Rocweb

Content → Mobile clients

• RocWeb
  • iPhone 4S | iPod touch

One for all…

This is an exclusive goodie for supporters of the project, who have a valid Support Key installed. Without a key 5 demo minutes are available after connection.

Rocweb is a WEB Browser based Rocrail client for all platforms including mobile devices.
The jQuery Mobile Toolkit 1.4.5 is used as base for Rocweb.

• Rocweb supersedes all other Mobile Rocrail Clients.
• Rocweb needs zero install; Just connect to the Rocrail server and go.

• Operating System independent
• Zero installation
• Multiple SVG theme support
• Train management
• Consist/Multihead management
• Fast clock support
• On the fly guest loco creation
• Many actions for running automatically
• Zoomable layout
• System actions
• Binary state control
• Optional speed buttons for shunting
• Many options to modify Rocweb as needed
• Control and slave codes to reduce control for guests
• Loco list categories
• Save the options on the Rocrail server in case the browser will delete all data on close

An up to date browser is needed which supports:

• JavaScript
• HTML 5
• WebSockets
• Web Workers

A complete list of supported browsers is found on the jQuery Mobile Site.

• An up to date Rocrail installation.
• WLAN (WiFi) in case of mobile devices. The quality of the signal should be at least 50%.
• The mobile device should not be older then 2016, especially in case of Android devices. (Android before 2016 have generally poor JavaScript performance.)

In the Rocrail properties dialog there is a RocWeb Tab on which the needed port and directories can be set. This must be done for every individual Workspace.
The SVG Theme paths are identically interpreted as by Rocview.

The images of locs, wagons etc. are only displayed in rocweb, if the image path in rocrail setup is correctly²⁾ defined.

Install directory.	Rocrail RocWeb properties.

In the install directory of Rocrail a directory named web should exist; If not the the Rocrail install must be updated.
This directory contains the HTML and JavaScript files needed for Rocweb.

If Rocrail was installed in the Applications directory the web is found here:

/Applications/Rocrail.app/contents/rocdata/web

The web directory is found here:

~/Rocrail/web

The most easy way to launch Rocweb under Linux/Raspbian is to use the Rocweb shortcut in the "Other" menu.
Raspbian comes with Chromium pre installed, and on other Linux distributions the following command will install it:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser

The shortcut starts Rocweb without any menu and navigation bar like this:

chromium --app=http://localhost:8088

The localhost parameter can be replaced with any computer name or IP address.

RocrailServer-IP:Port
Example:

Notes:

• This is only an example IP address which should be replaced with the IP address of the Rocrail Server computer.
• Do not use to same port number as used for the HTTP Service Port.

The "Help/Info" dialogue of Rocview will show you the IP address.

Needs Rocrail revision 11.200+

With the optional parameter z a ZLevel can be preselected.
Example of selecting ZLevel 1:

RocwebXS is a lightweight HTML client with only the throttle as main page. It is for devices with a small display.
RocrailServer-IP:Port
Example:

Speed buttons can be activated with the optional parameter speedbuttons.
Example:

The Bin State Control can be activated with the optional parameter binstate.
Example:

The language can be selected with the optional parameter lang.
Example:

or

Supported translations:

The header icons are short cuts for commonly used Rocrail functions as listed below:

Source for translations: rocweb-icons-en.html.zip

The following buttons are hidden in case the display width ⇐ 640:

• Zoom
• Stop all locs

Both actions can also be accessed via the menu and automatic popup.

Information about Rocrail and the connected Server.

This will pop up the system dialog for some common actions:

See: Init field

See: Start of day

See: Emergency break

Shutdown the Rocrail Server if its not in console mode and Rocweb is not in slave mode.
This action needs a confirmation.

This will pop up the automatic dialog:

Start all locos in auto mode.
This action needs a confirmation.

Stop all locs in auto mode.

Reset all except for block reservations.

