bgiorgio0506/nodejs-simconnect

Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 SimConnect SDK wrapper for NodeJS.

Works on 64 bit version of NodeJS. Currently, for Windows only.

Installation

nodejs-simconnect uses a native NodeJS addon and therefore, it must be compiled first before you can use it as module within your project.

1.) Install the Node module

Clone the repo move it on node_modules and then run: npm install

2.) Copy your SimConnect SDK files

You need to copy your own SimConnect SDK files to msfs-simconnect-nodejs. 64 bit version is also supported.

Default, the SimConnect SDK installed in C:\MSFS SDK\SimConnect SDK. Copy this SimConnect SDK directory and paste it in the root of msfs-simconnect-nodejs.

3.) Compile

Compile the library:

npm run build

Once compiled, at the moment you need to copy your SimConnect.dll file from the SimConnect SDK directory into the build/Release directory. You need to this everytime you've done a rebuild.

4.) Requirements

• NodeJS 64 bit
• Microsoft Visual Studio 2019 (Community)
• Python 3 (for compilation)
• SimConnect SDK

5.) Usage

Import the module:

const simConnect = require('msfs-simconnect-nodejs');

The available functions are described below. Please refer to example.js for more help.

open

open(connectedCallback, simExitedCallback, exceptionCallback, errorCallback)

Open connection and provide callback functions for handling critical events. Returns false if it failed to call open (eg. if sim is not running).

Example

var success = simConnect.open("MyAppName", 
    (name, version) => {
        console.log("Connected to: " + name + "\nSimConnect version: " + version);
        // Safe to start interacting with SimConnect here (request data, etc)
    }, () => {
        console.log("Simulator exited by user");
    }, (exception) => {
        console.log("SimConnect exception: " + exception.name + " (" + exception.dwException + ", " + exception.dwSendID + ", " + exception.dwIndex + ", " + exception.cbData + ")");
    }, (error) => {
        console.log("Undexpected disconnect/error: " + error); // Look up error code in ntstatus.h for details
});

requestDataOnSimObject

requestDataOnSimObject(reqData, callback, objectId, period, dataRequestFlag)

Request one or more Simulation Variables and set a callback function to later handle the received data. See SDK Reference for more details.

Each simulation variable is defined by an array.

Example:

[
    "Plane Latitude",              // Datum name
    "degrees",                     // Units name
    simConnect.datatype.FLOAT64,   // Datum type (optional, FLOAT64 is default and works for most data types)
    0                              // Epsilon (optional, 0 is default)
]    

Full example:

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObject([
        ["Plane Latitude", "degrees"],
        ["Plane Longitude", "degrees"],  
        ["PLANE ALTITUDE", "feet"]
    ], (data) => {
        // Called when data is received
        console.log(
            "Latitude:  " + data["Plane Latitude"] + "\n" +
            "Longitude: " + data["Plane Longitude"] + "\n" +
            "Altitude:  " + data["PLANE ALTITUDE"] + " feet"
        );
    }, 
    simConnect.objectId.USER,               // User aircraft
    simConnect.period.SIM_FRAME,            // Get data every sim frame...
    simConnect.dataRequestFlag.CHANGED      // ...but only if one of the variables have changed
);

requestDataOnSimObjectType

requestDataOnSimObjectType(reqData, callback, radius, simobjectType)

Similar to requestDataOnSimObject. Used to retrieve information about simulation objects of a given type that are within a specified radius of the user's aircraft. See SDK Reference for more details.

Example: This will receive info about the user's aircraft. For this, a radius of 0 is used. Notice that when STRINGV is requested, the unit should be null.

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType([
    ["NAV IDENT:1", null, simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["NAV NAME:1", null, simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["NAV DME:1","Nautical miles"],
], (data) => {
    console.log(data);
}, 0 /* radius=0 */, simConnect.simobjectType.USER);

Example: This will receive info about all aircraft within a 10 km radius. The callback will run one time for each identified aircraft.

simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType([
    ["ATC MODEL",null,simConnect.datatype.STRINGV],
    ["Plane Latitude", "degrees"],
    ["Plane Longitude", "degrees"]
], (data) => {
    console.log(data);
}, 10000, simConnect.simobjectType.AIRCRAFT);

createDataDefinition

createDataDefinition(reqData)

Used to create a data definition. Returns an id which can be used with requestDataOnSimObjectType in place of the array. This should be used when you have multiple requests for the same data - otherwise the app will crash after receiving too many requests.

Example:

var navInfoDefId = simConnect.createDataDefinition([
    ["NAV DME:1", "Nautical miles"],
    ["NAV GLIDE SLOPE ERROR:1", "Degrees"],
    ["NAV RADIAL ERROR:1", "Degrees"],
]);

setInterval(() => {
    simConnect.requestDataOnSimObjectType(navInfoDefId, (data) => {
        console.log(data)
    }, 0, simConnect.simobjectType.USER)
},100)

setDataOnSimObject

setDataOnSimObject(variableName, unit, value)

Set a single Simulation Variable on user aircraft. First parameter is the datum name, second is the units name and last is the value.

Example:

simConnect.setDataOnSimObject("GENERAL ENG THROTTLE LEVER POSITION:1", "Percent", 50);

subscribeToSystemEvent

subscribeToSystemEvent(eventName, callback)

Subscribe to a system event. See SDK Reference for available events.

Example:

simConnect.subscribeToSystemEvent("Pause", (paused) => { 
    // Called when the system event occurs
    console.log(paused ? "Sim paused" : "Sim un-paused");
});

close

close()

Manually close the connection to SimConnect. Returns false if it fails.

Example:

var success = simConnect.close();

Thanks

Inspired by https://github.com/EvenAR/node-simconnect & https://github.com/CockpitConnect/msfs-simconnect-nodejs

Licence

MIT