on the left side of the Group ribbon menu lets you select the different groups you've created.
Add a group
Click the 'Add' button and a new window will come up. The pop-up window has two options:
- 'Blank Group' : This will create a blank group with the name that you have specified.
- 'Premade Group' : Lets you select one of the premade groups. All the necessary instruments will be downloaded automatically.
Remove a group
Click the 'Remove' button and select yes to remove the current group. Only the group will be removed, the instruments will not be removed from your computer.
Show / hide a group
Click the 'Show' button (open eye-icon) to show all the instruments in the group at once. Click the 'Hide' button (eye-icon with the red cross) to hide all the instruments in the group at once.
Configure
Click the 'Configure' button to change the group settings.
- 'Name' : This is the group name that is also shown in the group drop-down list.
- 'Aircraft' : The name of the aircraft, this is optional.
- 'Preferred window width' : This is the width of the group, this is optional and not a setting that will influence the group, it is only for information.
- 'Preferred window height' : This is the height of the group, this is optional and not a setting that will influence the group, it is only for information.
- 'Compatible with ...' : This shows the simulators that are compatible with this group, this is optional and not a setting that will influence the group, it is only for information.
- 'Description' : Description, this is optional.
Aircraft switch
Automatic instrument panel switching automatically starts the group of instruments that is linked to an aircraft. Click the 'Aircraft Switch' button to show the aircraft switch settings. Here you can turn on or off aircraft switching and link an aircraft with a group. Select an aircraft and select a group from the drop-down list to link them. Air Manager remembers all the aircraft you've flown, you can delete an aircraft from the list by selecting the aircraft and hitting the delete key on your keyboard.
Lock
This locks the instruments, so you can not drag them around anymore. This prevents you from mistakenly dragging around instruments, especially with touch input.
Tab: Online
You can download instruments online for free, from the build in 'store'.
After Air Manager has booted it will contact an online server, which contains all available instruments. The number of available instruments is displayed between brackets in the tab.
Instrument information
Click the instrument preview image to show a pop-up windows which contains more information about the instrument. The simulator icons on the top of an instrument tile show you which simulators the instrument is compatible with.
Download an instrument
Click 'Get' to download an instrument. The button will display 'Downloading', and 'Remove' as soon as it has finished downloading. The instrument is now available for use.
Removing an instrument
Click the 'Remove' button of the instrument you wish to remove. This can only be done with instrument you already have and are on the latest version (don't require an update).
Updating an instrument
If there is an instrument update available, the button will show 'Update'. Hit the button to update this instrument. To update them all at once, click the 'Update All' button in the Online ribbon menu.
Tab: Create/Edit
In this tab you can create new or edit existing instruments. On the left you see a list containing all the instruments that you have. When you select an instrument and click 'Run', you will see a list of all the datarefs (X-Plane) and variables (FSX/P3D) that the instrument contains. Here you can send data to the instrument to simulate data coming from the simulator. Fill in the necessary data and press send. The third screen, bottom right, is a debug console. When using print(variable) in your script, the printed data will be visible in the debug console. Go to the logic API page To read more about the print function.
Create an new instrument
Click the 'New' button to start creating an new instrument. The pop-up window gives you the option to create blank instrument, this means no images and code whatsoever, you'll start from scratch. By choosing to clone an existing instrument, you will get a exact copy of the instrument you chose to clone.
Delete an instrument
Not satisfied with your creation or whatever: select the instrument you want to delete and hit the 'Delete' button or press the delete-key on your keyboard. Note that this not only removes the instrument from the list, but it deletes the whole instrument from your computer.
Run
Select the instrument you want to test and click 'Run'. When the instrument is running, click Run again to reload. You can now send data to your instrument trough the datarefs and variables.
Stop
Click the 'Stop' button to stop the currently running instrument.
Open Instrument directory
The 'Directory' button will open the directory containing the selected instrument. In this folder you'll also find the resources folder, which contains all the resources (images, sounds, fonts).
Edit the logic script
The 'Logic Script' button opens the instrument logic script in the script/text editor that you've selected as default Lua script editor. If pressing this button gives an error, you've most likely not selected a default program to edit Lua script.
Edit instrument information
Instrument details may be edited from this window. This information is automatically written to the info.xml file in the instrument directory.