Reset all including block reservations.
This action needs a confirmation:

This will pop up the options dialog for setting individual options:

If the developer tool JavaScript/Error console is open this option will write into it all events.
This is for tracing issues with Rocweb. Normally this option should be disabled to avoid using too much system resources.

Enable a click on a sensor symbol to simulate a sensor event.

To list up schedule which contains a block but its not at the first entry.
This option is used in the Block popup.

Switch directly to module view in case the loaded plan is modular.

Show the occupancy in tracks, signals and sensors related to a block.
Disable to increase performance.

Show routes over tracks, sensors and signals.
Disable to increase performance.

See: Show routes on switches Disable to increase performance.

Send new speed commands wenn moving the speed slider.
The delta is 3 to avoid too much commands.
In the mode the slider will not be updated by loco events.

Replaces the slider with two buttons for controlling the loco speed.

An extra control field, in the Throttle, for binary state commands on the primary/secondary decoder. (NMRA S-9.2.1)

Register	Set = 1	Reset = 0	Primary Secondary decoder

Buttons for Vmin, Vmid, Vcru and Vmax.

A long click is needed to activate Vmax. (This is introduced for smartphone users.)

Show block the ID in front of the Loco ID in occupied normal blocks.

Show Train ID in block.

Show Loco Images in block symbols.

Add an extra panel with an Analog Clock.

Shows the second hand in the fast clock.

Activates Tracing.
This option needs extra CPU resources depending on the amount of traffic.

This option is for rendering the turntable conform the SLIM/SLIM-COLOR theme.
Rocweb is not aware of which theme is active, and must be informed by option.

The loco selection popup can be ordered by these three categories:

• Engine
• Era
• Roadname
• All → All locos sorted in just one list.

The loco selection popup can be sorted by these two attributes:

• ID
• Decoder Address

A user defined background color in RGB format.
The check button must be clicked to take over the new values.

In case of "Speed buttons" or "Use all speed steps" this value is used to increase and decrease the loco speed.

See: Control code

See: Slave code

Save the Rocweb options on the Rocrail Server.
If the used browser deletes all data after closing it the options will be requested from the server at Rocweb start .

The Rocweb options are saved in the rocrail.ini in the node http→webclient→rocweb:

  <http port="0" refresh="0">
    <webclient port="8088" refresh="0" me="true" imgpath="/Users/rob/Projects/Rocrail/unxbin/virt/images" webpath="web" svgpath1="svg/themes/SpDrS60" svgpath2="svg/themes/Accessories" svgpath3="svg/themes/Roads" svgpath4="." svgpath5=".">
      <rocweb binstate="true" allspeedsteps="false" category="engine" color="blue" debug="false" lang="nl" locoSelected="E03" locoSelected0="NS2418" locoSelected1="E03" locoSelected2="" locoSelected3="" moduleview="true" monitor="true" scale="1" secondhand="true" showblockid="true" showlocoimage="true" showocc="true" showroutes="true" showtrainid="true" simsensors="true" slavecode="33" sliderdelta="5" speedbuttons="false"/>
    </webclient>
  </http>

To add a loco on the fly a guest loco can be added.
At least the address must be set before add.
See for more information: Rocview Guest Loco

The zoom range is from 50% to 200% and in steps of 10%.

• Zoom in plus
• Zoom 100% home
• Zoom Out minus

Throttle long click functions:

If the Trace option is activated this popup shows the last trace lines in reverse chronological order without time stamp:

This popup will be updated, when visible or not, if new lines come in.
Lines are starting with the trace level in brackets.
The Clear messages button removes all trace lines.

With the level selector another level can be activated.

Select a background color.
The user defined color can be set in the Options Popup.
A reload of the page is needed and will be automatically requested.

Select the wanted language to use with Rocweb:

• Deutsch
• English
• Nederlands
• Français
• Italiano
• Español

Missing your language, or if you wish a change of translations? Report it in the Rocweb Forum.

