A specialty known from Version 7 is the assignment of operations to routes. Turnouts, signals and other objects that are contained in the operations of the route can be locked together with the route until the route is deactivated. As long as they are locked with the route the affected objects cannot change their state or be used in other routes. Locked objects are thus also treated as turnouts, which lie on the path of the route.
TrainController™ 8 Gold provides the additional option to set other objects via op- erations of a route in a protective position, which yet allows the use of the objects in other routes. The safety position remains active until the route will be deactivated. Ob- jects cannot change their state, but they can be used in other routes, provided that the
System Operations
In TrainController™ 8 Gold the following system operations have been introduced: • Display of a message as a temporary appearing tooltip.
• Stop all trains with adjustable delay (smooth emergency stop). • Locking and unlocking of all blocks.
• Locking and unlocking of all schedules. • Set the clock to a particular time.
• Operation of locomotive functions on all vehicles:
With this operation, an arbitrary function of the engine functions library can be switched on or off on all vehicles in which this function is specified. In this way it is e.g. possible, to switch the interior lights in all passenger cars with a single button press. In conjunction with the timetable, this can also be done automatically at spe- cific times.
• Select an object.
• Execute a menu command:
This operation can trigger automatically any of the menu commands. By a preceding operation the object can also be selected, which is the subject of the following menu command. Thus, in automatic mode also those functions of the software can be per- formed, which are only accessible via the menu. Note, however, that selecting the object, or the execution of the menu command run exactly as if both are called via user interface (including the change of windows to the selected object, call of sub- sequent dialog boxes, etc.). But these side effects can also be utilized to, for exam- ple, change from one window to another by selecting an object.
Control Flow Operations
In previous versions it was already possible to insert a delay between two operations. Such delay at least affected the timing of the sequence of operations.
TrainController™ 8 Gold now provides further operations to control the flow of op- erations:
• Goto and Label:
These two operations are always used together. With Goto the operation can be continued with another operation rather than the operation next in the list.
This other operation is marked by an operation, which places a label in the list of operations. It is possible to skip forward, i.e. to a label, which is placed in the list below the Goto operation. And it is also possible to skip backward, i.e. to a label,
identified by a name with up to 4 characters. Uppercase and lowercase letters do not matter.
• Prerequisite:
This operation is always associated with a particular object. If the object is in a par- ticular state, then that operation is executed, which follows directly after the prereq- uisite. If the object is in a different state at the time of execution of the operation, the next operation will be ignored and the subsequent operation will be executed. The condition is met, if the associated object is in the state described below: Feedback indicator: turned on
Flagman: turned on
Block: current block of a train Route: active
Schedule: active
Other objects must not be directly linked to a prerequisite. With the ability to use flagman indicators, however, other objects, other states and arbitrarily complex combinations can be checked in a prerequisite.
If the operation immediately following a prerequisite is a Goto, then the execution of blocks of operations can be made dependent on the prerequisite.
• Random Delay:
This operation is similar to the already known delay. The delay caused by this oper- ation, however, is randomly varied between 0 and the specified time.
To accomplish a random delay with a minimum duration (e.g., 5 to 7 seconds), specify a fixed delay of 5 seconds followed by a random delay of 2 seconds. • Probability:
With this operation, the probability of execution of the operations specified below can be influenced. Normally, all operations specified in a list are carried out with 100% certainty. With this operation, you can influence the likelihood of subsequent operations. These operations will then be executed only with the specified probabil- ity. The probability affects all subsequent operations in the list until a new probabil- ity operation is specified. The probability acts individually. That is, depending on the specified probability some of the subsequent operations are performed and some not. If an operation is specified with 100% probability, all subsequent operations are carried out as usual. In this way it is also possible to specify different probabilities to the operations in a list.
• Random Order / Sequential Order:
With these operations, the order of execution of the following operations can be in- fluenced. Normally, all operations are performed in the listed order. The Random Order operation allows to affect the execution of the following operations in a way that a random order is chosen. The order of subsequent operations will be mixed to- gether until a new Sequential Order operation is applied.
ules start with an interval of one minute, and the second schedule will run with 50% probability, then with this operation the order of the schedules can be randomly shuffled. The delays between the schedules remain intact, as well as the fact that the schedule, which is started as the second, will only run with a probability of 50%. Note, that for certain technical reasons the only control flow operation, which can be performed by routes, is the Delay operation known from Version 7.
Train Operations
In TrainController™ 8 Gold train operations can now be performed by buttons or switches in the switchboard. For this purpose it is possible to associate any buttons or switches to a block. The train operation is then executed by that train, which is currently in the block.
In this way it is e.g. possible to set up a push button in a switchboard, with which the light or the coupling can be operated of that locomotive, which is currently in the asso- ciated block.
In addition to the operations known from version 7 there are the following train opera- tions:
• Starting an AutoTrain run from the current block of the train to any destination block. For this operation, the destination block and the direction of the entrance to this block is specified. When executing the train operation (e.g. by a button or a in- dicator) an AutoTrain run from the current location of the corresponding train to the specified destination is started.
In this way it is for example possible to specify an individual home block for each train. By executing the train operation (e.g. at the end of a session) each train can then automatically be moved into his home block.
Another application is to run a train on special occasions to a particular block (e.g. for maintenance).
• Execution of a particular schedule.
With this train operation it is for example possible to start a schedule with a specific train out of the train window.
This operation also allows to start a certain schedule after termination of another schedule with the same train as before. With the ability to integrate these train- operation in the control flow of operations, there are further possibilities that go far beyond the existing possibilities of the successor function of schedules.
pressed , then the schedule will be started with the train, which is currently located in the block. In this way it is possible to create a button, which does not only start the schedule, but which also selects the start block of this schedule.