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single rail isolator icon

Started by vvarady, August 19, 2020, 10:11:03 PM

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vvarady

Would it be possible to add an option to indicate a SINGLE RAIL ISOLATION as a the same icon ROTATED 90 degrees?
Maybe just allowing the icon to be rotated is all that would be necessary?
Nothing about adding an isolator needs to be changed just a way to indicate to the user what kind of iso is being done. It's up to the user to physically implement on the correct rail.

Thx

BadBanana

That could be useful.  The Dinamo control system from VPEB requires single rail isolation to be used for the sections within a block when connected to their TM44 block controller.  Looking at it, the current track isolator icon almost works for that use case since it points to (or from) a particular rail although there's currently no control over the orientation within AnyRail.  However, one would then need a new icon to show both rails being isolated.  And then there would be the question of how AnyRail would handle the sections and colours, although one approach would be to treat a single rail isolator the same as the current version.

Nevertheless, despite those challenges, I would also like to see a single rail isolator implemented as an enhancement one day, although I imagine it might not be that widely used.

vvarady

Maybe have a choice of an isolator with "1" in the icon for a visual reference only,not changing anything else.

toddster

the better solution would be if there was the option to be able to install/show of it was 1 or 2 isolators installed at that position and that the program could recognise that if 2 were installed at the end of a return loop that the return loop is now isolated instead of having to disconnect that track  connection to kill a return loop showing up when looking for any return loops if there are multiple possibles in a large complex plan.

also off topic but still a wish list item it would be nice to be able to save a track plan name as a jpeg and have numerals in the name so you can see which one it might be if you have multiple versions of the same track plan in development with slight variations.

zsi

Lifting this old topic. This is my longtime wish too, that there would be a way to have a visual indication of the type of isolation placed between two track pieces: left, right or both rails isolated. In short, a possibility to use any of the three isolator symbols freely for each track joint with an isolator.

vvarady

How do we get a response from David?

Future-Digital

Please wait. He will get to you when he can.
"I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book." - Groucho Marx

David

We will pick this up when we add wiring functionality. If we would a stopgap solution now, it will be very hard to maintain future compatibility. It will not happen soon.
David Hoogvorst. Founder and Owner of DRail Software. Creator of AnyRail.

BadBanana

Thanks.  It's good to know it may be considered, even if it could be a long way into the future. 

zsi

#9
Quote from: David on July 11, 2022, 11:06:13 AMWe will pick this up when we add wiring functionality. If we would a stopgap solution now, it will be very hard to maintain future compatibility. It will not happen soon.
To be honest, I don't miss specific wiring features that much at all. So far I have always drawn the wiring manually on a layer of it's own and as I have somewhat complicated wiring needs (Selectrix to control track, signals, switches, train detection etc.), it is hard to figure out how all this could even be automated in Anyrail. Way more useful would still be this simple isolator symbol thing.

Would it really cause insurmountable compatibility problems in future, if the track piece connection has an additional property, an isolator symbol to use with three (or 4) alternatives ( none, > , < or ><) ? It only takes one additional bit for the isolation to have 4 alternatives. When producing a hardcopy to support layout building, seeing which track to isolate in every track piece connection, would be a great help in order to avoid errors. Realising in layout building that you accidentally put an isolation on the wrong rail and the track is already nailed and ballasted on the baseboard, is one of the nastiest thing to happen in the project (been there, done that).