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193 lines
11 KiB
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193 lines
11 KiB
Plaintext
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<!-- Copyright Bob Jacobsen 2008 -->
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<title>JMRI: Aspect Signaling</title>
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<meta name="Author" content="Bob Jacobsen, Egbert Broerse, Bob M.">
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<h1>JMRI: Aspect Signaling</h1>
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<p class="subtitle">Controlling model signals in a prototypical manner</p>
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<a href="images/Rule282.png"><img src="images/Rule282.png" height="241" width="159" class=
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"floatRight" alt="rule 282"></a> Protoypical signal systems present "<a href=
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"index.shtml#aspect">Aspects</a>" to the engineer to tell him how to run his train. The
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"Stop" aspect, for example, is pretty simple: "Stop the train". The "Approach medium" aspect
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indicates something more complicated: "Proceed approaching next signal at medium speed". Each
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aspect has an associated "indication", which is usually codified in a railroad's Rule Book.
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<p>The picture to the right shows an example, Rule 282 from the 1946 AAR rule book (Aspect:
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Approach Medium).</p>
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<h2>JMRI Support for Aspect Signaling</h2>
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<p>A collection of plain instructions let you set up <a href="SignalingSetup.shtml">Signaling
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in 7 Quick Steps</a>.</p>
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<p>Aspect Signaling is supported in JMRI using three of the Signaling Tools:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>
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<strong><a href="SignalMasts.shtml">Signal Mast</a></strong> objects represent an entire
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signal with one or more Signal Heads. A Signal Mast can operate all its Heads, as
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required to do full prototypical signaling based on aspects. When its Aspect is set to
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e.g. "Approach medium", JMRI handles the layout communication needed to make the signal
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on the layout display the right colors.<br>
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<a href="../../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/images/SignalMasts-num.png"><img src=
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"../../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/images/SignalMasts-num.png" width="309" height=
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"83" class="floatRight" alt="signal mast table"></a> Signal Masts are configured through
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the <a href="../../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SignalMastTable.shtml">Signal Mast
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Table</a>. You add new ones with the "Add..." button below the table, which takes you to
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the <a href="../../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SignalMastAddEdit.shtml">"Add Signal
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Mast" window</a>. There you specify what kind of signaling system is to be used (see
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<a href="#systems">the list below</a>), the specific signal type eg. "double searchlight"
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or "double head dwarf" and which Signal Heads this Mast is going to drive.<br>
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You can add a Signal Mast icon in the Panel Editor by right clicking at any location and
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choosing "Add item > Signal Mast".<br>
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In Layout Editor enter the Signal Mast address and shift click on a turnout or anchor
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point on the panel where you want to place a Signal. The Signal Mast icon will display
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the images specified in the appearance definition for that particular Signal Mast type
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and system. The Signal icons displayed on your panel are part of a Signal System and they
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can't be changed individually by the user like Turnout icons.<br>
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Image on the right: Rule 281 Signal Icons from the AAR-2 Signal System.
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<!-- icons from AAR-2 xml appearance definition xml March 2014 -->
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<a href="../../../../../xml/signals/AAR-1946/aspects.xml"><img src=
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"images/AAR-2Clear.png" width="187" height="187" class="floatRight" alt=
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"AAR rule 281"></a><br>
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</li>
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<li><strong><a href="SignalGroups.shtml">Signal Groups</a></strong> are used to define a
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number of Signal Heads, where only one Signal Head can be illuminated at any given time,
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depending upon the state of the associated Signal Mast and a set of conditions.<br>
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Signal Groups would be used where additional indicators are used to support the main Signal
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Mast, such as Junction, Route or Speed displays. These indicators provide additional
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information to the driver (US: Engineer) that is not given by the main Signal Mast. Such
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indicators are frequently seen in European and UK signaling.</li>
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<li>The <strong><a href="SignalMastLogic.shtml">Signal Mast Logic</a></strong> tool allows
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the Signaling Logic to be built up as pairs of conditionals between Signal Masts on the
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layout. The Signal Mast Logic will use the states of Blocks, Turnouts, Sensors and adjacent
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Signal Masts to determine what Aspect a Signal Mast should be displaying.<br>
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If the layout has been drawn up using the Layout Editor and Signal Masts have been placed
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on the panel using the various tools, then it is possible for all the Signal Mast Logic to
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be dynamically built, with little user intervention. For panels created with Control Panel
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Editor some of this information has to be entered manually.</li>
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</ul>
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<p><strong><a href="SignalHeads.shtml">Signal Head</a></strong> objects in JMRI are not aware
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of their position on a mast and the Signaling System they are part of, so as individual
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objects they can't show Signal Aspects. Individually they can only be set to specific
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<a href="index.shtml#appearance">Appearances</a> (colors), either from the Signal Head Table
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or via <a href="#logix">Logix</a>.</p>
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<h3>How does it work?</h3>
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<p>In short, a set of files for the selected Signaling System contains the basic code to
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determine which combinations are available in the <a href="SignalMastLogic.shtml">Signal Mast
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Logic</a> tool.<br>
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In the xml/signals directory located in the JMRI program directory, there is a directory for
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every Signaling System that has been defined, with one "aspects.xml" file which lists all of
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the possible Aspects plus a number of "appearance..." files (i.e.
