Gary, don't try to edit the cfg file manually. You'll be on a hiding to nothing. Use CfgEdit which is perfectly good for editing panels in FS04 and 02 despite only showing FS2000 in its blurb.

You can use it to accurately size and position any pop-up panel. You can create any pop-up that uses the standard sim icons (but use the ones you can see in the program that are in the Mooney, the Kingair and the C208 ) plus a few more less common ones (like overheads) using 'sim icons' created by 3rd party designers. One thing to remember is that in order to work EVERY pop-up must have '_PANEL' in its ident - can't just have a number

eg GPS_Panel, Radio_Stack_Panel, Throttle_Panel

That's about all you need to know to get started  

If you click Window/Set Default Position in CfgEdit you should be able to do what you want.

Quote:

I assume Gary is referring to FS9. In the later versions of FS you're no longer restricted to the FS98-style positioning & it's possible to define the exact size & position of pop-up windows. This can be done in CfgEdit as I described above.

I want to figure how to make this

gauge29=APOLLO_PVI!Apollo_PVI,  [459,434,166,136]

=
this

file=PVI_background.bmp
file_1024=PVI_background.bmp
size_mm=460
window_size_ratio=1.00   
position=0
visible=0
ident=70
file=PVI_background.bmp
file_1024=PVI_background.bmp
size_mm=460
window_size_ratio=1.00   
position=0
visible=0
ident=70
window_size= 0.350, 0.370
window_pos= 0.510, 0.570


I'm trying to correlate this

window_size= 0.350, 0.370
window_pos= 0.510, 0.570

to this

gauge29=APOLLO_PVI!Apollo_PVI,  [459,434,166,136]

which is the gauge on the main panel I want to overlay.  Because the this guage is an xml it doesn't display in the position window page of cfgedit so there's no way I can specifically position it.  I need to find out how the size and co-ordintates of the gauge on the main panel would relate to the size and co-ordinates of the pop-up window so I can postion it precisely where I want it manually.

Its the 0.xxxxx they use for the size and postion of the pop-ups that mess me up.  I don't understand how they relate to where the pop-up will appear on the main panel when clicked open.  If there isn't a handy mathematical formula to manually make sense of it then I guess I'll either just have to keep messing with it till I get it or get a payware panel editor that will allow the precision I need to do what I want the first time at it.

You would need to read the relevant SDK to find out the technical details. This would obviously depend on the size of the main panel BMP. The gauge position & size on a pop-up window is relative to the window itself so if you position & size the window as you want it I don't really see the problem. You can always use an an ordinary gauge instead of the XML gauge to postion it & change it afterwards by manually editing Panel.cfg. If you're serious about panel design it might be worth purchasing FS Panel Studio which is CfgEdit's big brother & designed to work with FS9.

The example you gave seems to have duplicate entries. The part I've marked in italics doesn't look necessary to me. Quote:

Let's start from the beginning. All this information is even confusing me.

Gary R said: Quote:

In this case I would use a conventional gauge to position it on the main panel in CfgEdit. Change the gauge afterwards by manually editing Panel.cfg. Then there would be no need for the pop-up window.

I think I follow you but you're not not seeing my path (nor am I saying mine's necessarily the only way -- there's more than one way to do most things). Your intentions are to have a window that can be displayed or not displayed so placing the gauge in the main panel list defeats that purpose.
window_size= 0.267, 0.267
window_pos= 0.731, 0.478
You're concerning yourself with these but I've never used them because they're not generally included in CFS1 nor in many (although some) CFS2 3rd pty panels. Without anyone telling me, I would change these numbers (keep track) a couple times, multiplying them times their respective pixel count of the window.bmp and see where the window shows up. In CFS1 or 2, I could delete these entries and still place and size the panel;
:

position=8
If you change this number, the window will appear at different locations on the monitor; it will not resize anything, just move the general location. If you find the general position, however, you can open the window.bmp and change its physical size by adding the blank color (usually black is the default transparent); this will move the visible part of the window in the other direction, thus enabling you to tweak your visual positioning.

size_mm=200,330
If you change the 1st number (200 in this one), your horizontal size will change
If you change the 2nd number, your verticle size will change

window_size_ratio=1.00
If you change this number, even decimally, both horizontal and verticle sizes will be changed accordingly. You could, though, try a sizing distortion by, say:
window_size_ratio=1.00, 0.75

Quote:
Only for the fact that he wants the window selectable rather than permanently displayed; he should also be able to reposition it on the screen with his mouse.