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#2606 Ramp Marshall addon creates illegal property paths for ICAO starting with numeral
FG is crashing with error:
Illegal character '7' at start of leaf of property path:/airports[0]/7622
this is when my plane (A320-family) passes near the aiport 'Yvetot Baons Le Comte' - ICAO '7622'
Does FG can handle numeric ICAO Airport's names?
Hi wKitty,
I sincerely appreciate you taking the time to test this on your end. Your feedback is invaluable in helping me to determine the scope of this issue. I will try to clear the default and custom scenery folders to see if that helps. I haven't delved into traceback debugging yet, especially after a fresh development environment setup. Are you able to guide me on how to acquire the build info please?
On a positive note, knowing that not everyone is encountering this issue helps narrow things down. Thank you again. :)
there's no need to clear your terrasync... it won't change what's there...
for your custom scenery, there's a blue box beside each one in the launcher... click the blue box to disable them and FG won't even know they exist...
we'll talk elsewhere about debugging the stuff... at least as far as i'm able to take you... then it will be up to someone else to interpret the output...
Last edit: waldo kitty 2024-01-13
Hello wKitty, I believe I've identified the source of the error: the Nasal files associated with the Ramp Marshall add-on. Disabling the add-on didn't resolve the issue as we need to add 2 Nasal files manually to the data folder during the installation. I've not took a closer examination of the Nasal scripts to see what exactly caused the error but it revealed frequent mentions of "ICAO," which might be the trigger.
It's a shame that the add-on requires modifying the data folder, as add-on installation should ideally be seamless. I must say the Ramp Marshall add-on is something good to have. Probably I will look at the scripts and find a fix.
interesting... was the Ramp Marshall add-on around back in Jul 2021 when this issue was first filed? then the question is if the OP also had it installed and enabled... idk the answer to any of those three questions...
Great find! Looking at the ramp marshall's code it does indeed construct an /airports/icao tree, so we have finally found the culprit. Based on James and Edward's comments, I conclude that the preferred way to fix this is to change the marshall's code to not blindly output the ICAO code to the property tree, but to e.g., include a prefix such as _ICAO.
Anyone up for that task? (and turning it jnto a 'proper' installable addon that does not require fiddling with fgdata)
I'm very glad we now have a definite cause, and it's some explict additional code and not a weird config of 'plain' FGFS. It sounds like the ramp marshall is unmaintained?
AFAICT the Ramp Marshall was originally presented on the forums back in Aug 2013 by omega95 here: Nasal based Independant Ramp Marshall
it looks like wlbragg was maybe doing some work on it to convert it to the add-on format back in Oct 2023... no idea where it stands at this point, though...
@wlbragg ping :-)
I am keen to find answer to those questions too, wKitty.
Yes, I have a version in the addon format. It's a work in progress. I set it aside temporarily to do something else, Story of my life. I believe when I am done it will be possible to add persistent ramps on the fly when using any vehicle, not just the UFO. It will be a very simple interface to add a ramp, basically just click where you want one. The only negative thing I know about the method I planned to use, is in order to save the ramp data with the addon you have to add a "save data path" exception in the command line. Same as is done in the Aerotow Anywhere addon for saving routes. I need to talk to James or someone about adding the addon saved data space to the automatically allowed saved data paths.
My addon version will eliminate any other user required setup, like putting nas files or data files in fgdata.
Typically "Illegal character '7'" errors are GUI data field errors that break for one reason or another. THey are really hard to track down, at least for me because of the lack of debug info.
This issue would be resolved when I finish this addon. I don't really have a time frame. There isn't much left to do. I just need to sit down and do it.
Hi Wayne, I believe you're wlbragg from the FG forum, with whom I previously discussed the Ramp Marshall. It's a pleasure to connect with you again here.
I was eager to share this information in the forum thread, knowing you're actively developing enhancements for the addon, But I thought it might be valuable to first gain some insight into the scripts. Please let me know if there's anything I can assist with in your testing efforts. I'd be happy to help in any way possible.
Just one more thing! There's something about adding new ramps which I noticed some time ago, but no worries, I'll save my questions for the forum after your awesome updates drop.
Last edit: scarymovie 2024-01-16
Hi scarymovie, thank you, yes that is I. Beings there still appears to be current interest in this I will get back on this asap and get something pushed to the addons so everyone can test and suggest improvements. If I can make this the way I envisioned it, it will be a substantial improvement in as much as users won't have to mess with installing files. It should work like any other addon and only require pointing downloading the addon and pointing to it.