Lorby Scratchpad

Documentation

Version 1.2 - 25.08.2019

© 2018 Lorby-SI http://www.lorby-si.com
1. Overview
2. Installation
2.1. Distribution
2.2. Installation
2.3. Pause on task switch
2.4. SimConnect

3. Operations
3.1. Starting the application
3.2. Main Window

4. Kneeboard Editor
5. In-Sim controls
6. Troubleshooting
7. Disclaimer
 1. Overview
The Lorby-SI Scratchpad is a simple application that will allow you to take notes to a scratchpad linked to a
message window in your simulator from outside and inside the simulator.

Lorby Scratchpad includes an HTML editor for your kneeboard files, so you can add images (charts) and text to
your kneeboard files.

Lorby Scratchpad is only compatible with P3D 4.0 or later

 2. Installation

2.1 Distribution

Lorby Scratchpad is distributed as a self-extracting installer package.

2.2 Installation

– Please use the installer intended for your sim:

– Prepar3D V4.x: LorbyScratchpad_Install.exe
Running the installer:

On the first page you may select optional installation targets:

– “Start Menu Shortcuts”: Lorby Scratchpad will be added to your Start Menu (advised)

– Selecting “Install” will begin the installation

The app is installed here:

C:\Users\...\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\Lorby-SI LorbyScratchpad
 2.3 Pause on task switch

Lorby Scratchpad is an external process. When you want to operate it from its own GUI, you must disable “Pause
on task switch” in P3D.
 2.4 SimConnect

Lorby Scratchpad relies on SimConnect being installed correctly on your computer. SimConnect is a part of P3D
and it is set up automatically when you first install the simulator. No further installations are required.

SimConnect networked: it is not possible to run Lorby Scratchpad on another computer if you want to use the
Kneeboard Editor.
3. Operations

3.1 Starting the application

– Start your simulator

– Start the Lorby Scratchpad app
– The app will connect automatically to your sim.
– As soon as your aircraft has been detected and the simulation is running, you can start typing into the
scratchpad

Note: LorbyScratchpad must be run “As Administrator” if you want to use the Kneeboard Editor!
3.2 Main Window
Elements explained:

– Textbox: typing text into the white textbox will be reflected in the message window in the simulator.

– In-Sim message window:

When your simulator window has the focus, double-tapping the “Enter” key on your keyboard activates the
scratchpad edit mode. You will hear a short beep every two seconds to remind you that edit mode is active.
Now you can just start typing:
Letters a-z, A-Z, space
Numbers 0-9
Special characters: , . / + -

Characters can be deleted with the “Backspace” key

Double-tap “Enter” again to end the edit mode.

(the keyboard combination “Shift - Ctrl - L – E” will also toggle the editor mode)

– Number of lines in the sim message: This control sets the length of the message window. You can scroll
the message window up and down on using “Shift – Ctrl - Num8” / “Shif – Ctrl - Num2”

– Open and close the in-sim window: you can open and close the message window using “Shift - Ctrl - L -
O” / “Shift - Ctrl - L - C”
 4. Kneeboard Editor
With the Kneeboard Editor you can create or edit the Checklist and Reference kneeboard files of your current
aircraft. Note: LorbyScratchpad must be run “As Administrator” for this to work!

After clicking on the “Kneeboard Editor” button, you will be asked which one of the two files you want to
change, Checklist or Reference. You must finish all your changes and close the editor before you can make that
choice again.
Elements explained:

The Kneeboard in P3D is bascially a web browser, and many things that you know from HTML website
development will work as well – including iframes, Javascript, links into the Internet (yes, that means that you
can access Google from your kneeboard while you are flying)

– Editor window and control buttons: this is the HTML editor from this MSDN project:
https://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowsapps/WinForms-HTML-Editor-01dbce1a

It provides the usual text and html editor commands. All the controls in the tool bar have tooltipps
associated to them, hovering the mouse over them will display a caption about their purpose.
– Button “Add Local Image” allows you to link any images (jpg, png) on your local computer to the current
location in the text. Example: a table with thumbnails

3. Use button to
load an image

2. Click in table
cell

1. Create table

– Button “Load Local File” if you have a local HTML file, you can load it with this button. The contents of
this file will replace whatever is in the editor.
You can use this feature for example if you choose to convert PDF files generated by a flight planner
software into the HTML format (there are online tools to do that, for example “pdfonline.com”). The result
can then be loaded into the kneeboard with this button.
– Buttons “View HTML / Edit HTML” if you know your way around HTML, you can use these buttons to
view and edit the code directly.

– Buttons “Background / Foreground”: these control the background and foreground (=text) colors of the
HTML page

– Button “Insert Scratchpad”: this button will insert an iframe that links back to the Lorby Scratchpad:

This is an active control. When you display it in your

kneeboard, clicking “Refresh” will load the text that
is in the scratchpad

– Button “Restore Original”: if your aircraft already had a kneeboard file, then it will be saved in that state
when you change it. This button will revert all the changes that you made back to that original copy

– Button “Save to Kneeboard”: saves your changes to the kneeboard file. To see the changes in the
simulator, close the kneeboard and open it again.
Add images using the clipboard

Another way to add images to your Kneeboard is using the Windows Clipboard together with the right-click
context menu of the Kneeboard editor → Edit → Paste. Please note that this only works with the context
menu, using Ctrl & V will not paste the image!

Example: Here we used the internet to search for plates for LIEO:
Then use the Windows default “Snipping Tool” to cut the desired plate from the PDF:

Right-Click

Ctrl & C
Add a checkbox

To add checkboxes, for example to simulate clickable checklists, use the context menu:

Put the cursor in the location where you want to add a checkbox and press the right mouse button:

You can click & drag checkboxes with the mouse:

 5. In-Sim controls
• "Shift+Ctrl+l+o": open message window
• "Shift+Ctrl+Num8": scroll text up
• "Shift+Ctrl+Num2": scroll text down
• "Shift+Ctrl+l+c": close message window
• "Shift+Ctrl+l+e": toggle editor mode

6. Troubleshooting
If Lorby Scratchpad doesn't seem to work with P3D or if you get the error message “Could not load file or assembly
Microsoft.mshtml, version=7.0.3300.0” when using the Kneeboard Editor, please do this:

– Go to the Scratchpad installation folder in “\Documents\Prepar3D v4 Add-ons\Lorby-SI LorbyScratchpad”

– In that folder you will see a file “Microsoft.mshtml.dll.off”
– Remove the “.off” from the name
– Restart the Scratchpad

On most computer this Assembly is already present. But for some users it isn't, so I have included copy of it with
the Scratchpad. To avoid conflicts on your computer it is disabled by default, only to be activated if necessary.
 7. Disclaimer
Lorby Scratchpad is provided free of charge, for private use only. All property rights remain with the author. You
may not distribute this package or parts of it. Disassembling, refactoring or changes of any kind are prohibited.

Disclaimer of Warranties. The author disclaims to the fullest extent authorized by law any and all other
warranties, whether express or implied, including, without limitation, any implied warranties of title, non-
infringement, merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Without limitation of the foregoing, the
author expressly does not warrant that:
• the software will meet your requirements or expectations;
• the software or the software content will be free of bugs, errors, viruses or other defects;
• any results, output, or data provided through or generated by the software will be accurate, up-to-date,
complete or reliable;
• the software will be compatible with third party software;
• any errors in the software will be corrected or that any further development will take place;
• the software will not cause errors or damage to the computer system it is installed on.

(c) 2018 Lorby-SI

Project Management - Development - Consulting
[email protected]
http://www.lorby-si.com