FG EFB

(a.k.a. GearPad)

Introduction

The FG EFB simulates, within the constraints of what is possible in FlightGear, a consumer-grade tablet running Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) software to replace paper documents in the cockpit.

This repository is intended for aircraft developers who wish to incorporate a GearPad in their aircraft; it is not designed as an add-on.

For a usage guide, see the included guide.

Installation

Downloading

Clone the repository:
```
git clone --recursive git@github.com:tdammers/fg-efb
```
If you have already cloned the repository, but without --recursive, you can also do this instead:
```
cd fg-efb
git submodule update --init
```
Run the build script:
```
cd fg-efb
./build.sh
```

Alternatively, you can manually download the fg-canvas-html repo from https://github.com/tdammers/fg-canvas-html/, and copy the Nasal/html directory into the EFB project.

Installing into your aircraft

Merge the included Nasal, Systems, and Models trees into your aircraft. You can use the provided install.sh script to do this, at least on a Unix-like platform.

Edit your aircraft XML to include the following:

In /instrumentation:

    <efb>
        <available type="bool">true</available>
        <power type="bool">true</power>
        <brightness type="double">1.0</brightness>
        <orientation-norm type="double">0</orientation-norm>
        <selected-orientation-norm type="double">0</selected-orientation-norm>
        <flightbag-companion-uri type="string">http://localhost:7675/</flightbag-companion-uri>
        <allow-keyboard-grabbing type="bool">false</allow-keyboard-grabbing>
        <keyboard-grabbed type="int">0</keyboard-grabbed>
    </efb>

In /nasal:

    <efb>
        <file>Aircraft/{your aircraft directory}/Nasal/efb.nas</file>
    </efb>
    <keyboardHooks>
        <file>Aircraft/{your aircraft directory}/Nasal/efb/keyboardHooks.nas</file>
    </keyboardHooks>

In /sim/systems:

  <property-rule n="103">
      <path>Aircraft/{your aircraft directory}/Systems/EFB.xml</path>
  </property-rule>

In /sim/aircraft-data:

  <path>/instrumentation/efb/available</path>
  <path>/instrumentation/efb/brightness</path>
  <path>/instrumentation/efb/flightbag-companion-uri</path>
  <path>/instrumentation/efb/allow-keyboard-grabbing</path>

Edit your model XML to place the Models/EFB/EFB.xml model in a suitable location. Something like this should work:

  <model>
      <path>Aircraft/{your aircraft directory}/Models/EFB/EFB.xml</path>
      <name>EFB1</name>
      <offsets>
          <x-m>-12.3</x-m>
          <y-m>-0.9</y-m>
          <z-m>1.1</z-m>
          <pitch-deg>-30</pitch-deg>
          <heading-deg>30</heading-deg>
      </offsets>
  </model>

Adjust the position, pitch, and heading, as needed. You can place multiple EFB's, but they will all display the same screen and interact with the same simulated tablet device.

Facilitate configuration of the EFB by binding the following properties to GUI widgets in your aircraft configuration dialog:
- /instrumentation/efb/available (this determines whether the EFB is visible and usable in the cockpit)
- /instrumentation/efb/flightbag-companion-uri (this points to the URI where the companion app can be reached; localhost:7675 is the default for fg-efb-server.
- /instrumentation/efb/allow-keyboard-grabbing (boolean; if set, allows the EFB to grab physical keyboard inputs whenever an on-screen keyboard is displayed on the EFB).

tdammers/fg-efb

FG EFB

Introduction

Installation

Downloading

Installing into your aircraft