Edit User Waypoints offline in bulk?

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   This question goes out to Avidyne or any superusers out there:
Is there a way to create a lot of user waypoints at one time with Excel and then import them into the IFD?  It looks like the file format is proprietary, or at least not in ASCII format.  I know you can create them in the trainer and/or probably in the IFD-100, but I have about 81 lat/long user waypoints that I would like to bulk import into my IFD, without typing each one in individually.  Does anyone know of a way to do this?

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pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Topic: Edit User Waypoints offline in bulk? Posted: 10 Sep 2017 at 1:54pm
	This question goes out to Avidyne or any superusers out there: Is there a way to create a lot of user waypoints at one time with Excel and then import them into the IFD? It looks like the file format is proprietary, or at least not in ASCII format. I know you can create them in the trainer and/or probably in the IFD-100, but I have about 81 lat/long user waypoints that I would like to bulk import into my IFD, without typing each one in individually. Does anyone know of a way to do this?

chflyer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1035	Post Options Post Reply Quote chflyer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 11 Sep 2017 at 3:28am
	Are you a ForeFlight user? WPTs can be imported in bulk into ForeFlight. While I don't think it is available yet, ForeFlight could have plans in the works to sync WPT with the IFD in a similar way to transferring a FPL today. You might submit a request for this as I suspect they are keeping a list of the requests to set development priorities. I've requested this myself. That doesn't help right now, but could be a way going forward. We can at least hope. Not aware of any other possibilities. Maybe someone else has a solution already. Edited by chflyer - 11 Sep 2017 at 3:39am
	Vince

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 Sep 2017 at 4:26pm
	Solved my own problem: I was able to generate my user waypoints using AutoHotKey, which is a keyboard/mouse macro scripting utility that allows clicks and keystrokes to be automated. I automated the keying in of the waypoints into the simulator, and then automated the keying in of a flightplan with the 81 waypoints. I exported them, and plan to import the waypoints and flight plan to the real box in the near future.

chflyer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1035	Post Options Post Reply Quote chflyer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 Sep 2017 at 5:28pm
	Are the waypoints really then saved on the IFD? My understanding was that only the coord were copied with the routes, but not the names & description... i.e. they aren't saved as user waypoints, just as wpt's in the route.
	Vince

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 12 Sep 2017 at 6:04pm
	I created user waypoints that are stored in the IFD (simulator only at this point), and I created a route that contained many of these user waypoints. I assume once I upload the waypoints and routes, they will be stored in the IFD. Even if just the coordinates come in with the route, that's okay, because that's all I really need. Edited by pburger - 12 Sep 2017 at 6:05pm

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 9:28am
	chflyer, I imported both User Waypoints, and Routes. So, my waypoints were imported, and my imported route came in with the user waypoint names. It worked great.

chflyer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1035	Post Options Post Reply Quote chflyer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 10:15am
	That sounds very promising. When you talk about exporting from the sim and importing to the IFD, I assume you are talking about doing it via the usb stick, correct? If so, this sounds like a way to reinstall user waypoints after upgrade from 10.1 to 10.2. It is not possible to backup user waypoints from a 10.1 IFD and restore them from that backup file to the upgraded 10.2 IFD because the data format is not the same. With your automated keying of waypoints into the sim, do you have the waypoints in a file that is then read by AutoHotKey?
	Vince

chflyer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1035	Post Options Post Reply Quote chflyer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 11:12am
	Would you be prepared to share the AutoHotKey script you wrote to generate user waypoints in the sim?
	Vince

