From:     Stephen Leibowitz
To:         austin meyer
Date:     September 29, 2004
Subject: Keyboard Control in X-Plane

Dear Mr. Meyer:

There appear to be some issues with keyboard control in X-Plane that I would like to bring to your attention. I am using version 7.62 on Windows.

• I suggest that you further document the function key controls. The keys F1, F2, F5, F6, and F9 are not listed in the X-Plane.txt file. I do not necessarily expect their mappings to be user-changeable, but they could still be listed, similar to the Ctrl keys (e.g., CONTROL u). The General Controls.html documentation indicates that function keys can control the prop and mixture, but does not say which keys to use. It does say that F1/F2 is for throttle control.

  ok got it!
  i will get those in the docs for 8.0!

  Also, X-Plane ignores the setting of the Caps Lock key (in Windows). Documenting this behavior would be useful.

• There is a "X-Plane 6.30 Keyboard Command Reference" document at www.X-Plane.info. According to it, X-Plane had keyboard support for individual engine and propeller pitch controls (e.g., F2/Shift F2 for Engine 2 throttle decrease/increase). It appears that this support is no longer present. I can see that the key mappings for this in the document would be problematic. For example, F2 is also listed as all engines throttle increase.

  use the key list in instructions/keys/X-Plane.txt
  it is the only known valid reference

  However, I think keyboard controls for individual engines and propellers can be useful when the items are not identical (e.g., propeller and rotor on a gyrocopter). Also, when I look at an instrument panel, it is not always clear to me what some of the graphic controls are for. I sometimes use the keyboard commands to see what moves in the panel. Keys for the individual items would be useful for that.

  It appears that X-Plane does not currently define any Shift, Alt, or Ctrl mappings for the function keys. This may be a way to implement keyboard control for the individual engines and propeller pitches without the F2 (and other keys) problem that I mentioned above.

• The F9 decreases the mixture, as expected. But neither the F10 nor the Backspace increases the mixture. I noticed this problem with the Boeing 747 and the King Air B200.

  hmm.. a key should indeed increase the mixture...

Sincerely,
Stephen Leibowitz