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Display Fields and Tag Layouts

Use this page when you want to change what each ALB row shows.

Where displayed fields are defined

Displayed fields live in tagLayouts.

Each layout defines an ordered items array. Each item chooses one source field and how it should be rendered.

Example:

"Maestro-Runway": {
  "timelineLayout": "Runway",
  "items": [
    { "source": "callsign", "width": 8 },
    { "source": "plannedLandingTime", "format": "HH:MMx" },
    { "source": "assignedRunway", "width": 4 }
  ]
}

Common item properties

  • source: which ALB field to show
  • width: reserved character width when the field is width-based
  • rightAligned: right-aligns the field
  • isViaFixIndicator: colors the field using the via-fix lane color
  • defaultValue: fallback or static text, especially for static
  • format: time-format override for time-backed sources

Time formatting

Recognized format values include:

  • HHMM
  • HH:MM
  • HHMMSS
  • HH:MM:SS
  • HHMMx
  • HH:MMx

HHMMx and HH:MMx use the configured EAT precision suffix behavior.

If a recognized format is present, ALB infers the field width from the format, so the explicit width value is no longer the controlling width.

For the full list of supported time-backed sources, see Config File Reference.

Global timing-display formatting

The top-level layout block controls how EAT-style times are formatted throughout the timeline.

Important properties:

  • EatDisplayPrecisionSec
  • EatDisplayRecalcPeriodSec
  • EatDisplayIntervalChars

That block is where you change:

  • minute-only versus higher-precision EAT display
  • how often display strings are recalculated
  • which suffix characters are used for timing buckets

Layout-wide behavior

Inside each tagLayouts.<layout> object you can also control:

  • timelineLayout: whether the layout behaves as a feeder or runway view
  • hideDeselectedViaFixes: whether deselected via-fix traffic is hidden instead of dimmed
  • timelineSort: optional per-layout sort preference

See Timeline / Via-fix / Runway Setups for the layout behavior side of those settings.

glEatCombi practical note

glEatCombi is the compact combined Combi field for Gain/Lose and EAT-style display behavior.

How ALB decides whether it can show:

  • the layout must include {"source": "glEatCombi", ...}
  • the aircraft must belong to traffic relevant to a currently active ALB timeline
  • in practice that means the aircraft destination must be covered by an active timeline's destinationAirports

If no active timeline covers that destination, ALB now leaves the Combi output blank instead of showing an unrelated placeholder on non-ALB traffic.

If you want a placeholder when Gain/Lose is selected but the real Gain/Lose value is empty, use glEatCombiDisplay.gainLooseEmptyText in Config File Reference.

directRouting practical note

directRouting is the route or control field that shows either:

  • an explicit Direct-To when one is active, or
  • the current next route fix as ALB understands it from the flight plan

In current ALB builds, the route-based fallback is intended to show the actual current semantic next fix, not the following waypoint after it.