Serge NOEL
249 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
249 lines
14 KiB
Plaintext
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<title>Basic Throttle window usage</title>
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<meta name="keywords" content="JMRI decoderpro dcc nmra throttlepro">
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<meta name="Description" content="Throttle documentation for JMRI project">
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<meta name="Author" content="Lionel Jeanson">
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<meta name="Language" content="EN">
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<meta name="Revisit-After" content="7 Days">
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<h1>Using the Throttle Pane</h1>
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<img src="images/BasicThrottleWindow.png" alt="BasicThrottleWindow.png"><br>
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<h2>Basic structure of a Throttle Window</h2>
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There are three panels (or sub-windows) associated with each Throttle window. These are
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identified as:<br>
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<ul>
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<li>Control Panel - contains a throttle slider to control the speed of the loco, a forward
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and reverse selector, an Emergency Stop action button, and an Idle action button (mostly
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used for sound equipped decoders).</li>
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<li>Function Panel - is used to associate the function buttons with the active output
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functions of the decoder.</li>
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<li>Address Panel - is used to identify the decoder's address, and to dispatch or release
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the identified address.</li>
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</ul>
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Note that these three panels are actually windows defined within an overall window, each of
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these panels contain their own "minimize" and "close" buttons - as well as can also be
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resized. You can actually minimize one or more of these panels within the Throttle window.
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When one of these subwindows is closed, is can be reopened through <a href=
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"ThrottleWindowMenus.shtml">the View menu</a>.<br>
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<br>
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For details about usage of the <a href="ThrottleWindowMenus.shtml">Throttle window menus, see
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there</a>.<br>
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For details about usage of the <a href="ThrottleToolBar.shtml">Throttle window toolbar, see
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there</a>.<br>
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For details about usage of the <a href="ThrottlesPreferencesPane.shtml">Throttles
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Preferences, see there</a>.<br>
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<br>
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For <a href="AdvancedThrottleControl.shtml">advanced control of a Throttle, see
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there</a>.<br>
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<br>
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<h2>Address Panel - Assign a Decoder Address to a Throttle</h2>
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The first thing that needs to happen before any options or buttons in the window become
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active, is to assign a decoder's address in the "Address Panel". There are two ways that this
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can be accomplished.<br>
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<br>
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Manually enter the decoder's address in the large text box or select an existing Roster entry
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though the drop down menu, then click on the "Set" button.<br>
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When manually entering an address, be sure to click on the Set button. Without this step, all
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throttle actions remain disabled.<br>
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<br>
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Note that there is an option in the <a href="ThrottlesPreferencesPane.shtml">Throttles
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Preferences Pane</a> that will enable an automatic look back in the roster when an address
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is entered, and eventually trigger an automatic set up of the full throttle if any matching
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Roster entry is found. This option is enabled as a default.<br>
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<br>
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After an address is selected, all other controls and options in the throttle window will be
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enabled:<br>
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<ul>
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<li>Dispatch - releases the decoder address back to the command station in a "dispatch"
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mode. Usually, only one address can be in dispatch state at the command station - all
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others are either "in use" or "idle" (released). The controls and options in the throttle
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window will become disabled until another address is "Set".</li>
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<li>Release - releases the decoder address back to the command station as "no longer
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needed". The controls and options in the throttle window will become disabled until another
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address is "Set".</li>
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<li>Program - opens an ops-mode (programming on the main) DecoderPro programmer for the
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selected locomotive. It's only active when a roster entry has been selected on the
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throttle.</li>
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</ul>
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<h2>Control Panel - Let's Run a Train</h2>
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Now that you have established an address for the throttle, you should be able to run the
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train on your layout (if your layout is active and the address you entered is valid to a
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locomotive on the track). You do this using the "Control Panel".<br>
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<ul>
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<li>The speed step combobox allows to select the speed step setting that will apply to the speed slider UI,
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note that this is automatically set to the decoder setting when a throttle is acquired</li>
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<li>The slider will control the throttle speed.</li>
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<li>The Forward and Reverse button its direction.</li>
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<li>The STOP! button will send a emergency stop (DCC speed to -1) message to the
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locomotive.</li>
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<li>The Idle one will stop the locomotive smoothly (DCC speed to 0) (if the decoder has
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acceleration or braking rates enabled, the loco will speed up or slow down accordingly. If
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no momentum values are enabled, the loco will speed up or slow down abruptly.).</li>
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</ul>
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Beware of where you click with your mouse pointer in the Control Panel. If you click anywhere
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near the slider, your loco may take off on you unexpectedly (more on this below). If you
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click anywhere on the words "Forward" or "Reverse", you might change current train
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direction.<br>
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<br>
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<h3>Control Panel config pane</h3>
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<img src="images/ControlPanelPreferences.png" alt="ControlPanelPreferences.png"><br>
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This pane if accessible by right clicking in the Control Panel pane and opening Properties
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menu entry<br>
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<ul>
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<li>The speed display selector allows to select between :
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<ul>
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<li>Speed slider from 0 to 100 (default).</li>
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<li>Display only numerical value of speed step</li>
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<li>Continuous Speed slider from -100 to +100 with automatic direction change when zero is crossed.</li>
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</ul>
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</li>
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<li>The track slider in real time checkbox updated the speed indicator in real time</li>
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<li>The hide speed selector checkbox allows to hide the speed step setting in the UI</li>
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<li>The switch to continuous speed slider on function: allows to enter a function id (F4 for instance)
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that when activated will automatically switch the speed slider display to continuous (and vice versa when deactivated)</li>
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</ul>
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<br>
