XML is a text based programming language. Therefore, the code can be written in a standard text editor. There are applications available specifically written for XML, but I have always used an enhanced shareware version of Notepad. If code is saved with a txt extension, rename with an xml extension. XML gauges usually consist of the xml file and bmp (bitmap) files, although gauges without bitmaps are quite common.

This tutorial provides a general introduction to gauge interaction sections and their functions. If you read this tutorial second, it will give some good foundation information Colours have been used to group relative information, or to allow the reader to easily find references in code or text.

There are essentially two ways to interact and communicate with a gauge. Mouse clicks and variable links. This tutorial will deal with mouse click communication. Variable links are a special type of variable that cross communicate between any numbers of gauges and will be dealt with in a further tutorial. Essentially, there will be areas on the gauge where the mouse cursor becomes active, and a click will perform a function The mouse section usually resides at the end of the gauge coding, although it can be positioned anywhere in the gauge code. However, the gauge is less ‘messy’ if it resides at the end.

As stated in Chapter 1, XML gauges follow a common theme of being broken down into sections, each with an opening and closing instruction. The mouse section follows the same rules. The mouse section starts with and must end with [/Mouse]. This tells FS2004 that there are areas on the gauge where the mouse cursor becomes active and will accept communication using the mouse. Let’s look at some typical code.

Download pdf XML Gauge Programming for FS2004. Chapter 2. Interaction Sections