Font Editor

Overview

The font editor is used to select fonts for gauges from either gauge properties Standard Gauge Properties or the Unique Fonts Dialog.

Options

Font Type

If the display supports vector fonts then the font type will be available. See Font Types .

Bitmap

If selected, the font will be converted to a monochrome bitmap (rasterized) for use by the display.

Vector

If selected, the font file (outlines) will be sent to the display without rasterization. This allows the display to render different sizes from the same font data and antialias (smooth) the outlines.

Bitmap Font

Available fonts are listed. Select an item from the list to change the font face and adjust the size.

Use the Italic and buttons to change the font style.

Offset / Crop

For bitmap fonts, the character cropping rectangle may be adjusted using the cropping options. It can be useful to display the font table when adjusting the cropping options.

Cropping the font can be useful to reduce the memory usage for bitmap fonts and also when fonts do not report accurate bounding rectangles.

Optimize

Click the optimize button to optimize the cropping rectangle based upon used pixels used by all characters in the font table.

Rendering

Monochrome Threshold

Use Legacy Font Mapping

Use Clear Type

Bitmap Font Preview

Emulate Display

Show Font Table

This can be useful for checking that all characters will be fully rendered, particularly if adjusting cropping:

Vector Font

Vector fonts may be added to the setup by adding TTF (TrueType) files to the setup. The TTF files are stored directly in the setup file.

Select an item from the list to apply that font to the gauge.

Adding Vector Fonts

Use the Add button to select a TTF file from disk.

Adding fonts will not change the set of fonts installed on your PC for use by other applications.

Removing Vector Fonts

Use the Delete button to remove any fonts that are no longer required.

Vector Font Size

Adjust Size to select a font size for the gauge. With vector fonts, multiple sizes can be used at once for the same font data on different gauges.

Vector Font Offset

Adjust Offset to offset the rendering position of the font. This is rarely required but can be useful in cases where the rendering origin for the font is not in the correct position.

Font Types

Overview

Depending upon the display type, there may be the option to use either Bitmap fonts or Vector fonts.

Bitmap Fonts

All display module types support bitmap fonts. When the setup is programmed into the display, fonts are converted to monochrome bitmap images with a sub-image for each character.

If multiple sizes of the same font are used then each size will require a separate bitmap generated for it. It is therefore worth limiting the set of font sizes used, where possible to reduce memory usage.

By default, the Windows-1252 code page will be used for mapping characters, sometimes referred to as a charset. Some display setups may use characters that are not representable by the default code page. In these instances Dash Design will generate a custom code page so that these characters may be rendered by the display.

Vector Fonts

Some display types support ‘vector’ fonts (e.g. TTF).

Vector fonts have the following advantages:

• Anti-aliased rendering.
• The same font data can be used to render different font sizes.
• Unicode support.

Since vector fonts allow the display to support unicode, gauges like Label Gauge or Text Input Gauge that are using vector fonts will be encoded with a unicode representation (UTF-8).

When using unicode characters in Notifications (see Notifications Tab ), it is best to ensure that gauges that use them are either exclusively vector fonts or bitmap fonts to avoid potential rendering issues since different charsets are expected.

Preferences

Overview

Some application settings are available via the Configure | Preferences... Alt + F7 command.

Adjust the relevant preferences using the property grid, descriptions for the properties are shown at the bottom of the dialog.

Setup Checker

Overview

The setup checker identifies and in some cases automatically fixes common setup errors and warnings.

Showing the Setup Checker

The setup checker may be shown by using the View | Setup Check menu action or by double clicking on the setup check status indicator on the application status bar at the right-hand side:

Setup Checker Messages

Messages are listed with a severity:

Severity	Description
Error	Indicates a major issue in the setup that must be resolved prior to programming.
Warning	Indicates a minor issue that ought to be addressed otherwise the display may not behave as expected.
Info	Typically indicates something minor that has been fixed automatically.

Goto Location

Messages may be associated with an item in the setup. Double clicking on messages will attempt to locate the item in Dash Design and show it. For example, if the message relates to a Channel then Dash Design will display the Channels Tab and select the Channel.

Refresh

Some setup check messages are ‘sticky’ and will remain in the list until acknowledged (typically these are automatic fix notifications). Other messages are removed automatically when the offending condition has been resolved.

Click the Refresh button to clear all Setup check messages and re-run the setup check; this will clear any ‘sticky’ messages.

Checked Items

• CAN RX: ID range validity.
• CAN-FD data bit rate equals or exceeds port bit rate.
• CAN TX: Data Specification completeness.
• CAN TX: Do any signals exceed message DLC?
• CAN TX: Are any signals missing an input channel.
• Invalid keypad event trigger removal.
• Gauge charset conflicts (only applicable for display that support vector fonts).
• Refactoring of CAN sources from prior software versions for 1:1 link to outputs.
• Remove non-loggable channels from logging configuration on applicable display types.
• Logic channels: Validate that logic channel can reach both the on/off state. Misconfiguration of initial/retrigger delays or the logic itself may result in logic channels that will never ‘fire’. This includes issues where floating point rounding errors can result in non-functional logic channels.
• Monitored channels - Add monitoring on channels that require it for correct functioning and remove any dangling references from prior software versions.
• Remove any broken channel definitions that are not accessible in the software, typically from issues in prior software versions.
• Fix any predefined channels that were named/scaled differently in prior software versions.
• Validate that the Odometer channel is correctly configured with appropriate input units.
• Validate distance trip configuration.
• Validate and fix internal channel/gauge references.
• Check that maths channels have valid inputs.
• Check that ECU Text channels are directly derived from a Raw CAN source channel (otherwise they do not work in the display).
• Validate that unit conversions can be applied e.g. from channel Output Units => Display Units.
• Check that the Speed Input channel has units of speed specified.
• Check and remove invalid alarm page triggers.
• Check compatibility of bar gauge input data type - warn if time inputs are used directly.
• Check for valid Format property on gauges.
• Check that gauges have valid input channels and warn if missing.
• Validate that image gauges have a valid image (e.g. the image was not removed from the setup).
• Check for out-of-bounds rendering (e.g. on Needle gauge).

