FlapLabel

Airport style display components for Delphi Firemonkey. Simulates vintage mechanical flight information boards ( the ones with rolls of plates that change in sequence, making a satisfying flap-flap noise ).

Solari-Udine Airport display panel.

FlapLabel was originaly developed in 2002 for actual flight information screens for São Paulo Airport (Congonhas).

We used an array of 42" plasma displays, expensive at the time, in substitution to even more expensive mechanical boards from Solari. The sw is still in use in that airport. The original components were for VCL.

This is a port to Delphi Firemonkey and is tested on Windows, iOS and Android w/ D10.4.1

Installation

Compile and install FlapLabelPkg.dpk (design time package)
Components TFlapCharSet, TFlapChar and TFlapLabel will be installed

Component Usage

To use FlapLabels you need at least two components on your form: TFlapCharset and TFlapLabel.

TFlapCharset contains the art to be used in FlapLabel plates.

Depending on the application, you may use more than one charset: one with letters and one with just numbers. Remember that all characters cycle until the desired is reached, so using long charsets is not recommended. In mechanical displays, the charset is a roll of plates connected by loops and an axis.

The charset BMP can be in any grid disposition ( columns and lines ). Plates must have equal sizes.

Each TFlapLabel uses one charset (roll). But a charset can be used by multiple FlapLabels.

The default behaviour for FlapLabel characters is to transition in sequence until the target character is reached. Each transition has 4 states.

You can set TFlapLabel to "Go Direct" (cheat), changing to target state in a single transition (see sample app).

Add a TFlapCharSet to your form ( ex: FlapCharSet1 ) - Charset contains an image with the character set to be used by FlapLabels.
Plates BMPs are cut from the master charset image, so you can add symbols or icons to your charset (see below)
Set FlapCharSet properties
- AirportCharset = 'ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ1234567890.! :' - These are the chars in the bitmap, for look up
- CharsetBMP = Load a PNG image with charset art (in this case a 240x250 image, shown below)

Set charset BMP grid size.

RowCount = 5
ColCount = 8

Set frame size in pixels.

FrameWidth = 30
FrameHeight = 50

Number of frames

FrameCount = 40
Add a TFlapLabel component to the Form (ex: FlapLabel1)
Set FlapLabel1.CharSet property to FlapCharSet1
Set FlapLabel1.CountFlaps number of digits in the label. This is the maximun lenght of the display text.
Set FlapLabel1.Caption to 'TEST' (case sensitive)

The flaplabel should animate with transitions from current state and until target 'TEST' is reached. Note that the component does not produce any sound, as the name might imply.

Sample charsets

- tri-state up/down indication.

- number only fields.

- Some airline logos.

To change FlapLabel text at run time, just change FlapLabel1.Caption Note that you can only use characters that are in your charset. Text is truncated if size is larger then CountFlaps ( the fixed numbers of characters in the label)

Example

Compile and run TestFlapLabel.dpr ( see screen shot )

Using TFlapLabels with styles

After installing FlapLabel package, you can use the components in styles. For example, say you want to code a TListBox with customized TListBoxItem. Each Item will have controls showing object details.

( See video with stock market app sample below )

The item can be designed with the Delphi IDE Style Editor. Use TLayout as basis for the ListboxItem. Set style name. You can include any controls. ex: TLabels, TImages, TFlapLabels. Set control properties. Make sure you set StyleName property for each control you want to use at run time. Save the style.

To create the TListboxItem at run time to populate the listbox:

Item := TListBoxItem.Create(nil);           // create styled TListBoxItem
Item.Parent := StockListbox;                // parent to our TListBox
Item.StyleLookup := 'MyStockItemStyle';     // set style name. Same as created in the style designer
Item.StylesData['btnEditItem.OnClick']     := TValue.From<TNotifyEvent>(DobtnEditClick);          // hook button click
Item.StylesData['btnLineEdDelete.OnClick'] := TValue.From<TNotifyEvent>(DobtnLineEdDeleteClick);  // hook delete btn click
  
Item.StylesData['labCod.Text']        := myStockItem.Cod;      // use StylesData to set control properties
Item.StylesData['labName.Text']       := myStockItem.Name; 
Item.StylesData['flapPrice.Caption']  := myStockItem.PriceStr; // set flap label text. This will start the flaplabel animation

videos

demo screen: https://www.tiktok.com/@omar_reis/video/6829300494842793222
worst day on the Stock Market (app NassauSt): https://www.tiktok.com/@omar_reis/video/6802287150411877638
AirlinerAttitude w/ FiremonkeySensorFusion and TFlapLabel: https://www.tiktok.com/@omar_reis/video/6846360497550380294

São Paulo GRU airport display

The photo below ( from 2005 ) shows an array of 9 plasma displays (42") with flight information.

Have fun..

omarreis/FlapLabel