[Looky1173]

I think it's time to give the Dispatcher window some care to make it more coherent and simpler to use. It's unclear what most of the buttons do without having consulted the manual beforehand; they are misaligned and cluttered, and the messaging experience has its fair share of problems too. (About multiplayer messaging, it's scattered all over the place, an issue which is part of a larger one, i.e., there are so many different multiplayer HUDs that could be merged. Also, I've found a standalone message dialogue in the code that does not even seem to be used [RunActivity > Viewer3D > Debugging > MessageViewer.cs]. I'm curious, anyone know what that's about?)

I've been interested in contributing code to Open Rails for some time now, and I've just got around to setting up the development environment. I think it would be a nice exercise for me to try to improve the Dispatcher window; not too easy but also not too difficult with Visual Studio's Designer interface.

Therefore, I would like to know if such a contribution is justified or would be appreciated; if yes, what are your pain points while using the Dispatcher window? Thank you!

[Weter]

Hello.
Yes: everything, you've told about dispatcher's window is true for me.
Buttons and checkboxes, arranged stair-like, and text, not fitting Windows's edges upsets.

Also, setting too small scale of map and moving it with mouse could result game's crash.
Especially - with many moving trains across the route's area.
Since some version, if dispatcher window is active, no keyboard commands sent to ORTS for train controlling, but once it inactive - it is hidden under 3-d viewer's window - so can't be seen. This means, it can't overlay 3d viewer, with keyboard input focus being kept in game.
And more, please look there, for me to not repeat:
http://www.elvastowe...post__p__297312

[Looky1173]

Thank you for your ideas Weter. I will certainly take them into consideration when reworking the Dispatcher window. However, I'm afraid providing a standalone timetable debugger is out of the scope of my current plans, but I will keep it in mind for the future. http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif

[Amtrak115]

PerpetualKid has already reworked the dispatcher code baseline....not sure if it addresses the issues you talk about here.... The reworked code is base .net6 and is contained in the "Ultimate" release available on his github page as the latest release.

[Looky1173]

Amtrak115, on 29 May 2023 - 04:49 AM, said:

PerpetualKid has already reworked the dispatcher code baseline....not sure if it addresses the issues you talk about here.... The reworked code is base .net6 and is contained in the "Ultimate" release available on his github page as the latest release.

I didn't know about that; I've just checked it out. I'm wondering why it did not make it into the official OR codebase... Will it be adopted at some point in the future?

[Looky1173]

Progress update:




The large grey box is a placeholder for the map. The two last controls in the Multiplayer settings group are disabled because I do not know what they actually do -- can someone please advise me? Overall, what do you think of this preliminary design concept?

[ATW]

I like the preliminary design sofar it looks like a good improvement.

[Looky1173]

Weter, on 02 June 2023 - 01:18 PM, said:

Some time ago I asked about prefer green: the answer was - choose, whether all signals of the route are opened (I.e. Green) by default, or closed (red).

Thank you, that makes sense!

---

I've run into a visual problem: when moving the mouse cursor over a control that specifies a certain cursor type that is not the default one (e.g., a LinkLabel), the cursor flickers violently, alternating between the two cursor types. I've traced back the problem to this line of code, which reverts the cursor to the default type every render frame. GitHub tells me it was added by Carlo back in 2017 in the scope of mouse control for 3D cabs. Carlo, is this line of code still necessary? Or would it be possible to restrict its influence to the main RunActivity window?

[Looky1173]

I finally got the time to return to this and I made some progress. I've submitted a PR on GitHub, so my changes will make it into the Unstable version once one of the OR developers adds the "for-unstable" label to it. The new Dispatcher window can be tried out alongside the old one by pressing <Ctrl + Shift + 9>.

