Question about Design or Implentation or Both

[JLWest]

In this project I will be dealing with 100's of labels. Using labels to display both parsed record data and descriptive tag.

A few labels (  are on the form permanently and a few more are sorta reserved - (10 - 15).
Right now I call a function passing a record and a TLabel, The record describes the Data item and sub-type. The function looks up the positions for the label, assigns Left, Top and Caption.
   
The rest of the labels will come and go depending what record(s) are selected to be parsed.

I would estimate there would be  between 950 to 1,100 labels if I have to assign a specific label to a parsed data item; i.e.  lbl101.Caption := CenterlineLatitude;

Is there a magic bullet in Free Pascal for this kind of problem.

 

[taazz]

have you tried to use a grid?

[Handoko]

Maybe something like this below. It's only uses 2 TLabels to show the data, which makes maintaining the UI and code much easier especially when there are lots of data to be shown.

Code: Pascal  [Select][+][-]

1. unit Unit1;
2.  
3. {$mode objfpc}{$H+}
4.  
5. interface
6.  
7. uses
8.   Classes, SysUtils, Forms, Controls, StdCtrls;
9.  
10. type
11.  
12.   { TForm1 }
13.  
14.   TForm1 = class(TForm)
15.     btnPrevious: TButton;
16.     btnNext: TButton;
17.     Label1: TLabel;
18.     Label2: TLabel;
19.     procedure btnNextClick(Sender: TObject);
20.     procedure btnPreviousClick(Sender: TObject);
21.     procedure FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
22.   end;
23.  
24. var
25.   Form1: TForm1;
26.   Index: Integer = 1;
27.  
28. implementation
29.  
30. type
31.   TMember   = record
32.     Name    : string;
33.     Country : string;
34.     Age     : Byte;
35.     Job     : string;
36.   end;
37.  
38. var
39.   Members: array[1..5] of TMember;
40.  
41. procedure RefreshData;
42. var
43.   S: string;
44. begin
45.   with Members[Index] do begin
46.     Form1.Label2.Caption := Name          + LineEnding +
47.                             Country       + LineEnding +
48.                             IntToStr(Age) + LineEnding +
49.                             Job;
50.   end;
51. end;
52.  
53. {$R *.lfm}
54.  
55. { TForm1 }
56.  
57. procedure TForm1.FormCreate(Sender: TObject);
58. begin
59.  
60.   Label1.Alignment := taRightJustify;
61.   Label1.Caption   := 'Name :'    + LineEnding +
62.                       'Country :' + LineEnding +
63.                       'Age :'     + LineEnding +
64.                       'Job :'     + LineEnding;
65.  
66.   Members[1].Name    := 'Linda Rosa';
67.   Members[1].Country := 'Australia';
68.   Members[1].Age     := 32;
69.   Members[1].Job     := 'Accountant';
70.   Members[2].Name    := 'Billy Graham';
71.   Members[2].Country := 'Colombia';
72.   Members[2].Age     := 45;
73.   Members[2].Job     := 'Lawyer';
74.   Members[3].Name    := 'Igor Ramolla';
75.   Members[3].Country := 'Spain';
76.   Members[3].Age     := 28;
77.   Members[3].Job     := 'Singer';
78.   Members[4].Name    := 'Lila Zimnani';
79.   Members[4].Country := 'Argentina';
80.   Members[4].Age     := 19;
81.   Members[4].Job     := 'Student';
82.   Members[5].Name    := 'Zimmy Chen';
83.   Members[5].Country := 'Hong Kong';
84.   Members[5].Age     := 46;
85.   Members[5].Job     := 'Technician';
86.  
87.   RefreshData;
88.  
89. end;
90.  
91. procedure TForm1.btnPreviousClick(Sender: TObject);
92. begin
93.   if Index > Low(Members) then Dec(Index);
94.   RefreshData;
95. end;
96.  
97. procedure TForm1.btnNextClick(Sender: TObject);
98. begin
99.   if Index < High(Members) then Inc(Index);
100.   RefreshData;
101. end;
102.  
103. end.

[JLWest]

have you tried to use a grid?

Well I laid one of the records out in EXCEL with:

          Label                                 Data
 Rway Center Line Longitude:  47.124585879

for some records it works. For others not so much.
But maybe I don't understand the working of the grid that well.

     
   

[JLWest]

Handako I downloaded and will try to figure it out.

Thanks.

[taazz]

have you tried to use a grid?

