ATC Network Editor 1.0

For Use with ATC NET 1.11

Copyright (C) 1993. Robert E. Clements. All rights reserved.
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This program is shareware and may be redistributed provided that you comply
with the license agreement in LICENSE.TXT.
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                        DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO
PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED.  BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO
WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE IS OFFERED.  GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICATES THAT ANY PROGRAM
BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT.  THE USER
MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM.  ANDY LIABILITY OF THE 
SELLER WILL BE LIMITTED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF
PURCHASE PRICE.


INTRODUCTION
------------
When I think of Flight Simulator 4.0 add-ons, I think of three specific 
things: scenery, aircraft and air traffic control (i.e., adventures).  
Microsoft empowered users with the ability to create scenery with ASD, 
Mallard allowed the flight sim pilot to create his or her favorate planes 
with AAF, and John Mechalas allowed us to create versitile ATC with ATC Net.

Immediately after I began using ATC Net, I found myself needing a .CTR file
editor and a more robust .APT file editor.  After reading several messages
from John in the Flight Simulation forum on CompuServe, I decided that due to
John's time constraints if I wanted an editor, I would have to create it 
myself.  So, I sat down with Microsoft's Visual Basic for DOS and began 
designing the feature set.  Initially, I thought that it may take a couple 
of days to build a simple editor, but as I spent more time thinking about 
the project, there were several features I did not want to neglect.  So, my 
simple editor started to turn into an more robust application.  The result 
is ATC Network Editor 1.0, or ATCEDIT for short.

ATCEDIT is a forms-based, ATC Net-data editor for DOS.  It allows the user
to create a project file which contains the paths to the airport file, center
file and preference file.  Add, modify and delete airports, navaids and
flight plans which may then be: 

        pre-compiled using ATCNET.EXE, 
        view using VIEWNET.EXE, 
        and compiled using AAF.EXE, 

Best of all, all this can be done from within the editor's environment.


REQUIREMENTS
------------
In order to use ATC Network Editor, you must have Microsoft Flight Simulator
4.0, Mallard's Aircraft and Adventure Factor and John Mechalas' ATC Net 1.11.


A WORD ABOUT THIS DOCUMENT
--------------------------
Please note: This document does not attempt to describe each feature and
procedure found in ATCEDIT.  Instead, it explains how to use ATCEDIT to 
create ATC Net data. Please refer to the ATC Net documentation (ATCNET.DOC)
included with the ATC Net download for information related to the use of 
ATC Net data within ATC Net.


INSTALLATION
------------
Within the archive file you downloaded, you should have received the follow-
ing files:

        ATCEDIT.EXE     This is the executable file required to run ATCEDIT.
        ATCEDIT.INI     This file contains several settings ATCEDIT use.
                        However, if the file is missing, ATCEDIT will 
                        generate a new one automatically.
        ATCEDIT.TXT     This document.
        LICENSE.TXT     Shareware license.
        README.1ST      Registration and contact information.

You may install ATCEDIT into any directory.  However, it is recommended that
you place it in the same directory as ATCNET.EXE.  Once you have copied the
files to a directory type ATCEDIT to start the program.

If you start the program from any directly other than the one in which 
ATCEDIT resides, you will be prompted with a dialog box asking for the path
to ATCEDIT.EXE.  

The first time you start the program you will be asked to set the paths to
ATCNET.EXE, VIEWNET.EXE and AAF.EXE.  For unexplained reasons, some computers
lock-up rather than asking for these paths.  If your does (or if you don't
want to find out), you must manually edit the ATCEDIT.INI file:

        1. Change directories to that in which your ATCEDIT files are 
           located.

        2. Type EDIT ATCEDIT.INI or start your favorit text editor and load
           the existing ATCEDIT.INI file.

        3. Find the section labeled "[Paths]" by using the text editor's 
           search facility or scrolling through the file.  There will be
           four entries under "[Paths]".

