User talk:Tony.Griffith

Notes recorded during updating and new content addition

Suggestions to simplify working with Track Networks

1. Have a single Track object name, to which the _ModelObject name is mapped.
2. Have this 'internal' Track Object name auto-generated by the Platform.
3. Add Track objects to the _ModelObjects list when new network data is generated.
   (in a manner similar to the way Portals are currently added )
4. Add the Track's _ModelObject Name into a column of the Section Times Table.
   A necessary feature and something Rick is going to do soon, I understand.
   
5. Set up the Track _ModelObject column options to enable renaming of the Track's object label.
   The only Track Section identification name that the modeller or user works with is this one.
6. Remove the Section Details Menu Option (and its table)
7. Rename the Section Times Table to "Track Network Details" Table.
   
8. Include the "Section Type" column in the auto-generated track table Network Details.
   
9. Change the Menu Option "Section Colours" to "Track Colours"

Track vs Section

The continued existence of a separate "Track" and "Section" concept in the GUI makes for a confusing situation where there is no clear (or actual) differentiation in function.

To articulate:

With 5.20j,

• Clicking on a Track Object, you get two menu options, 'Section' at the top, and further down, 'Track'.
• Click on the Section option and you get the dialog with title 'Rename Object'.
• Change the name and click again on the Track Object to get back the menu - the new name is not displayed.
• (If you go to the Track Main Menu and select 'Section Details', the new name *is* shown there).
• If you click on the Track option, you get the same dialog title, only in this case, the Track Name is updated when you look again at the Track Object Menu.

Now, apart from this Track Object Menu, the only places you get to see either the Track Name or the Section Name is in the Section Details Table, whose function is very limited (and potentially frustrating - click the Update Names button and without any request to confirm, all your carefully-renamed section names get replaced).

Adding to the confusion:
In fact we have three separate identifying names for a single, fairly simple object.

1. Section Name
2. Track Name
3. _ModelObject

With the concept of Track Object = Track = Section, the first two identifying names are:

• all but invisible - only appearing in the Section Details table, and the Object's menu
• only editable manually object, by object,
• not addressable in any way
• identical.

At present the Section Details table allows you to:

• view only (can neither copy nor edit) the listing of Track Name; Section Name; Start Location and End Location,
• blow away your section names without warning,
• re-order the internal listing of track objects on that panel in the model.

With a rationalisation of the names, this table will be left showing data you already see in the Section Times Table. The re-ordering of the sections internally has no real relevance for the management of a Track Network per se and is more of an engine optimizing function as I understand it. Thus it could be shifted into an advanced tools section on its own.

I think that the Default Table created for track network node location and section control information (as well as section times) would more accurately be called the Track Network Details Table, rather than the Section Times Table.

This would align with the menu option under Track, including the name of the dialog in which you make the reference to the table you use for this information...

Advantages would be:
- less terminology for the user to have to make sense of,
- indicates that the data contained in this table is about the network as a whole, and not just the section times,
- reduces the prominence of the term "Sections" limiting it to the relevant table columns only,

In the release notes for 5.00n

PL looks for a "Section Type" column in the track table specified in Network Details. If this column is found, PL uses it to read/set the track network section types. The column should be formatted using the "_section type" label list. When the run starts, PL will treat the column as follows: If the value is "-" then PL will read the section type from the track network. This should be default value for the column in order that existing networks are properly set up in the table. If the value is not "-" then PL will ensure the section is changed to the value in the table when the run is started.

I reckon this column could successfully be included in an auto-generated Track Network Details table.
It is harmless until used, and useful to hint at the possibilities.