FSX XML Gauges and Ace.exe

[PRB]

I'm using Ace.exe to build an XML gauge for an FSX plane. The SDK tutorial on this suggests there is a preview mode, which you can switch to by pressing F6. They even have a screen shot of it in the manual, but I can't get it to work. I can put the gauge in the panel of a plane and see it, and it works, but preview mode does nothing. I even tried opening a gauge from another plane, and preview mode does nothing with that gauge either.

The manual does tend to leave important details out. For example, I tried for hours to even see the background bitmap, or anything at all for that matter, and it was not until I gave the gauge a size larger than 0,0 that I could see it (duh). But the manual writer forgot to mention that tiny detail. So, maybe they forgot something required to get preview mode to work?

Thanks!

P.S., FSX gauge makers: Do you all use Ace.exe or something else?

 

[Moparmike]

Sorry I missed this one...my answer won't be of much help anyway.
I still do my XML the old fashioned way, using a text editor and checking in the sim.
I've looked at the Ace.exe tool, but haven't really used it much yet.

 

[fxsttcb]

...

FSX gauge makers: Do you all use Ace.exe or something else?...

I use XML Notepad 2007 and avoid Ace.exe like the plague! (I struggled with it forever)
The ACE scripting is way too wordy and nowhere near as forgiving as simply using the SDK Variables and Events docs and even with some trial and error it's faster for me.

I learned a ton just opening up default gauges and looking at how things look when they work...Don

 

[PRB]

I guess I can revive my own old thread... One useful thing Ace does is check for errors. I use Notepad++ to do the XML work, then, before testing the gauge in the sim, I open it in Ace, which does a pretty good job at finding errors in your XML. DO NOT, however, save the file while it's opened in Ace, as Ace will reformat the whole file, removing comments and "vertical white space". I put extra lines between elements, for readability, and Ace strips them away when it saves your file. I did that only once...