Track Database

Overview

Some Display Module types support a programmable track database. The track database allows the display to automatically select a nearby GPS start/finish line based upon the GPS position.

Track Database

A track database can be maintained on the PC. It is a folder containing kml or kmz files called “Tracks” under the Dash Design documents folder.

Click the Explore button on the Track Database dialog to open the folder in Windows® file explorer.

Programming the Display

Select the tracks that you want to program by checking them in the list then click the Program Display button.

Reading from the Display

Use the Read Display button to read the tracks that are currently loaded in the display and update the checked tracks in the track database dialog.

Any tracks that exist in the display that do not exist on disk shall be added to the list (but not added to the Tracks folder).

Defining Tracks

Tracks can be defined either by editing KML files (an XML type format) by hand, or by using an editor such as Google Earth. A zipped KML format is also supported (KMZ).

The KML file should contain a folder with the name of the track. Within this should be a line string with the name “Start/Finish” and may also contain numbered split lines (e.g. Split1 or Split2). At present, only the Start/Finish line is programmed into the display.

The “Start/Finish” and any “Split” lines must have 2 points only. These lines should cross the track perpendicular to the line that the car would take. The direction of the line is 90° clockwise from the first point. So, given a track that is oval and the car is running clockwise around the track, the line would start inside the oval and end outside. If the car was running anti-clockwise then the line would start outside the oval and end inside it.

The track definition may also contain a line string for the track itself called “Track”. This is rendered in the Track Database dialog as a thumbnail and is currently purely for visualization purposes.

For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<kml xmlns="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2" xmlns:gx="http://www.google.com/kml/ext/2.2" xmlns:kml="http://www.opengis.net/kml/2.2" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
<Document>
    <name>Silverstone.kmz</name>
    <Folder>
        <name>Silverstone</name>
        <Placemark>
            <name>Start/Finish</name>
            <LineString>
                <tessellate>1</tessellate>
                <coordinates>
                    -1.023222302590363,52.06815679907218,0 -1.023762259441994,52.06840339462266,0 
                </coordinates>
            </LineString>
        </Placemark>
        <Placemark>
            <name>Track</name>
            <LineString>
                <tessellate>1</tessellate>
                <coordinates>
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Undo / Redo

Overview

Dash Design provides undo/redo functionality for reverting / re-applying changes to the setup.

If an unintentional/unwanted change is made then Edit | Undo Ctrl + Z will revert the change.

To re-apply the un-done changes, use Edit | Redo Ctrl + Y.

If the setup is edited following an undo operation then this will clear any of the items available for ‘redo’.

Undo History

A history of changes made to the setup during the current session is available using Edit | History Ctrl + H

Selecting items in the history list will revert the setup to that point in time.

Unique Fonts

Overview

Tools | Unique Fonts... provides a way to view a list of all fonts used by gauges in the setup.

Font List

The Unique Fonts dialog presents a list of fonts that are used by gauges in the current setup. There may be more than one gauge using the same font.

Selecting a font in the list will enable the edit / copy / paste / find functions.

The font list indicates the size and style of the font.

Additionally the list will identify fonts that are ‘vector’ fonts - see Font Types .

Copy / Paste

Fonts may be copied and pasted into another ‘font’. Pasting a font will replace all instances of the font being ‘pasted into’, resulting in the list of gauges for each font being combined to use the same font.

Finding Gauges

The Find button will search through screens for gauges that use the selected font and select the first usage in the Design Tab .

A list of all gauges / screens that use the selected font may be displayed by selecting “List associated gauges” from the context menu (right-click). Double clicking on an item in the subsequent list will select the gauge in the Design Tab .

Deleting Associated Gauges

The gauges associated with the selected font may be deleted by selecting “Delete associated gauges” from the context menu (right-click). This action may be un-done using Edit | Undo Ctrl + Z.

Editing a Font

Select a font and click the Edit button.

The Font Editor will be displayed. If accepted then all gauges using the selected font shall be updated.

Unit Preferences

Overview

The physical units of some Channels can be changed globally via Configure | Unit Preferences...

Changing a Unit Preference

Select an item in the Unit column and click on the … button. This will pop up a dialog for selecting the units for that quantity:

Select an item from the list and click OK.

If the ‘Auto Apply to Channels’ checkbox is checked in the Unit Preferences dialog then any channels that produce physical values in that quantity shall be updated to display values in the selected unit.

Dash Design will insert hidden channels to re-scale values for presentation in gauges.

Presets

Clicking the Presets button will allow selection from some preset unit preferences for SI units or US units: