What does GaugeDump Do?
Overview
How GaugeDump Works
What GaugeDump Doesn't Do
Installing GaugeDump
Uninstalling GaugeDump
Using GaugeDump
GaugeDump Output
Command Line Options
Contact Information
GaugeDump is a Win32 shareware program designed to aid gauge developers for Flight Simulator 98.
GaugeDump takes an existing gauge file for Flight Simulator 98 and creates a nearly complete "C" source file and extracts all the bitmaps contained within the gauge. With the output from GaugeDump, a panel developer can examine the drawing elements of the gauge, see the bitmaps, and have an excellent starting point for creating a new gauge based on the dumped information. GaugeDump finds and places the following items into the source file:
- Drawing elements ( static image, needle, string, slider, icon, sprite, and moving image )
- Failure records
- Non-linearity tables
- Sequence records
- Mouse rect records
- Function prototypes
GaugeDump was developed after Microsoft’s release of the Flight Simulator 98 Panel SDK. After studying the documentation, and looking at the examples, I found that I still seemed to need more in order to develop my own gauges. The sample gauges supplied with the SDK seemed too simple and left me wondering how they did some of those complex gauges we see in the Flight Simulator aircraft. That is when I got the idea for GaugeDump.
GaugeDump basically picks apart the data section of the gauge file and finds the various drawing element structures. It then translates these structures back into a "C" format text file in the same design as the sample gauges supplied with the SDK. The "C" file that is generated can probably be compiled as-is, however, it would not function as a working gauge, due to missing information that GaugeDump does not extract. GaugeDump also, exports all the bitmaps from the gauge file and names them based on the "C" file name so that the files can be edited or viewed in your favorite graphics program.
GaugeDump does not disassemble code. What this means is that drawing elements that contain module variable functions, mouse functions, and callback functions will not have the code for those functions retrieved. GaugeDump does create a skeleton function for each of these types of functions found, so that you can add your own code to it. GaugeDump also creates skeleton functions for the SDK exported functions that you can fill out as necessary to make the gauge work. Currently, module variables that are not a part of a drawing element are also not retrieved.
To install GaugeDump on your system, simply double-click the GAUGEDMP.EXE file. You will be prompted for an installation directory with a default of C:\GaugeDump. Once you have chosen a directory, press the "Unzip" button to extract the files. GaugeDump should not require any special support files. GaugeDump was developed under Windows 95, and should run under Windows NT 4.0 or better. At this time, GaugeDump has not been tested on Windows NT. Should you encounter problems running on Windows NT, please notify the author.
GaugeDump does not write to your system registry and does not create any .ini files. To uninstall GaugeDump, simply delete the files from the directory where they reside.
The GaugeDump user interface has been designed to be as easy and user-friendly as possible. The program only needs two things, a gauge file to examine, and a "C" file name to output the results to. Below is a snapshot of the main window:
To use GaugeDump, first enter the full path and filename of the gauge file you want to dump in the "Input Gauge Filename:" edit box. A browse button is located to the right of the field. Once a name has been put into the input edit control, a corresponding "C" filename will be placed in the "Output C Filename:" box. If this path and name are satisfactory, nothing more needs to be done. If you wish to use a different name or location for the output, either enter in the information manually, or use the browse button to the right of the field. When both filenames have been filled out, simply hit the "Dump" button to begin. A message box will appear to indicate that the gauge has been dumped successfully. If any errors occur, a message box will indicate such.
Depending on the gauge file, GaugeDump will output a minimum of two files. One file will be the "C" source file for the gauge. The other files will be bitmap files that were extracted from the gauge. The naming convention for the bitmap files uses the "C" file base filename plus ".BMPXXX", where XXX is the resource ID of the bitmap as it was in the gauge. By using this naming convention, several gauge files can be dumped to the same location without a conflict of filenames.
As an example, say you want to dump the contents of a gauge file called "MYPLANE_FUEL.GAU". If the gauge contains three bitmaps with ids of 4096, 8192, and 12888, the resulting output files will be as follows:
MYPLANE_FUEL.C
MYPLANE_FUEL.BMP4096.BMP
MYPLANE_FUEL.BMP8192.BMP
MYPLANE_FUEL.BMP12888.BMP
GaugeDump can also be run from the command line. The command line syntax is as follows:
GAUGEDUMP.EXE [ /AUTO ] gauge_filename [ output_filename ]
Where the various options are as follows:
- /AUTO – Runs GaugeDump in auto mode. If at least the gauge filename is provided, the program will startup and automatically dump the contents of the gauge. If no filenames are provided, this flag is ignored.
- gauge_filename – Filename of the gauge to dump. This should be a fully qualified path and filename.
- output_filename – Output "C" filename. If this parameter is not provided, the program will use the base name of the gauge file plus the ".C" extension.
GaugeDump has been tested with all the gauges that came with Flight Simulator 98 and some that have come from third party sources. Should you encounter some kind of problem, or if you wish to offer suggestions for future versions, you can contact the author by e-mail using the contact form