        4. Next to the line "ATCEdit=", enter a valid path (directory and
           filename to ATCEDIT.EXE. 

        5. Next to the line "ATCNet=", enter a valid path (directory and
           filename to ATCNET.EXE. 

        6. Next to the line "ViewEdit=", enter a valid path (directory and
           filename to VIEWNET.EXE. 

        7. Next to the line "AdvFactory=", enter a valid path (directory and
           filename to AAF.EXE

        8. Save the file (Do this by pressing ALT-F, S if you are using 
           EDIT).

The resulting "[Paths]" section should look somthing like this:

        [Paths]
        ATCEdit=E:\GAMES\FLTSIM4\ATCNET\ATCEDIT.EXE
        ATCNet=E:\GAMES\FLTSIM4\ATCNET\ATCNET.EXE
        ViewNet=E:\GAMES\FLTSIM4\ATCNET\VIEWNET.EXE
        AdvFactory=E:\GAMES\FLTSIM4\AAF.EXE

Note: The ATCEdit entry is not required unless you have started ATCEDIT.EXE
in a directory other than that which it is located.

After supplying valid paths to these utilities/programs the program is 
configured and ready to go!


NAVIGATING ATCEDIT FORMS/WINDOWS
--------------------------------
Each form consists of fields and buttons.  Fields are areas of the screen
that accept input from either the mouse, the keyboard and data files.  In
short they allow you to view and edit data.  If not data has been recorded
fields will be blank or contain default data.  

For example, when you define a new airport, the Airport form will be blank 
when it is first displayed.  If you press the Advanced... buttons, the 
Advanced Settings form will be discard changes to data, view forms and unload 
forms.

While fields act on individual data items, buttons act on groups of data by
saving, modifying or deleting records in data files.  Also, buttons allow
the user to show and hide forms/windows in the application.  For example, 
on the Airport form, three buttons ("Communications..", "Runways..." and 
"Advanced...") will show the Airport Communications form, Runways form and
Advanced Settings form.

Every form and window except for the Project window contains a OK/Cancel
button or a Close button.  If a form contains an OK and Cancel button, you 
may press the Enter key or click OK to accept and save any changes made to
the data on that particular form/window.  On the other hand, pressing the
Escape key or clicking on Cancel will discard any changes you have made.  On
forms that have a Close button, clicking or pressing the Enter key will 
save any changes.  The Close button is located on forms that show line item
data (such as waypoints and runways).  A Cancel button is not needed on these
forms as you will have other opportunity to cancel or delete actions.

There are three ways to move between fields and buttons.  The first is by 
moving the mouse over a field or button, and clicking on it.  The second is 
by pressing the ALT key and the letter highlighted in that field's or 
button's label.  For example, to move to the Upper field on the Airport form 
you would press ALT-U.  Finally, you may press the TAB key to move to the 
next field or button, or SHIFT-TAB to move to the previous field or button.


UNDERSTANDING THE PROJECT WINDOW
--------------------------------
ATCEDIT's development environment is centered around the Project window. 
This window contains a combo box, two buttons (Add and Delete) and a list
box.  Any time a project is open, this window will be visible and the 
project's filename will be displayed in the title bar at the top of the 
screen.

By clicking on the arrow in the combo box labeled "View Data...", a list
of ATC Net data object will appear.  This list includes airports, flight
plans, preferences and navaids.  If you select one of these objects, a list
of all objects of the selected type will appear in the listbox below the two
buttons.  For example, if you select "Airports", a list of all airports 
recorded in the .APT file for the open project will appear.  If the list is
blank, then no airports have been entered.  You may edit any of the items in
the list by double clicking on a particular listed item.  And, of course,
you may add new items by clicking the Add button and Delete selected items
by clicking the Delete button.


CREATING A NEW PROJECT
----------------------
Creating all airports, navaids, preferences and flight plans needed for an 
ATC Net adventure is easy.  However, you must first create a project file. 
This file is a simple ASCII file with a .PRJ extension.  It contains the
path and filename to an .APT file, a .CTR file and a .PRF file.  

        1. Select FILE from the menu bar.  This can be done by pressing ALT-
           F or clicking on FILE with your mouse.
        
        2. Press NEW or type N if you have already opened the FILE menu.  A
           dialog box will appear on the screen.  Using the file controls, 
           select a drive and directory in which you wish to play the ATCEDIT
           project. 

        3. Enter a filename with the .PRJ extension or without any extention.
           DO NOT ENTER ANY OTHER EXTENSION. 

        4. Click OK.

ATCEDIT will attempt to create an .APT file and .CTR file with the same name
(but different extention) as that of the newly created project.  For example,
if you create a project SAMPLE.PRJ, ATCEDIT will create SAMPLE.APT and
SAMPLE.CTR.  The exception to this is if the .APT and/or .CTR files already
exist.  Again, if you create a project SAMPLE.PRJ and SAMPLE.APT exists
but SAMPLE.CTR does not then ATCEDIT will not create this files, but instead
incorporate them into the newly created project.

