FDI could contain element to reference standard icons

[bobjacobsen]

It was raised in conversation that either the NMRA, Rail Community or both have defined a set of standard icons and their numbers. This could be referenced in the FDI, via a new element, to hint to a throttle that it can display one of these icons.

[atanisoft]

If possible, a standard set of these icons should be made available in SVG/JPG/PNG format.

[bobjacobsen]

Rail Community TN-218 defines a number of icon numbers by name in section 3, but it doesn't provide icons for them. Is there a corresponding set of icons anywhere?

[dpharris]

I think that is an interesting idea.

Can we just use unicode? eg: https://www.unicode.org/charts/nameslist/n_1F680.html

David

On Wed, Aug 21, 2024 at 11:29 AM Bob Jacobsen @.***> wrote:

Rail Community TN-218 https://normen.railcommunity.de/TN-218.pdf defines a number of icon numbers by name in section 3, but it doesn't provide icons for them. Is there a corresponding set of icons anywhere?

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[atanisoft]

Unicode would work fine as long as they can be embedded into the throttle in a format that it can use. I've used a few icons from LVGL (which uses FontAwesome internally for many icons) but some of the options are slightly limited (due to licensing primarily).

[bakerstu]

I am not in favor of normative standards for graphics. The primary reason for this is that there is a diversity of throttles in the market, and all throttle market segments are valid segments for both existing and designs. UI capabilities can differ in interesting ways:

• No display, maybe just a few LEDs
• Fixed LCD segments
• LCD character display
• low resolution, small screen, monochrome or color
• high resolution, small screen, monochrome or color
• smart phone or tablet
• PC

Not all of these UI designs are going to be capable of displaying the same image, but many of them are capable of display some image.

That said, I am in favor of normative standards that enumerate function types, and to use the same values that are in TN-218, which are planned to eventually be harmonized into NMRA DCC standards. The NMRA will likely use a Standard or Recommended Practice document type for these enumerations since TN documents are not normative for the NMRA.

I am also okay with informative suggestions for graphics in a TN or TI document, so long as they are not understood to be normative.

If I understand the existing FDI correctly, we only provide "string" text, which is not ideal for a diverse set of UI capabilities. For the CS-105 and UWT throttles, there is an assumption of certain strings being used for certain function types, but these are not standardized in any way. Because the UWT falls into the "low resolution, small screen, monochrome" category, there is an internal mapping between these "well known" strings and what actually gets displayed. It is not ideal, and an enumeration would actually be better.

[bobjacobsen]

I suggest:

• Allow, but not require, an <iconNumber> element in a function definition in the FDI.
• Define the values of the <iconNumber> element in the FDI OpenLCB Standard via icon names
  • This can be a copy of and reference to translated names from the RailCommunity TN (or, depending on how long this takes, the corresponding NMRA document in English)
• As a courtesy to implementers, provide a non-normative sample set of icons in the FDI OpenLCB TN and perhaps as a .zip of downloadable files
  • This depends on such a set of icons existing and having a suitable license. I don't know of any such right now, and I don't think that OpenLCB would be the right group to create such a thing.

[bakerstu]

@bobjacobsen I agree on all points.

[atanisoft]

For the CS-105 and UWT throttles, there is an assumption of certain strings being used for certain function types, but these are not standardized in any way.

If you can, please send these my direction so I can confirm compatibility from my side. I'm considering exposing an editor for function strings and have tested portions of it (UWT was displaying the custom string value) but want to ensure compatibility out-of-box.

@bobjacobsen I agree on providing references to potentially suitable icons or Unicode data points that might work. But I agree, it's a challenge and likely well beyond the scope of OpenLCB (even NMRA) to create/manage this.

@bakerstu I agree on your points about standardizing icons, I was more intending it as a "here are a few options to consider" and not as "you must use X for compliance" for many of the same reasons you indicate.