This is the FMCUI repository, the library to ease development for the Zibo B737-800X (ZIBO mod) in X-Plane. FMCUI aims to ease the development by providing high level functions to write information and gather actions by the user.

FMCUI uses the concept of Screens, a single .lua file that contains information for the specific screen. This way, all code is seperated nicely and will not interfere with other screens. Since I think Zibo did a superb job on the FMC already, I did not want to remove any functionality. I have hijacked the menu screen (main screen on startup) and rewrote the <DLNK menu's.

• Basic screen drawing for all six lines
• Screen drawing with all variants for all six lines
• Support for buttons / softkeys / next, prev
• Reading and writing the scratchpad
• First officer display support
• Implement Zibo's current screens in DLNK
• Implement weather request for X-Plane 12 (Fixes "NO METAR DATA")
• Implement weather request for X-Plane 11 (metar.rwx)
• Implement more ACARS screens
• Add networking to talk to OPS (via GPT api?)

1. Go to the .../X-Plane 12/Aircraft/B737-800X/plugins/xlua/scripts/B738.a_fms/ directory and create a folder named fmcui there.
2. Place all the FMCUI files (download repository as zip, and unextract) in the .../X-Plane 12/Aircraft/B737-800X/plugins/xlua/scripts/B738.a_fms/fmcui directory
3. Alter the B738.a_fms.lua file (that should've been there by default), scroll to the bottom where it says "SUB-MODULE PROCESSING".
4. Add the following line: dofile("fmcui/main.lua") -- Load FMCUI extension
5. Make sure the line is not commented out. The line should not start with two dashes --, it should start with dofile instead.

To add a new screen, simply add a file to the screens/ directory. Grouping screens in subdirectories is supported. You can then call the screen using the FMCUI:showScreen("yourSubdirectory/yourScreen") function. See usage below for more information.

Your screen will need to define (at least) one main method that is called when the screen is initialized, and about to be shown.

function Screen:initialize(fmcui, params)

fmcui will contain the fmcui handle. params will contain any parameters that have been passed.

This means that a basic lua file may look as follows:

local Screen = {}
Screen.__index = Screen

function Screen:initialize(fmcui, params)
  self.fmcui = fmcui or {}
  self.params = params or {}
  setmetatable(self, Screen)

  -- Do your initialization here

  return  self
end

return Screen

There are a few more optional methods that can be defined in your screen file:

function Screen:destroy()

This method is called when you navigate away from this screen, but may be called by the system at any time. You have a chance to clean up any leftovers, or reset them to their default values.

function Screen:input(keyIdentifier, phase, duration)

This method is called when any button is pressed on the FMC.
phase is the phase of the button. (0=started pressing, 1=pressing, 2=released)
duration is the duration of the press in seconds.
keyIdentifier can be one of:

function Screen:update()

This method is called every tick (every time the screen is updated).

Call a function using the fmcui handle that is passed to your screen upon initialization, e.g.

function Screen:initialize(fmcui, params)
  self.fmcui = fmcui or {}
  self.params = params or {}
  setmetatable(self, Screen)

  -- Do your initialization here
  self.fmcui:setLine(0, "MY FIRST SCREEN")
  self.fmcui:setAction("6LSK", "RETURN", self.showPreviousScreen)
end

Make sure to always use the colon operator, so the proper fmcui handle is passed back to the library. The handle contains information about the display (pilot / first officer), which is needed by the library.

function FMCUI.showScreen(fmcui, screenIdentifier, params, direct)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
screenIdentifier The filename of the screen to show
params OPTIONAL: Parameters for the screen.
direct OPTIONAL: Force the screen to be visible, without input lag, even if the input lag setting is ON.

Show a screen on the FMC. This function invalidates the current screen and shows a screen on the FMC. The screen will be 'require'd in lua, so make sure to pass the filename in the screens/ directory.

function FMCUI.showWarning(fmcui, message, isError)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
message The message to show.
isError OPTIONAL: Mark the message as an error. If omitted or false, the message will be handled as a normal warning.

Show a warning message on the FMC. Shows a message on the FMC, followed by a 'ding' sound.

function  FMCUI.addMessage(fmcui, message, delay, showNotice)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
message The text of the message.
delay OPTIONAL: The delay in seconds from now; when to show the message.
showNotice OPTIONAL: Default false, shows a notice on the FMC "NEW MESSAGE"

Add an incoming message to the FMC. (ACARS) Shows a message on the FMC, followed by a 'ding' sound.

function  FMCUI.getMessage(fmcui, index, markAsRead)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
index The index of the message
markAsRead Mark the message as read

Get message at index. (ACARS) Returns the message at index in the following format: {text = 'Lorem ipsum', time = '11:22', unread = true} Use FMCUI.getMessagesCount() to get the number of messages.

function  FMCUI.firstUnreadMessageIndex(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Returns the index for the first unread message. Indices start at 1. (ACARS) Returns 0 if there is no unread message.

function  FMCUI.messagesCount(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Get all messages count. (ACARS) Returns total number of messages.

function  FMCUI.setAction(fmcui, keyIdentifier, text, handler, variant)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
keyIdentifier The name of the key (1-6LSK, 1-6RSK), for example '2LSK'
handler The handler (function) that will be called when the soft key is pressed
text OPTIONAL: The text of the action (e.g. 'MENU' or 'PERF INIT'). Will display a text based on the keyIdentifier, e.g. < MENU
variant OPTIONAL: The variant (text color) of the action line.

Add an action to one of the SK buttons (1-6LSK, 1-6RSK) on the FMC. This action registers one of the soft keys on the FMC to the handler provided.

function  FMCUI.clearAction(fmcui, keyIdentifier)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
keyIdentifier The name of the key (1-6LSK, 1-6RSK), for example '2LSK'

Clear an action bound to a key. Clears the action bound to the passed key identifier.

function  FMCUI.clearActions(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Clear all actions bound to the SK Clears all actouns bound to the softkeys. Good practice is to call this function when your screen is 'destroy()'ed.

function  FMCUI.setExecLight(fmcui, enabled)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
enabled Whether the exec light should be enabled

Set exec light Set exec light enabled/disabled

function  FMCUI.setScratchpad(fmcui, input)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
input Scratchpad input

Set scratchpad Sets the buffer / scratchpad / user input

function  FMCUI.getScratchpad(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Get scratchpad Gets the buffer / scratchpad / user input

function  FMCUI.setInput(fmcui, keyIdentifier, placeholder, handler, inputLength)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
keyIdentifier The name of the key (1-6LSK, 1-6RSK), for example '2LSK'
handler The handler (function) that will be called when the soft key is pressed. Passed arguments: #0: Input, #1: keyIdentifier
inputLength OPTIONAL: The length of the input. Will initially show this much empty 'blocks'.

Add an input to one of the SK buttons (1-6LSK, 1-6RSK) on the FMC. This input shows [][] blocks, and captures the scratchpad when the user clicks on the soft key. Also, the handler is invoked.

function  FMCUI.setLine(fmcui, index, text, alignment, variant)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
index The line index to show the text on. Range 0-6, top to bottom
text The text
alignment OPTIONAL: Alignment of the text. Can be one of ("left", "center", "right"), default is "left"
variant OPTIONAL: Variant of the text. Range 0-8. Check availableVariants on the top of this file. Default is 0.

Set a line on the FMC. This sets a line of text on the FMC, with an optional variant.

function  FMCUI.setMultiline(fmcui, startIndex, text, alignment, variant)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
startIndex The start index of the line
text The text value (may contain line breaks)
alignment The alignment (see FMCUI.setLine)
variant The variant (see FMCUI.setLine) or set "compact mode" with -1, startIndex will behave differently (0 is 0, 1 is actually the line between 0 and 1, 2 is 1).

Set multiline text on the FMC. Sets a multiline text on the FMC. Will break words.

function  FMCUI.replaceLine(fmcui, index, text, variant, offset)

Replaces a part of the line on the FMC Used to replace a part of the text on the FMC, e.g. to add text, like <ACT> or <SEL> on the menu page.

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
index The target line
text The text to insert
variant The variant to replace the text on
offset The offset in the line, e.g. 2 to replace text starting from the 2nd character.

function  FMCUI.clearLines(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Clear lines on the FMC This clears all six lines on the FMC, use this to reset the screen to black.

function  FMCUI.set(fmcui, variableName, value, atIndex)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
variableName The name of the variable to change
value The new value
atIndex When specified, handles the variable name as a table, and gets the value at index

Set a global variable. Use with caution. This function can be used to set a global variable of the B738.a_fms.lua script.

function  FMCUI.get(fmcui, variableName, atIndex)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
variableName The name of the variable
atIndex When specified, handles the variable name as a table, and gets the value at index

Get a global variable. This function can be used to get a global variable of the B738.a_fms.lua script.

function  FMCUI.command(fmcui, commandName)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)
commandName The name of the command, e.g. 'laminar/B738/toggle_switch/no_smoking_dn'

Execute a global command.

function  FMCUI.reset(fmcui)

fmcui The FMCUI instance. Invoke function with colon - e.g. fmcui:showScreen(...)

Reset FMCUI. This resets FMCUI and destroys the active screen.