Let's create a new project based on the Sample project included with ATCNET.
If you do not have the Sample files, ignore these steps.

        1. Press CTRL-N.  The New Project form will appear on the screen.

        2. Use the directory list to change to the directory where 
           SAMPLE.APT, SAMPLE.CTR and SAMPLE.PRF is located.

        3. Enter SAMPLE or SAMPLE.PRJ in the filename field.

        4. Press OK.

        5. The Project window will appear on the screen.  Click on the View
           Data combo box's down arrow.

        6. Select "Airports" from the list.

        7. A list of all airports in the SAMPLE.APT file will appear.

        8. Congraduations!  You have created a new project.
        
It is important to understand the .PRJ file only tells ATCEDIT where the ATC 
Net data files are, and each project can contain only one of each type of
data file (i.e., you may only have one .APT file, one .CTR file and one
.PRF file per project).

Once the Project window appears on the screen, ATCEDIT has finished 
processing the new project and you may begin adding ATC Net data objects to
the data files.


OPENING AN EXISTING PROJECT
---------------------------
If you have an existing project you would like to edit or perhaps you would
like to take a look at WI_TOUR, the sample project included with ATCEDIT.EXE,
perform the following steps:

        1. Select FILE from the menu bar.  This can be done by pressing ALT-
           F or clicking on FILE with your mouse.
        
        2. Press OPEN or type O if you have already opened the FILE menu.  A
           dialog box will appear on the screen.  Using the file controls, 
           select a drive and directory in which you wish to play the ATCEDIT
           project. 

        3. A list of project files, files with the .PRJ extension, in the
           current directory appear in the file list.  By double-clicking
           on any of these files (or clicking once and pressing OK), the 
           selected project will be open.

Once the Project window appears on the screen, ATCEDIT has finished 
processing the new project and you may begin adding ATC Net data objects to
the data files.


ADDING AND EDITING DATA
-----------------------
Once you have created a new project or opened an existing project, adding 
and editing data is a painless process.  The following steps explain how
to add a VOR to the project.  These principle coupled with those under the
heading "Navigating ATCEDIT Forms/Windows" should provide an understanding
of how to edit all data within ATCEDIT.

        1. From the Project windows' View Data combo box, select "VORs".  If
           any VORs are defined, their identifiers will appear in the list
           below the Add and Delete buttons.

        2. Press the Add button to add a new VOR or double-click on an 
           existing VOR to edit its data.  The VOR form will appear on the 
           screen.  If you are editing existing data, the VOR identifier,
           north coordinate and east coordinate will appear in the respective
           fields.

        3. When the form is initiall loaded, the cursor will be placed in
           the Identifier field (on other forms this will be the first
           field on the form).  Enter or edit the VOR's identifier.
           
        4. Press the tab key, press ALT-N or click on the North field to
           move to the North field.  Enter or edit the VOR's north 
           coordinate.

        5. Press the tab key, press ALT-E or click on the East field to
           move to the East field.  Enter or edit the VOR's east coordinate.

        6. Press enter or click on the OK button to save the VOR in the 
           project's center file.


The above example will cover almost all adding/editing of data in ATCEDIT.
There are two exceptions: runways and waypoints.  Runways and waypoints are
listed on a single form much like all airports will be listed in the Project
window when "Airports" is selected in the View Data combo box.  We will use
runway data to explain how to handle this 'line-item' data.  Open the 
SAMPLE project (if you have not created the SAMPLE.PRJ file, see "Creating
a New Project" above.  

        1. To view the runways form, select airports select "Airports" in 
           the View Data combo box, double-click on an existing airport.  The 
           Airport form will appear on the screen.  
        
        2. Press the Runways button and the Runways form will appear on the 
           screen.  All runways entered for the selected Airport will be 
           listed in the Runways list.

        3a.You may add a new runway to the list by entering data in the 
           Number, Heading and Type fields.  Finally, press Add.

        3b.You may edit an existing runway by double-clicking on the
           runway you want to edit.  It's data will appear in the fields
           above the list.  Make any changes to this data you wish and
           press Change to modify the data.

