Detective Suggestions (button labelling, tooltips) and Device Tab assignment-contexts, Manual errata

Hi Stephen,

Coming back to things after a break, it struck me just how non-intuitive some of the language is on the Detective interface. I found I was completely at odds with the 'filter', '!filter' concept, because the word 'filter' all depends (in language terms), on which side of the fence you're sitting at the time! That is, when someone says 'filter this'... do they mean filter it IN, or filter it OUT? Unless you know what was in the developer's mind at the time, you've got a 50-50 chance of getting it right. And most often, from a 'user-searching-for-an-LVAR-activity' point of view, you're actually most interested in filtering-IN a certain LVAR, so (without RTFMing) you're almost certainly going to plump the wrong way! Thereafter, you'll have plenty of fun trying to work out what's going on (resorting to the manual only as an admission of defeat being the normal human way, of course!)

So - to that end, can I suggest that you rethink the labelling of the buttons in the filter to make them more obvious? Perhaps avoid the 'verb' references to filter entirely; instead, simple 'Show' (instead of !Filter) and Hide (instead of Filter) would be much better imho. Show All would replace !Filter All (I think, if I have the logic of that function right - and if not, well, you see my point about the confusion, I hope! )

As for the buttons below, they'll make a lot more sense then, too. Obviously 'Filtered' would turn into 'Hidden', but it should be more intuitive that way.

I'm still not convinced 100% that removing the LVARs (or Events) from the selection list once they've been hidden from the Console output is entirely helpful - maybe better to mark it with its tick or a background change for that node? Not sure. It becomes most awkward if you're trying to detect an LVAR which turns out to be a set of inter-related LVARs that you want to study, because adding items to the 'Show' (!Filter) list if they're already removed from the selection list, becomes a tad awkward!

I'd also recommend a few tooltips on these buttons too, just so that they can be elaborated upon, especially if they're not referenced in the manuals yet. It took me a few moments to work out what 'SC Vars' was (presumably SimConnect?) though Bes Vars was easy enough. It would also enable you to remind folks that the Lvar and Event buttons are (as they always were) the 'display ALL' buttons (all lvars, all events), and not something else. I'd forgotten!

Moving back to the main window (MCP tab, in my case), can I beg that (if possible) impossible selections are removed from the relevant drop-down menus. Case in point, the Light Action dropdown, on the MCP; if it's referring to one of the buttons (say, the HDG HOLD button) then half the available selections on that dropdown are going to be red herrings, aren't they? I can't think of a way to use Divide as Decimal meaningfully with a 'Light Value' variable and a two-state green light! Maybe I'm missing something, though, so please enlighten me if I am! Conversely, one of the 'readout' displays (7-segment LED windows) is clearly going to use these kinds of math function, but may not use a simple 'ON' or 'OFF' (maybe they do, not sure)... but you get the distinction, I'm sure.

While I'm at it, there doesn't seem to be a way to make one of the two-state button-lamps show 'OFF' for -1, whilst showing 'ON' for +1, and any other value simply leaves the light in the state its already in (whether it be on or off at the time). I'm having fun with this bit, on the bus, with its push-pull rotary buttons!

I'm also having fun trying to work out how to recognise the 'long-push' button-state, and hook that up to a bespoke event (I have read both manuals several times, honest, but I think I'm getting snow-blindness or something, cos I really can't find it!)

Finally - I found a small error (I think) on P7 of the GIT manual: the reference to the shortnames for the Aerosoft Catalina. Looking closely one of the aircraft names has a dash in between the PBY and the 5, while the other has an underscore. In the following blurb, it says "we'd change the name to (dashed version which drops '_CIV' off the end)" and this would work because both airplanes have (underscored version) in their names; which clearly, they don't! I do understand the process being exemplified here, and I'm sure most will through trial and error, but the whole point of the example in the manual is to avoid T&E in the first place, so (unless I'm missing something very obscure) this one falls over, alas. Best get the examples right, or the users will have mucho fun working out WTF is going on!

Hope you understand these are all in the spirit of making a good thing better, and (hopefully) opening it up to a wider audience that isn't put off by its complexity. It is a complex tool, but (if I may make so bold) some aspects of it are further complicated because the concepts are either indistinctly handled, or confusingly worded, in the interface itself. That's going to frighten off the Johnny lightweights, I'm sure, but ultimately, you want everyone to be getting maximum use out of this wonderful tool; and it's quite possible to do that, I'm sure. It's swiss army knife of airplane control... just at the moment it's very easy to stab oneself in the knee!

All the best (and feel free to take issue with any of my presumptions, but just don't take offence, 'cos it's not meant in that way at all)

Neil