- 'Aircraft' : The name of the aircraft this instrument is part of
- 'Type' : The type of instrument (e.g. speedometer, altimeter)
- 'Author' : The name of the author
- 'Version' : Version (1 = V0.01, 100 = V1.00, 200 = V2.00)
- 'Preferred window width' : Default width of the instrument in pixels
- 'Preferred window height' : Default height of the instrument in pixels
- 'Compatible with...' : This tells if the instrument is compatible with a specific simulator
- 'Description' : Extra information
Creation tutorial
Press the 'Create' button and your browser will take you to the instrument creation tutorial page on our wiki.
Logic API
Press the 'Logic API' button and your browser will take you to the page containing all the Air Manager 2.x logic API.
X-Plane Datarefs
Press the 'Datarefs' button and your browser will take you to a page containing all the X-Plane datarefs. This is a non-official dataref page, click this link to go to the official squawkbox dataref page.
X-Plane Commands
Press the 'Commands' button and your browser will take you to a page containing all of the available X-Plane commands. This list is hosted on our wiki, you can also find the commands list in your X-Plane folder: X-Plane 10\Resources\plugins\commands.txt
FSX/P3D Variables
Press the 'Variables' button and your browser will take you to the Microsoft Developer Network page containing all the FSX variables. These variables also work with Prepar3D, to see the official Prepar3D variables list click here.
FSX/P3D Events
Press the 'Events' button and your browser will take you to the Microsoft Developer Network page containing all the FSX events. These events also work with Prepar3D, to see the official Prepar3D variable list click here.
Github
Sim Innovations uses GitHub as a social collaboration platform focused on the development of instruments. Our GitHub contains multiple instrument projects, which are called repositories. Please contact us via email or via Github if you want to contribute to a project or start your own project.
Tab: Settings
Change all Air Manager settings from this tab. On the top you see two buttons:
- 'Clear Cache' : Pressing the Clear Cache button deletes all the cache. Cache is used to store (OSM) map data and data from the instrument store. Normally you wouldn't have to press this button, unless you think the amount of cache becomes too high.
- 'Clear Persistence' : Persistence data is data that is stored by user input. Stored frequencies in a Com radio for example. Press the Clear Persistence button to reset all persistence data to it's default value.
General settings
- 'Flight simulator' : Select the flight simulator you are using, this can be X-Plane, FSX or Prepar3D. When you choose a different simulator, be sure to switch this setting, or your instruments will not respond.
- 'Input mode' : This lets you choose between different input modes. By default this is your mouse, but if you have a touchscreen, you can control buttons, switches and dials with your touchscreen. Choose 'Off' to disable any input.
- 'Show instruments on Air Manager boot' : This toggles the option to let the instruments in the last selected group start automatically when Air Manager boots. When this option is ticked, Air Manager will also automatically minimize to the task bar only showing the instruments. This can be useful when you have a fixed simulator and you want Air Manager to start the same every time.
- 'Snap instruments' : This toggles the option to let instruments snap to screen corners and to the edges of other instruments.
Flight simulator connection
- 'Flight simulator and Air Manager running on the same computer' : Use this option when Air Manager is running on the same computer as the flight simulator software.
- 'Flight simulator running on remote computer...' : Use this option when the flight simulator software is running on a different computer than Air Manager. You will only have to fill in the IP address of the computer that is running the simulator software, Air Manager will automatically setup a connection with the plugin. Air Manager does not have to be installed on the computer that is running the simulator software, only the plugin needs to be installed (X-Plane) or running (FSX/P3D) on the computer that is running the simulator software.
Caching
- 'Cache OpenStreetMap data' : This toggles the option to cache OpenStreetMap data. If you fly in the same area as the cached data, then Air Manager does not have to download OpenStreetMap data anymore. This can be useful when you have a slow or unstable internet connection. Here you can also see the amount of cached data.
Communication between the plugin and Air Manager
Communication between the plugin and Air Manager is done by using the standard UDP protocol (Ethernet).
The plugins will act as a server using UDP port 5555 for the X-Plane plugin and UDP port 5556 for the FSX/P3D plugin. Air Manager acts as a client, which will try to connect on "localhost", using the same ports. If you are not running the simulator software and Air Manager on the same computer, make sure both computers are connected to the same network and there is no firewall blocking the UDP ports. You can have as many copies of Air Manager connect to the same plugin.