           Note: The Add button becomes the Change button after you double-
           click on a runway.

        3c.You may delete a runway by clicking on it and pressing Delete.
           The line the runway was on will change to "Deleted" until you
           press the Close button and save the data.

- A Note about Edit Checks

The current version of ATCEDIT does not included any (well, very little) 
edit checking.  So, if you enter "EAT ME" in the north coordinates of the 
airport, ATCEDIT will accept this as the north coordinate.  However, ATC Net
will choke on this line as will ATCEDIT when it trys to reload it.  I hope
to address this in subsequent releases of ATCEDIT.  In the mean time, you
are accountable for these errors.  I would be particularly careful formating
comm frequencies.  ATCEDIT DOES replace spaces with underscores when editing
tower/airport, approach and center names.  Of course, you may put in 
underscores yourself if you wish to do so.

- A Note about Flight Plans

When entering a flight plan, ATCEDIT does not check to see that you have
entered both Departure and Arrival points.  Nor does it check to see if you
have entered multiple Departure and Arrival points or stuck a Departure point
between to waypoints.  Therefore, you must be sure that you the first 
waypoint defined is the airport from which you wish to depart and last 
waypoint is the airport at which you wish to arrive.  For simplicity's sake,
I recommend that you enter each flight plan in order: from departure point,
through all waypoints and to destination (arrival).  Once you have entered
a flight plan in order, feel free to edit the flight plan as needed.


RUNNING ATCNET.EXE, VIEWNET.EXE AND AAF.EXE
-------------------------------------------
From the Tools menu, you may run ATCNET.EXE, VIEWNET.EXE and AAF.EXE.  Prior
to running these programs you must have supplied ATCEDIT with the paths to
the applications (under the Options menu, Set Paths choice).  Unfortunately,
ATCNET and VIEWNET do not accept command line parameters.  So, you must enter
the name of the project you wish to create an ATC Net script for or view.
Be sure to enter the name of the project you are working with or you will
receive erroneous messages from ATCEDIT after exiting these utilities.  The
Compiler Adventure menu option will run AAF.EXE and compile and ADV file with
the same name as your project.  So, if you have SAMPLE.PRJ loaded, this 
choice will compile an adventure named SAMPLE.ADV.

I have found that the ATCNET.EXE and VIEWNET.EXE utilities will, sometimes,
not have enough memory to operate and all you will see is a blank screen.
In these situtaitons, press CTRL-BREAK and you will be returned to ATCEDIT.
The only solution I have found to this problem is to, once returning to 
ATCEDIT, exit ATCEDIT and reboot. 


DESIGNER NOTES
--------------
I hope you enjoy ATCEDIT.  Please contact me on CompuServe at 70700,44 with
any questions, problems or other comments about the program.  Additionally, 
I check the FSFORUM quite often and may be reached publicly there.

ATCEDIT was written and compiled with Visual Basic for DOS 1.0.  This was
my biggest programming effort in this environment to date.  As I was nearing
completion I was experiencing many problems related to VBDOS and memory.  
These problems caused be to do a lot of debugging outside of the programming
environment.  As a result, I may not have caught all of the bugs.

Speaking of bugs and crashes, I have been using some form of ATCEDIT since
before Thanksgiving to create and modify various ATC Net projects.  I believe
I have encountered most of the bugs related to adding/editing/deleting data.
Of course, I am not perfect and would appreciate notice of any bugs you find
while using the program.

One more note: ATCEDIT does create backup files prior to writing or deleting
data.  These files are then deleted once the writing/deleting is complete. 
If the program crashed while you are working with data and data is lost
(this has not happened to me with this version of ATCEDIT, but just in 
case!), you may attemt to undelete these backup files.  These files use the
following extensions:

                         Original  Backup
        Type             Extension Extension
        ---------------- --------- ---------
        Airport Files       APT      ~AP
        Center Files        CTR      ~CT
        Preference Files    PRF      ~PR

ABOUT ATCNET
------------

Written by John Mechalas, ATCNET is an adventure pre-compiler that 
automatically generates the AAF script for an ATC "network".  As you can see 
by using these adventures, these networks include Approach/Departure Control, 
Tower Control, Ground Control, Center and Clearance Delivery.  ATCNET is 
available via CompuServe in library 5/Aircraft/Adventures on the Flight 
Simulation Forum (FSFORUM).
