I've been getting into panel design, primarily tweaking my own panels by moving, replacing, etc. gauges. But the window design escapes me.  I want to move and resize some GPS windows and after I get the hang of that afew other popups.  I have a panel with this configuration that puts a GPS window in the bottom right, but not in the default position in the corner:

[Window01]
Background_color=0,0,0
size_mm=640
window_size_ratio=1.00   
position=0
visible=0
ident=GPS_panel
window_size= 0.226, 0.482
window_pos= 0.774, 0.432

Having read my Panel Design SDK it appears that:

size_mm means the window is 640 pixels - width, depth or what?

Window size ratio=1.00 "Determines the width of panel window as a ratio of the client area of Flight Simulator main window"  Huh?  If the default is 1, why is this in here?

Position=0 This should put it in the upper left corner, shouldn't it?

visible=0.  Finally, a line I understand.
ident=GPS.  OK, I understand this one, too.

window_size= 0.226, 0.482
window_pos= 0.774, 0.432 - according to the SDK, I have just overridden the previous size, ratio and position settings.

Should I always set size, ratio and position as above so I can reset them here?

What do the numbers mean?  I get the impression they are relative positions, 0.0, 0.0 being upper left corner and 1.0, 1.0 being bottom right.

Anything else I'm missing?

The file in question seems to have a lot of entries, which might make this confusing. Here is the GPS entry for the microsoft Boeing 737:
   [Window02]
size_mm=150,250
position=8
BACKGROUND_COLOR=16,16,16
VISIBLE=0
ident=GPS_PANEL
gauge00=gps!gps,0,0,150,250

The top line is the size line(Heigth, Width)
The second line is the position, which in this case is 8. Position 8 is the lower right corner. It usually starts with 0(upper left corner), then 1,2,3,4,etc. going across the top and down to the lower left to the middle right.
  The last line is X axis, Y axis, heigth, width.
  Hope this helps a little, even though it sounds confusing.

Maybe a picture will help.  Here's my entries for a an F86/100 panel:


[Window03]
Background_color=16,16,16
size_mm=150,250
window_size_ratio=1.00  
position=0
visible=1
ident=GPS_PANEL
window_size= 0.239, 0.345
window_pos= 0.765, 0.625
gauge00=gps!gps,  0,0,150,250

and here's the panel



I tried size_mm=640 but it didn't work.  The gauge was tiny picture inside of the window.  The size is per the original designer.

The left/right position is pretty good (blind luck) but the right edge of the gauge is cut off.  Which entry should I modify to make the left/right size smaller - size_mm, window_size, or gauge00?

Then I need to move it down a little (just under the red warning lights) and when I have the top of the gauge perfectly aligned I need to stretch it so the bottom of the gauge lines up with the bottom of the panel.

Which entries control moving/dragging the whole gauge and which ones control the size?  Note that position=0 seems to be irrelevant.

Do I need to first define the window parameters then put the gauge into it?

No, I just started using CfgEdit for general positioning and sizing of gauges, then I tweak the .cfg file with notepad.  I can't get CfgEdit to properly show window position and it comes up with error messages every time it sees something it doesn't understand.

position      Specifies the relative position of a panel window to the main window. For example:
position = 7
A number from 0 to 8 (as shown below) designates the position of the panel window. If nothing is specified, 7 is the default.

0 = upper-left corner
1 = upper-middle side
2 = upper-right corner
3 = middle-left side
4 = middle
5 = middle-right side
6 = lower-left corner
7 = lower-middle side
8 = lower-right corner

window_pos      Overrides the position and windowsize_ratio variables. Provide an x(,y) value.
window_pos=0.85, 0.3

window_size      Overrides the position and windowsize_ratio variables. Provide a w(,h) value.
window_size=0.5, 0.5


The above is an excerpt from the Microsoft panel SdK. I know that you have read it, but The window pos and size entries are overriding your other entries.
I know that with POP-UP windows I just let them come up and reposition them with the mouse to my desired location. If you are dealing with fixed windows, that is a different story.

Question? "After relooking at your file setup for the GPS, you have it marked as visible=1. This means that your gauge is more like a fixed window instead of a pop-up one. If you intend it to be a pop-up one then you entry should read visible=0". Second question is what is behind the GPS screen? That would give a better idea as to how you plan on placing it visually, instead of trying to explain it.

Visible=1 is just so I don't have to click the icon every time I reload the panel.  When I'm done editing I'll set it back to 0.  There's nothing behind it but the main panel.

I found another example that may illustrate what I want to do.  It's the left 1/3 of the screen.  The code is:

[Window13]
size_mm=260,258
window_size_ratio=1.00   
visible=0
ident=205
pixel_size=0,0
window_pos= 0.030, 0.522
gauge00=gps!gps,  -8,1,275,255

and it looks like this


Size looks like the window size - 260x280 pixels.

Window_pos looks about right - upper left corner is 30 pixels from the left edge of the screen and 522 pixels from the top of the screen.

The gauge00 entries look like gauge placement within the window, the negative number being the reason why the left border of the guage is invisible.

So I conclude that

1. Size=mm means window size?  (OK, I'm still lost on this one but either 640 or the same as the gauge size).

2. Position=xx is irrelevant since I am going to override it later.  This example doesn't even have that line.

3. Window size ratio should always be 1.00 since I am going to override it later.

4. Window_pos is the position of the window (w,h) on the screen (not just relative to the panel bmp).

5. Window_size is the size of the window (w,h).

6. Window_size and window_pos are numbers between 0 and 1 where 1,1=the right bottom pixel (1024, 768 for my resolution).

7. Gauge=(gaugename), X position within the window, Y position within the window, Width of gauge, height of gauge.  The first 2 numbers will usually be 0,0.

Am I getting closer?

Haven't read the whole of this thread - life's too short at the moment(!) - but using CFGEdit I've had no problem positioning popups - esp GPS using the position feature which lets you see exactly where it'll be on the panel, resize it and move it round.

Load your panel in CFGEdit and open your GPS panel, then click on Window-Set Default Position. Couldn't be easier. If you're getting error messages you've got a prog problem. Works with all mine and I've done loads.

Roger