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©1998-2001 - Bruce Hellstrom, all rights reserved.
GaugeDump is a shareware application. This means you are allowed to try the program, and if you find it useful, you should support the author by sending in your registration fee. Registered users will receive free updates whenever new versions come out. The current registration price is $20.00.
What's New in Version 2.0
What is GaugeDump?
What does GaugeDump Do?
Overview
How GaugeDump Works
What GaugeDump Doesn't Do
Installing GaugeDump
Uninstalling GaugeDump
Using GaugeDump
GaugeDump Output
Registration Information
Registration Key
Contact Information
GaugeDump is a Win32 shareware program designed to aid gauge developers for Flight Simulator 2000.
GaugeDump takes an existing gauge file for Flight Simulator 2000 and creates a complete "C" project (excluding makefile) with various source files and extracts all the bitmaps contained within the gauge. With the output from GaugeDump, a panel developer can examine the drawing elements of the gauge, see the bitmaps, and have an excellent starting point for creating a new gauge based on the dumped information. GaugeDump finds and places the following items into the source files:
The original version of GaugeDump was developed after the release of the Microsoft Flight Simulator 98 Panel SDK. After studying the documentation, and looking at the examples, I found that I still seemed to need more in order to develop my own gauges. The sample gauges supplied with the SDK seemed too simple and left me wondering how they did some of those complex gauges we see in the Flight Simulator aircraft. That is when I got the idea for GaugeDump. The FS 2000 panel SDK left even more to be desired in my opinion, resulting in more of a need for a tool like GaugeDump.
GaugeDump basically picks apart the data section of the gauge file and finds the various drawing element structures for each gauge contained in the file. It then translates these structures back into a "C" format project that can be recompiled as a starting point for a new gauge. GaugeDump also, exports all the bitmaps from the gauge file and names them based on the "C" file name so that the files can be edited or viewed in your favorite graphics program.
GaugeDump does not disassemble code. What this means is that drawing elements that contain module variable functions, mouse functions, and callback functions will not have the code for those functions retrieved. GaugeDump does create a skeleton function for each of these types of functions found, so that you can add your own code to it. GaugeDump also creates skeleton functions for the SDK exported functions that you can fill out as necessary to make the gauge work. Currently, module variables that are not a part of a drawing element are also not retrieved.
To install GaugeDump on your system, simply double-click the GD20.EXE file. You will be prompted for an installation directory with a default of C:\GaugeDump. Once you have chosen a directory, press the "Unzip" button to extract the files. GaugeDump should not require any special support files. GaugeDump was developed under Windows 98, and should run under Windows NT 4.0 or better. At this time, GaugeDump has been tested only on Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows Millenium, and Windows 2000 Professional. Should you encounter problems running on other versions of Windows, please notify the author.
GaugeDump only writes a minimum amount of data to the system registry and does not create any .ini files. To uninstall GaugeDump, simply delete the files from the directory where they reside.
The GaugeDump user interface has been designed to be as easy and user-friendly as possible. The program only needs two things, a gauge file to examine, and a "C" file name to output the results to. Below is a snapshot of the main window:
To use GaugeDump, first enter the full path and filename of the gauge file you want to dump in the "Input Gauge Filename:" edit box. A browse button is located to the right of the field. Once a name has been put into the input edit control, a corresponding "C" filename will be placed in the "Output C Filename:" box. If this path and name are satisfactory, nothing more needs to be done. If you wish to use a different name or location for the output, either enter in the information manually, or use the browse button to the right of the field. When both filenames have been filled out, simply hit the "Dump" button to begin. A message box will appear to indicate that the gauge has been dumped successfully. If any errors occur, a message box will indicate such.
GaugeDump outputs several files as a result of dumping the gauge. These files consist of the following:
As an example, say you want to dump the contents of a gauge file called "MYPLANE_FUEL.GAU". If the gauge contains three bitmaps with ids of 4096, 8192, and 12888, the resulting output files will be as follows:
MYPLANE_FUEL.C
MYPLANE_FUEL.H
MYPLANE_FUEL.RC
MYPLANE_FUEL_BMP4096.BMP
MYPLANE_FUEL_BMP8192.BMP
MYPLANE_FUEL_BMP12888.BMP
New in version 2.0 of GaugeDump is the gauge info dialog shown below. This new dialog box allows you to see several things about the input gauge file. A picture of this dialog is shown below:
An unregistered copy of GaugeDump is limited to dumping only one Gauge from a gauge file regardless of how many gauges are in the file. By registering GaugeDump, the program is returned to full functionality. The purchase price for GaugeDump is $20 USD. Paid users will get free updates of the program when new versions come out and will have priority in offering suggestions for the product. Registration and credit card payment can now all be done over the internet.
Once you have purchased your copy of GaugeDump, you will be sent the registration key at the email address you gave to PayPal for payment.
Payment for GaugeDump via the internet is handled by PayPal. To purchase your copy, simply click on the button below:
Once GaugeDump payment has been received, you will be e-mailed a registration key in order to activate the full functionality of the program. The name and registration key must be typed in exactly as they appear in the e-mail. The registration key consists of only the characters 0-9 and capital A-F, so there should be no confusion with similar characters.
To enter the registation information, start at the main screen of GaugeDump and press the "About" button. When the about box comes up press the "Enter Reg Info" button. This will bring up the dialog box below where you can enter in the registration name and key from the e-mail. When this is complete, just hit the "Ok" button to save the registratiion information. The program must be shutdown and restarted to return it to full functionality.
GaugeDump has been tested with most of the gauges that came with Flight Simulator 2000 and some that have come from third party sources. Should you encounter some kind of problem, or if you wish to offer suggestions for future versions, you can use the main site contact form.