Speed slider	Optional Speed Buttons instead of slider. See Options.	Optional Binary State Control field. See Options.	Optional speed preset buttons. See Options. (Button IIII needs a long click!)

Click on the image to select another loco. If no loco is selected click on the image place holder:

The lines under the loco image are:

1. Loco ID, train ID(length,weight) and [mode].
2. Loco description.
3. Slave locos of the consist. If the selected loco is self a slave, the master will be listed as first. A click on the master ID will select the master loco in the throttle.

With a long click on the throttle loco image click, this popup will be visible if the loco is not in a block.
After selecting a block from the list the loco will be put in the block after a click on the select button.

A click/push on a turntable or fiddleyard in the layout will open following popup:

Go to the next track.

Go to the previous track.

Go to the selected track from the list.

A click/push on a block in the layout will open following popup:

Select another loco from the list to set in this block.
If no loco is in this block one can be selected after clicking on the dummy loco image:

With a long click the loco will be removed from this block.

Use a long click on the loco image.

Select a schedule or tour from this drop down list to use with "Start train".
Default only schedules and tours are listed which starts in this block. In the options menu this can be changed.

Select a destination block from this drop down list to use with "Start train".
If a schedule is also selected the block destination will be ignored.

Assign a train selected from the list.
To release a train if the first item, "Train", of the list is selected.

Start the train in this block in automatic mode with the optional selected schedule or tour.

Stops the train in this block running in automatic mode.

Start the train in this block in half automatic mode with the optional selected schedule or tour.

Reset the loco in this block without removing it from the block.

See: Block enter side

Open or close this block.

The loco selection is used in the throttle and block popup by clicking on the loco image.

The categorie type can be changed in the Options.

A loco consist can be managed using the following long clicks in the throttle:

A click/touch on the level title will open the fast clock popup:

The Set, Freeze and Resume commands can be used.
See for more information: Clock Service Commands.

Note: On small devices the title is probably hidden; Landscape could help out.

If a text field has set the option "Fast clock" this popup can also be activated by a click/touch on that text field.

An extra level is generated for the analog clock:

A click/touch on the clock will open the Fast Clock popup.
The used SVG is based on the 3Quarks SVG Railway Station Clock. (http://www.3quarks.com/images/svg/german-clock.svg) ⁴⁾

Tooltips are available for all layout objects except for tracks.

To show feedback if an object was really touched the background will get a red color until an event came in for this object from the Rocrail server.

Touch red background.	Normal background color after the event came in.

Rocweb can show the module layout in one level:

This example shows 6 modules.
See for more information about this layout: Plan-F.

BlockID : LocoID _ TrainID BlockEnterSide

The loco ID is underlined.

On small devices, like smart-phones, the best way to get the full screen for Rocweb is to add it to the home screen.

• On iOS with Safari
• On Android with Chrome

Some browsers offer to create a shortcut on the Desktop for a Web-App like Chrome:

• https://support.google.com/chrome/answer/95710?hl=en

Check the plan if it is XML well formed with a tool like "XmlSpy".
Or use the W3C service: http://validator.w3.org/#validate_by_upload
Rocrail and Rocview are using the Rocs parser which is not so strict as the JavaScript one.

• rocweb-flyer-de.pdf (Holger)
• https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/WebSockets_API/Writing_WebSocket_servers

This video explains the operation of a layout by Rocweb (in German). It includes the following chapters:

1. Installation and setup
   
2. Starting Rocweb in a web browser [03:40]
   
3. Operating Rocweb part 1 (basic configuration, options, system) [07:52]
   
4. Operating Rocweb part 2 (layers, zoom, track power, automatic mode) [11:46]
   
5. Operating Rocweb part 3 (loco functions) [13:36]
   
6. Operating Rocweb part 4 (switches, signals, block functions and a concluding demo) [18:40]