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 13 Sep 2017 at 6:40pm
	It's not 100% automated, so don't expect much. The hard part of keying in 80+ waypoints and then 80+ legs in a route is what I automated. This is my script for entering waypoints. ^w:: Click Sleep 500 Send WP001{Enter}WP001{Enter}N303249W0952851{Enter}{Enter} Sleep 500 Click Sleep 500 Send WP002{Enter}WP002{Enter}N303380W0952842{Enter}{Enter} Sleep 500 Return What I've shown here has two waypoints, but I actually have many more. I hand-entered the lat/longs into excel, and then wrote a VBA macro to generate the script in a text file. Because I was using decimal minutes, I set Position Units in the IFD to: ddd°mm.mm' I start the sim and then hover the cursor over the NEW LSK. Then I start the script with CTRL-w. The script then clicks, enters the waypoint info, hits enter a couple of times, and repeats for the next waypoint. It beats the heck out of typing all those points in. I did the same basic thing for the route with the following script (I have many more waypoints): ^p:: Send WP001 Sleep 500 Send {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} Sleep 500 Send WP002 Sleep 500 Send {Enter}{Enter}{Enter} Sleep 500 Return I just start a new route, set the origin, and have the first waypoint entry box up. Then I hit CTRL-p for this one and off it goes. It enters the waypoint, then enter, enter, enter, then the next waypoint, etc... It makes easy work of it.

chflyer Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Location: LSZK Status: Offline Points: 1035	Post Options Post Reply Quote chflyer Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 Sep 2017 at 2:02am
	Thanks for taking the time to share this. Very clear. The VBA macro to generate the script from an excel file was the missing element.
	Vince

pburger Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Senior Member Joined: 26 Dec 2013 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 406	Post Options Post Reply Quote pburger Report Post Thanks(0) Quote Reply Posted: 14 Sep 2017 at 10:23am
	Vince, Here is the info on the Excel file and macro: I have the start row at cell B3, and the end row at cell B4. I have the waypoint number in column B. I have the lat/lon position in column G formatted as "N303249W0952851". Here are the macros. Nothing fancy at all: '************************************************************************************************ ' Description: Create Text File with Waypoint Macro for AutoHotKey '************************************************************************************************ Sub WaypointsMACRO() Sheet = ActiveSheet.Index TextFile$ = Application.GetSaveAsFilename( _ InitialFileName:="Waypoints.txt", _ FileFilter:="Text files, .txt", _ Title:="Choose filename for text file") If TextFile$ <> "False" Then StartRow = ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 2).Value EndRow = ActiveSheet.Cells(4, 2).Value fn = FreeFile Open TextFile$ For Output As fn For Row = StartRow To EndRow Waypoint$ = "WP" & Format(CStr(ActiveSheet.Cells(Row, 2).Value), "000") Position$ = CStr(ActiveSheet.Cells(Row, 7).Value) Enter$ = "{Enter}" Print #fn, "Click" Print #fn, "Sleep 500" Print #fn, "Send " & Waypoint$ & Enter$ & Waypoint$ & Enter$ & Position$ & Enter$ & Enter$ Print #fn, "Sleep 500" Next Row Close fn MsgBox "Text file created and saved in:" & TextFile$ End If End Sub '*********************************************************************************************** ' Description: Create Text File with FlightPlan for AutoHotKey '************************************************************************************************ Sub FlightPlan() Sheet = ActiveSheet.Index TextFile$ = Application.GetSaveAsFilename( _ InitialFileName:="FlightPlan.txt", _ FileFilter:="Text files, *.txt", _ Title:="Choose filename for text file") If TextFile$ <> "False" Then StartRow = ActiveSheet.Cells(3, 2).Value EndRow = ActiveSheet.Cells(4, 2).Value Enter$ = "{Enter}" fn = FreeFile Open TextFile$ For Output As fn For Row = StartRow To EndRow Waypoint$ = "WP" & Format(CStr(ActiveSheet.Cells(Row, 2).Value), "000") Print #fn, "Send " & Waypoint$ Print #fn, "Sleep 500" Print #fn, "Send " & Enter$ & Enter$ & Enter$ Print #fn, "Sleep 500" Next Row Close fn MsgBox "Text file created and saved in:" & TextFile$ End If End Sub The two macros each generate a text file which I then cut and paste into my .ahk script file. I could have just as easily had the macro generate the .ahk file from the start, including the definition for the hot key and the return statement, but this was just a quick and dirty, get it done thing, so it is what it is. Edited by pburger - 14 Sep 2017 at 2:16pm