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<h2>The Function Panel</h2>
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The Function Panel will automaticaly add/remove buttons when a throttle is acquired depending
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on the number of function this throttle can manage.<br>
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<br>
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Clicking on the function buttons correlate to pressing the same function button on a
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hand-held throttle. The F0 function is normally used for the lights.<br>
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<br>
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This is the basic functionality of the Function Panel. All buttons function act like an on/off
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toggle - click once to turn "on"; click again to turn "off".<br>
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<br>
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<h3>Function Button config pane</h3>
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<img src="images/FunctionButtonProperties.png" alt="FunctionButtonProperties.png"><br>
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This pane if accessible by right clicking in the AddressPanel pane, on a specific Function
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Button and opening Properties menu entry.<br>
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<br>
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Note that for Throttles that have an associated Roster, it is better to define these settings
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in the <a href="RostersMediaPane.shtml">Function label pane</a> in DecoderPro (however if you
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change them here, you can still export these changes to the Roster through the <a href=
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"ThrottleWindowMenus.shtml">Export to Roster</a> menu entry).<br>
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<ul>
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<li>Function Number - associates the button with a function number</li>
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<li>Text - customizable button label text</li>
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<li>Font Size - size of text displayed on button, if no icon</li>
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<li>Image Size - size of icon displayed on button, if any</li>
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<li>Latchable - identifies whether the button acts as an "on/off" toggle switch; or as a
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momentary switch</li>
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<li>Visible - identifies whether the button is visible in the Function Panel window</li>
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<li>Function off icon, drag'n sdrop any image</li>
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<li>Function on icon, drag'n sdrop any image</li>
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</ul>
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By default, the Function Number is associated with the button number that you initially
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right-clicked on. For example, in the figures shown above, function number "3" (F3) is being
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edited. It is recommended that you leave this number as is, however, you can change this to a
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different function number if you really wish. An example of why you might want to do this is
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if you really want the "lights" button - which is usually F0 (located as the last/bottom
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button by default) - to be located as the first button in the Function Panel.<br>
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<br>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Warning!</span> If any modifications are done to the
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"Function Number" field, verify to make sure that no two buttons are assigned the same
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function number - some unwanted consequences may occur.<br>
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<br>
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The Text field will be the most welcome and modified field. By default, it is set similar to
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hand-held throttles: F1...F2...F3...etc. The content of the field is pretty much open to the
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imagination, however, there is going to be a point where the length of the text is not going
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to fit on the button. The Font Size field is available to also assist in getting the wanted
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text to fit on the button. A little experimentation will be required here to determine what
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looks good for you - and what will fit.<br><br>
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The Lockable check box may be a little confusing at first. When enabled - as it is by default
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- it simply means that when the button is clicked on, it will "lock" itself in either an "on"
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state or an "off" state. In other words, the button will act as a toggle switch - click once
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to turn the function "on"; click again to turn the function "off". The opposite of this
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action is what happens when the check box is disabled. Then the button acts like a momentary
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switch - supplying a momentary "on" command for as long as the mouse button is clicked and
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held over the button. When the mouse button is released, an "off" command is sent to the
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function. A good example of where one might want to use this is when customizing a throttle
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setup for a sound decoder. The horn/whistle is closer to functional when this option is
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disabled. Depending on the speed of the computer system and the DCC system, short and quick
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click and releases would provide a short blast of the horn or whistle. Holding down the
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button a little longer would produce a longer held blast of the whistle.<br>
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The lockable state of each button is updated from the mathing roster entry if any, or from
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the DCC throttle itself, as updated by the layout connector on a throttle acquisisiton event.<br><br>
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The Visible check box allows for the "removal" of unwanted buttons. By default, all function
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buttons are enabled as "visible" so that they can obviously be seen. But if there is only a
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single function being used - for example the "lights" (F0) - then this option does provide
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the ability to "hide" all of the other buttons.<br>
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<br>
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<span style="font-weight: bold;">Warning!</span> Disabling the "Visible" check box should be
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one of the last steps performed during this customization process. The reason for this is
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that once the button is marked as "invisible" (by removing the check box), it is indeed
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invisible to the user and therefore can't be right-clicked on with the mouse in order to get
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the "Edit Function Button" window back. To make all buttons see <a href=
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"ThrottleWindowMenus.shtml">throttle menu entry "View->Show All Function Buttons."</a><br>
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<br>
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Button function icons are customizable by drag'n drop or by right clicking, to remove curent image,
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or use a shorcut to get to the JMRI icon ressources folder. Note that SVG files are supported,
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being vectorial, they will be resized nicely.<br>
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If necessary (no existing similar file), droped files are copied into your JMRI ressource folder.<br>
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If you're editing an existing roster entry, it will be updated accordingly. (see <a href="ThrottleWindowMenus.shtml">throttle menu entry
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"Edit->Export current throttles customization to roster"</a>). <br>
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</optgroup>
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<h2>Jynstruments</h2>
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See <a href="../scripting/Jynstruments.shtml">there for more informations about
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Jynstruments</a>.<br>
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<br>
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The Throttle Window is Jynstrumentable, particularly with more advanced function
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controls.<br>
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<br>
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<a href="https://www.jmri.org/jython/Jynstruments/ThrottleFrame/"> A few sample
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Jynstruments are delivered</a>, some for function control, others for camera image integration
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into a JMRI throttle window, roster image display etc...<br><br>
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<span style="font-style: italic;">Note that Throttle Window toolbar is Jynstrumentable too,
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so here we drop the Jynstruments on the window content</span><span style=
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"font-style: italic;">itself, not on the toolbar.</span>
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