What changed:

• The Dispatch and Timetable tabs are merged
• Cleaner, less cluttered interface
• Reworked colours (in progress)
• The Dispatcher window informs dispatchers of their role in multiplayer sessions

To-do before the new Dispatcher window could replace the old one:

• Achieve feature parity with the old Dispatcher window
• Localisation. Can a developer kindly help me with this? I don't know how to add support for localisation in my new Dispatcher window
• Persist preferences. I need some help with this too. Is there a preferred way to persist settings in OR that do not go in the Options window? Should they be saved to the registry?
• Update documentation

Please help me test the new Dispatcher window and let me know what you think of the changes.

The reworked Dispatcher window:

[cjakeman]

Looky1173, on 19 August 2023 - 07:09 AM, said:

I finally got the time to return to this and I made some progress. I've submitted a PR on GitHub, so my changes will make it into the Unstable version once one of the OR developers adds the "for-unstable" label to it. The new Dispatcher window can be tried out alongside the old one by pressing <Ctrl + Shift + 9>.

"for-unstable" label now added, so please would users try it out and provide feedback.

[Laci1959]

Hello.

Can the windows be turned off or transferred to a smart device?
The visible track is greatly reduced. At Multi, players will wait for the traffic controller to focus on their station. 120 km with many, many stations will test your nerves of traffic control skills.

Sincerely, Laci1959

[Looky1173]

cjakeman, on 19 August 2023 - 11:22 AM, said:

"for-unstable" label now added, so please would users try it out and provide feedback.

Thank you for adding the label!

Laci1959, on 20 August 2023 - 09:06 AM, said:

Hello.

Can the windows be turned off or transferred to a smart device?
The visible track is greatly reduced. At Multi, players will wait for the traffic controller to focus on their station. 120 km with many, many stations will test your nerves of traffic control skills.

Sincerely, Laci1959

Hello, the "Map customization" panel can be collapsed and the Dispatcher window can be maximized to get the most out of the map. Here's how that looks like:

[cjakeman]

Thanks for tidying up the Dispatch controls - sorely needed.

I think we should continue to call it the "Map Window" as it's not just useful for dispatching.


We've also lost the "Daylight offset (hrs)" control. I find that useful to see what's happening when working with timetables that start at midnight.

It doesn't need to be a numerical control on this form as before. A pair of keystrokes similar to "Debug Fog Increase/Decrease" would be just as useful, since it's purely a visual effect.


Does anyone else find it useful?

[R H Steele]

First, thanks to the volunteer effort to make some changes to the map window...needed. Thank you. http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/sign_thank_you.gifhttp://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/hi.gif

Why do the changes only apply to the Timetable Window?
Dispatch Window does not have option to change background color. I run mostly freight and switching, would find a different background color for the Dispatch window helpful, perhaps a light grey --- a "dark option" would be welcome.

Tested using version >>>> U2023.08.21-0707 2023-08-21 08-13-11

[Looky1173]

cjakeman, on 21 August 2023 - 07:51 AM, said:

I think we should continue to call it the "Map Window" as it's not just useful for dispatching.

That makes sense --- I've renamed it to "Map window".

cjakeman, on 21 August 2023 - 07:51 AM, said:

We've also lost the "Daylight offset (hrs)" control. I find that useful to see what's happening when working with timetables that start at midnight.

It doesn't need to be a numerical control on this form as before. A pair of keystrokes similar to "Debug Fog Increase/Decrease" would be just as useful, since it's purely a visual effect.

I'm having trouble figuring out in which file that should go. Should I put it in Weather.cs, with the fog commands?

R H Steele, on 21 August 2023 - 11:54 AM, said:

Why do the changes only apply to the Timetable Window?
Dispatch Window does not have option to change background color. I run mostly freight and switching, would find a different background color for the Dispatch window helpful, perhaps a light grey --- a "dark option" would be welcome.

I'm not sure I understand --- I've merged the "Dispatch" and "Timetable" tabs into one unified view. I will look into adding a dark theme to the whole window, including the map. http://www.elvastower.com/forums/public/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif