Layout Control Elements Dialog

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# 2.9.3 Layout Control Elements Dialog

This dialog is used to manage layout control elements (blocks, switchmotors, and signals).

Control Elements are elements related to layout control: blocks (occupancy detection), switchmotors (actuators to "throw" turnouts), signals, controls (other actuator or output devices), and sensors (other sensor or input devices). These elements don't relate to directly "physical" items on the layout, but instead refer to the elements used by the layout control software. These elements contain "scripts", which are really just textual items that provide information for the layout control software and provide a bridge between physical layout elements (like tracks or turnouts) and the layout control software. These textual items could be actual software code or could be LCC Events (for I/O device elements on a LCC network) or DCC addresses for stationary decoders, etc. XTrackCAD does not impose any sort of syntax or format -- that is left up to other software that might load and parse the XTrkCAD layout file. All that XTrackCAD does is provide a unified place for this information to be stored and to provide a mapping (association) between this control information and the layout itself.

The main part of this dialog contains a list of the currently defined layout control elements (blocks, switchmotors, signals, controls, and sensors), along with the tracks they relate to. These elements are added to the layout either from their Hotbar menus or from the Add menu.

The Edit button allows for editing a control element. And the Delete button deletes the selected element(s).