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<em>appearance-one-searchlight.xml</em>), each of which describes the possible Aspects based
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on one Signal Mast type. These essentially say "if the next signal has an 'x' aspect, then
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the current one needs to show a 'y' aspect" (<a href="DefineNewAspects.shtml">more
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details</a>).<br>
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The Signal Mast Logic table is then used to check which Signal Mast pairs are active in the
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Signal Mast Logic and whether the Aspect should <em>not</em> be 'Stop'. This is done by
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looking at Turnout positions (if applicable), Block occupancy and - possibly - Sensors. On
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the Signal Masts tab you might even specify additional Signal Masts to watch, e.g. for an
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Interlocking. For any Signal Mast, there can be 1 to n destination Signal Masts, one of which
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is active based on the positions of Turnouts connecting the protected Blocks.<br>
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If everything is OK, then the appropriate "appearance..." file for this Signal Mast type will
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be used by the Signal Mast Logic to assign a new Aspect based on the Aspect of the next
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Signal Mast.<br>
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This covers the basic workings in a very high level overview. (Thanks to Dave Sand)</p>
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<img src="images/Panel1Stop.png" width="185" height="135" alt=""> <img src=
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"images/Panel2Approach.png" width="185" height="135" alt=""><br>
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Signal 4B showing the "Stop" Aspect when sensor OD1 is Active (at left) and "Approach
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Diverging" when the block is empty (at right).
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<h2 id="systems">Available Signaling Systems</h2>
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<p>JMRI users have provided signaling systems for
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<a href="../../../../../xml/signals/basic/index.shtml">Basic</a>,
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<a href="../../../../../xml/signals/AAR-1946/index.shtml">AAR-1946</a>,
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<a href="../../../../../xml/signals/BR-2003/index.shtml">BR-2003</a>
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and many more.
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The complete list is at
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<a href=
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"../../../../../xml/signals/">https://www.jmri.org/xml/signals/</a>.</p>
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<p>To create your own Signaling System Definition follow these <a href=
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"DefineNewAspects.shtml">Instructions</a>. If you do create a new definition for another
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prototype railroad or era, after testing please contribute it back to the JMRI project so we
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can distribute it with future releases of the project for others to use. Like Decoder
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Definitions in DecoderPro, the more Signal System Definitions we have, the more useful the
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program becomes, and the more people spend time to improve it. We all win that way!</p>
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<h2>Code Access to Aspect Information</h2>
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<h3 id="logix">Logix</h3>
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<p>Signal Masts can be both tested (in Conditionals) and set (in Actions) via Logix. When
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you're editing a Logix Conditional or Action, you have to type the Signal Mast name and hit
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enter/return so that the program can look up the available Aspects for that particular Signal
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Mast.</p>
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<h3 id="mastscripting">Scripting</h3>
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<p>A program (in Java or Python) can get access to Aspect information in two ways. If the
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code has a reference to a specific Signal Mast "m", it can use</p>
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<pre style="font-family: monospace;">
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m.getValidAspects()
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</pre>to get the list of aspect names that this Signal Mast can display. The program can then
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access the Signal System definition with
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<pre style="font-family: monospace;">
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SignalSystem sys = m.getSignalSystem()
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</pre>and then enquire about properties of the aspect:
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<pre style="font-family: monospace;">
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sys.getProperty("Clear","speed");
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</pre>where the first argument is the aspect name (use, for example, <code>m.getAspect()</code> to
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obtain the current one on the mast) and the second is a specific property. Properties can be
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defined programmatically via e.g. <code>m.setProperty("Clear","speed","69");</code> or get loaded
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automatically from elements in the <a href="DefineNewAspects.shtml">aspect.xml</a> file that
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defines the specific signal system.
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<p>In addition to the global properties for an Aspect, there can also be local properties to
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a specific Signal Mast type. An example of this is the default icon image: The image for a
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two-head Signal Mast is different from that for a one-head Signal Mast, even if they both
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represent "Clear".</p>
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<p>To get those:</p>
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<pre style="font-family: monospace;">
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m.getAppearanceMap().getProperty("Clear","imagelink");
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</pre>In words, this is saying "Get the Appeance info for this Signal Mast, and then check the
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imagelink property of the Clear aspect".
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<p>Alternatively, if you know the name of the Signal System in use, a program can access it
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directly via the InstanceManager:</p>
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<pre style="font-family: monospace;">
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SignalSystem sys = InstanceManager.getDefault(SignalSystemManager.class).getSystem("basic");
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</pre>
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<p>Back to the <a href="index.shtml">Signaling main help page</a>.</p>
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