Well I laid one of the records out in EXCEL with:

          Label                                 Data
 Rway Center Line Longitude:  47.124585879

for some records it works. For others not so much.
But maybe I don't understand the working of the grid that well.

You convert your data to properties and items. The Items are the rows and the properties are the columns titles
eg

Code: [Select]

Line                Longitude         Latitude          No of Airways.
Rway Center Line    47.124585879      xxxxxxx           yyyyyyyyyy
on second thought I might have to take a look on the data in order to see how the RDBMS can be designed.
I'll need a complete sample of the data (as complete as possible).

[JLWest]

have you tried to use a grid?

Well I laid one of the records out in EXCEL with:

          Label                                 Data
 Rway Center Line Longitude:  47.124585879

for some records it works. For others not so much.
But maybe I don't understand the working of the grid that well.

You convert your data to properties and items. The Items are the rows and the properties are the columns titles
eg

Code: [Select]

Line                Longitude         Latitude          No of Airways.
Rway Center Line    47.124585879      xxxxxxx           yyyyyyyyyy
on second thought I might have to take a look on the data in order to see how the RDBMS can be designed.
I'll need a complete sample of the data (as complete as possible).

Can send my project with one apt.dat file. It works now.
or
a PDF doc describing the file and record(s) layout
or both if they will zip to an acceptable size.

[dsiders]

have you tried to use a grid?

Well I laid one of the records out in EXCEL with:

          Label                                 Data
 Rway Center Line Longitude:  47.124585879

for some records it works. For others not so much.
But maybe I don't understand the working of the grid that well.

You convert your data to properties and items. The Items are the rows and the properties are the columns titles
eg

Code: [Select]

Line                Longitude         Latitude          No of Airways.
Rway Center Line    47.124585879      xxxxxxx           yyyyyyyyyy
on second thought I might have to take a look on the data in order to see how the RDBMS can be designed.
I'll need a complete sample of the data (as complete as possible).

Can send my project with one apt.dat file. It works now.
or
a PDF doc describing the file and record(s) layout
or both if they will zip to an acceptable size.

Or just point him to the docs.

https://developer.x-plane.com/?article=airport-data-apt-dat-file-format-specification

[JLWest]

Here is v5.
I'm parsing 3 records - but only displaying the first two 1, and 1302's Both of these stay on the form all the time.

ROWCODE        1            (my def is HDRLAND)
ROWCODE   1302           (RC1302)
ROWCODE     100           (RC100)

Install anywhere make a sub dir called files and run.

[JLWest]

desider - Do you know about X-Plane or did you just google it.

Yea, you can get a copy of the file spec there.
 

[dsiders]

desider - Do you know about X-Plane or did you just google it.

Yea, you can get a copy of the file spec there.

I was just curious... having read some of your other posts, so I went to the website. I'm also curious why you don't just use the World Developer. It says it's Open Source.

[JLWest]

Oh, I do use WED (World Editor); I'm not very good at designing airports.

WED dosn't actually parse an apt.dat file. It reads it in and uses it to draw the airport flat on the ground (One Dimensional). Then from there you can add stuff. Buildings, planes, cars. trucks, baggage carts to make it look like a real airport. Some of this stuff is out of this world realistic.

In X-Plane there is an add-on product you can buy called WT3. It provides air traffic at your takeoff and destination airport. In order to do this it needs what is call Taxi Routes. They are invisible lines drawn on the runways, taxiways and ramps which lead to a tie down or gate called a RampStart. Without Taxi Routes WT3 can't generate traffic.

So - Could I parse the apt dot dat file, draw the airport flat on the ground , apply Taxi Routes programmatically.

All of this is probably way over my head.  But I thought I'd try.
 

[dsiders]

All of this is probably way over my head.  But I thought I'd try.

In 1999, I was captivated by this ultralight kit plane called the DreamWings Valkyrie.

http://www.ultralightnews.com/sunfun99/dreamwings.html

But before I could write a hot little check for the kit, they went bankrupt.

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2001/aug/25/21668/

I came across XPlane and thought it would be cool to make an aircraft model for the Valkyrie and flight sim it. Until I saw what was actually involved. 

I hope it works out for you.

[JLWest]

With my project after you select the data file on the opening Form it displays the parser Form and loads the apt dot dat file in the ListBox. Click on the 100 record it the listbox and it actual parses the record. About 46 fields. I don't display.

Here is where I started looking for a better way to manage the display and all those labels.

[taazz]

seems I've bitten more than I was expecting. Oh well, I'll download the pdf and take a look after the holidays.