Components are built in the Virtual Hardware Builder when its set to Component Mode.
States
The key to understanding how to build Components is to understand the concept of States. Each Component has a number of States so if you think about a standard 2-way toggle switch, it has 2 States, those being on and off. For each State, it will look different because the switch will either be positioned up or down. When building a Component the number of States are set and then images must be created for each State. So in our 2-way toggle switch example images for it positioned up and down would be required.
Component Types
It is best to set a component type as this will automatically set the number of States, provide unique configuration options and will also make later flight sim configuration more intuitive as the software knows what Component type it is dealing with. Available Component types are:
Cover
This Component type represents the safety cover of a switch. It has 2 states, opened and closed.
DataDriven
This Component type represents a Component that switches state based on the value of a variable. It has a user definable number of States.
Display
This Component type represents a display such as an LED segment 7 or actual updatable letter or number. When fitted into a module, the number of display Components is set to form the actual display. It has 47 states representing Off, 0 to 9 and A to Z.
Gauge
This Component type represents a simple aircraft gauge such as a fuel gauge. Gauge Components have Layers instead of States. It has a user definable number of Layers.
Indicator
This Component type represents an indicator such as an aircraft warning light. It has a user definable number of States.
LED
This Component type represents an LED and has 2 states, on and off.
Push Button
This Component type represents a push button and has either 2 or 3 states, these being pressed, released and long pressed.
Rotary
This component type represents a rotary and has either 1, 2 or 3 states, these being clockwise/anticlockwise, pressed and long pressed.
Selector
This component type represents a rotary selector that "clicks" into various positions to indicate a State.
Rotary Selector
This component type is a Selector that rotates and does not "click" into various positions.
Slider
This component type represents a slider or lever. It only has one state called Slide.
Switch
This component type represents a 2-way or 3-way toggle switch. It can have 2 or 3 states, these being on, off and down. It can also be used to build a Toggling Push Button.
Wheel
This component type represents a wheel such as an aircraft trim wheel. It has Layers instead of States. It has 3 Layers, these being top, middle and bottom.
Simple
This component type represent unconfigurable Components. Use for things like Display covers. They can be placed over other Components and when in config mode, Simple Components will be ignored if a configurable Component is underneath it.
Undefined
This component type should be used when none of the above is a good fit. It has a user definable number of States.