node-simconnect

node-simconnect

Wrapper for the SimConnect SDK for Flight Simulator X and Prepar3D (Windows only)

This project is at a very early stage and wraps only a few basic SimConnect function calls. Feel free to join the development! :)

Installation

node-simconnect is a native NodeJS addon written in C++ and must be compiled to a dynamic C++ library before it can be loaded as a module in NodeJS. Included in this repository is a prebuilt binary built with SimConnect 10.0.61259.0 (FSX SP2), which is compatible with FSX SP2, FSX:SE and all versions of Prepar3D. Because SimConnect 10.0.61259.0 is a 32 bit library, you must use the 32 bit version of NodeJS in order to import the module.

To install node-simconnect using the included binary:

npm install node-simconnect

Note: The included binary requires the 32 bit version of NodeJS.

Usage

Import the module:

const simConnect = require('node-simconnect');

The available functions are described below. Please refer to example.js for more help.

open

open(connectedCallback, simExitedCallback, exceptionCallback, errorCallback)

Open connection and provide callback functions for handling critical events. Returns false if it failed to call open (eg. if sim is not running).

Example

var success = simConnect.open("MyAppName", 
    (name, version) => {
        console.log("Connected to: " + name + "\nSimConnect version: " + version);
        // Safe to start interacting with SimConnect here (request data, etc)
    }, () => {
        console.log("Simulator exited by user");
    }, (exception) => {
        console.log("SimConnect exception: " + exception.name + " (" + exception.dwException + ", " + exception.dwSendID + ", " + exception.dwIndex + ", " + exception.cbData + ")");
    }, (error) => {
        console.log("Undexpected disconnect/error: " + error); // Look up error code in ntstatus.h for details
});

requestDataOnSimObject

requestDataOnSimObject(reqData, callback, objectId, period, dataRequestFlag)

Request one or more Simulation Variables and set a callback function to later handle the received data. See SDK Reference for more details.

Each simulation variable is defined by an array.

Example:

[
    "Plane Latitude",              // Datum name
    "degrees",                     // Units name
    simConnect.datatype.FLOAT64,   // Datum type (optional, FLOAT64 is default and works for most data types)
    0                              // Epsilon (optional, 0 is default)
]    

Full example:

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObject([
        ["Plane Latitude", "degrees"],
        ["Plane Longitude", "degrees"],  
        ["PLANE ALTITUDE", "feet"]
    ], (data) => {
        // Called when data is received
        console.log(
            "Latitude:  " + data["Plane Latitude"] + "\n" +
            "Longitude: " + data["Plane Longitude"] + "\n" +
            "Altitude:  " + data["PLANE ALTITUDE"] + " feet"
        );
    }, 
    simConnect.objectId.USER,               // User aircraft
    simConnect.period.SIM_FRAME,            // Get data every sim frame...
    simConnect.dataRequestFlag.CHANGED      // ...but only if one of the variables have changed
);

requestDataOnSimObjectType

requestDataOnSimObjectType(reqData, callback, radius, simobjectType)

Similar to requestDataOnSimObject. Used to retrieve information about simulation objects of a given type that are within a specified radius of the user's aircraft. See SDK Reference for more details.

Example: This will receive info about the user's aircraft. For this, a radius of 0 is used. Notice that when STRINGV is requested, the unit should be null.

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType([
    ["NAV IDENT:1", null, simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["NAV NAME:1", null, simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["NAV DME:1","Nautical miles"],
], (data) => {
    console.log(data);
}, 0 /* radius=0 */, simConnect.simobjectType.USER);

Example: This will receive info about all aircraft within a 10 km radius. The callback will run one time for each identified aircraft.

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType([
    ["ATC MODEL",null,simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["Plane Latitude", "degrees"],
    ["Plane Longitude", "degrees"]
], (data) => {
    console.log(data);
}, 10000, simConnect.simobjectType.AIRCRAFT);

createDataDefinition

createDataDefinition(reqData)

Used to create a data definition. Returns an id which can be used with requestDataOnSimObjectType in place of the array. This should be used when you have multiple requests for the same data - otherwise the app will crash after receiving too many requests.

Example:

var navInfoDefId = simConnect.createDataDefinition([
    ["NAV DME:1", "Nautical miles"],
    ["NAV GLIDE SLOPE ERROR:1", "Degrees"],
    ["NAV RADIAL ERROR:1", "Degrees"],
]);

setInterval(() => {
    simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType(navInfoDefId, (data) => {
        console.log(data)
    }, 0, simConnect.simobjectType.USER)
},100)

setDataOnSimObject

setDataOnSimObject(variableName, unit, value)

Set a single Simulation Variable on user aircraft. First parameter is the datum name, second is the units name and last is the value.

Example:

simConnect.setDataOnSimObject("GENERAL ENG THROTTLE LEVER POSITION:1", "Percent", 50);

subscribeToSystemEvent

subscribeToSystemEvent(eventName, callback)

Subscribe to a system event. See SDK Reference for available events.

Example:

simConnect.subscribeToSystemEvent("Pause", (paused) => { 
    // Called when the system event occurs
    console.log(paused ? "Sim paused" : "Sim un-paused");
});

close

close()

Manually close the connection to SimConnect. Returns false if it fails.

Example:

var success = simConnect.close();

Manual build

You might wish to build node-simconnect manually (eg. with the 64-bit SimConnect SDK that comes with Prepar3D v4). Due to the licensing of the SimConnect SDK the library files are not included in this repository, so you must provide these yourself.

Requirements

• Node.js (32 bit if building for FSX)
• MS Visual Studio (Community version is sufficient)
• FSX or P3D SimConnect SDK files (.lib and .h).

Build

You must provide your own copy of the SDK files. For FSX:SE, these can be found under FSX\SDK\Core Utilities Kit\SimConnect SDK. Follow these steps carefully:

• Navigate to [your project]/node-modules/node-simconnect. Create a folder named SimConnect and copy the two folders inc and lib from the SimConnect SDK installation over to the new directory. These should include SimConnect.h and SimConnect.lib, respectively.
• Open a terminal in [your project]/node-modules/node-simconnect and run npm run build.
• Run the simple example program using node examples/nodejs/example.js.

Note: Your app will first try to load the binary from \build\Release (generated by manual build). If it fails, it will try to load the pre-built binary located in the bin folder.

Using node-simconnect with Electron or NW.JS

To use node-simconnect with Electron or NW.JS, the package must be built specifically for those frameworks. Read more about using native addons here: Electron, NW.JS

• To build native Electron addon: node-gyp rebuild --target=1.6.11 --arch=ia32 --msvs_version=2013 (where --target is the version of Electron).
• To build native NW.JS addon: nw-gyp rebuild --target=0.20.3 --arch=ia32 --msvs_version=2013 (where --target is the version of NW.JS).

Licence

MIT