*** ExtPlane ***
X-Plane plugin that allows commanding X-Plane from external programs using TCP protocol.
Known users:
ExtPlane-Panel - a panel application @ https://github.com/vranki/ExtPlane-Panel
GNU GPL, (c) Ville Ranki (ville.ranki@iki.fi)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
* Common build requirements *
Copy X-Plane SDK to home directory, so that the headers can be found
at ~/SDK/CHeaders/XPLM (or edit the .pro file).
You'll need Qt development libraries installed.
* To build on Linux *
$ qmake
$ make
copy libextplane-plugin.so.1.0.0 to X-Plane/Resources/plugins/extplane.xpl
* To build on Mac *
$ qmake
$ make
copy libextplane-plugin.1.0.0.dylib to X-Plane/Resources/plugins/extplane.xpl
Warning! If you see any error or warning like :
ld: in /opt/local/lib/libxslt.1.dylib, file was built for unsupported file format which is not the architecture being linked (i386)
You need to rebuild libxslt with the +universal variant on MacPort otherwise the plugin cannot be loaded by X-Plane !
You should get the same for qt4-mac also.
* To test *
Launch X-Plane in console and observe the output. You should see something like:
TcpServer::TcpServer(QObject*, DataRefProvider*) Listening on port 51000
Open another console and run 'telnet localhost 51000'
When connected, try typing the following commands:
sub sim/cockpit/electrical/night_vision_on
set sim/cockpit/electrical/night_vision_on 1
set sim/cockpit/electrical/night_vision_on 0
sub sim/flightmodel/position/local_y 100
set sim/flightmodel/position/local_y 3000
key 0
key 0
disconnect
* Command reference *
Datarefs:
sub <dataref> [accuracy] - Subscribe to dataref, with optional accuracy.
unsub <dataref> - Unsubscribe dataref.
set <dataref> <value> - Set dataref to value. Dataref must be subscribed first.
With accuracy you can decide how much the dataref's value can
change before a update is sent. Set it to as large value as possible
to maximize frame rate and minimize network traffic.
List of datarefs can be found at:
http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xpsdk/docs/DataRefs.txt
Keys and buttons:
key <key id> - Create a command key press.
but <button id> - Press down an button.
rel <button id> - Release button pressed using "but" command.
List of key and button id's can be found at:
http://www.xsquawkbox.net/xpsdk/mediawiki/XPLMUtilities
Note that the key and button id's are numbers, not names. X-Plane does not
provide a way to lookup keys or buttons by name.
Other:
disconnect - Disconnect.
* Plugin output *
EXTPLANE <version> - Sent when connected. Version number is currently 1.
u<type> <dataref> <value> - Update of dataref
ExtPlane plugin outputs some log to stdout, so if you have problems with the
plugin, start X-Plane in console and read the output.
* Features *
- Multiple concurrent connections
- Set and get datarefs
- Dataref types: int, float and double
- Simulate key and button presses
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Comments and bug reports to ville.ranki@iki.fi
Official git repo at https://github.com/vranki/ExtPlane