FSX PLN format - missing <ICAO> section

[bina]

I apologise if it's been discussed before but I couldn't find a reference to this issue neither here, nor at Active Sky forums. FSX SDK also keeps silence about it...

Anyway, when PlanG saves (exports) a flightplan in PLN format (both in previous version and v3), depending on type of a way-point (airport, user, intersection, etc.) it adds a couple of extra lines around the particular way-point. Eg.: if a way-point along the route is an airport (navaid or intersection), it is saved as:

        <ATCWaypoint id="NZQN">
            <ATCWaypointType>Airport</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>S45° 1' 16.00",E168° 44' 21.00",+001135.00</WorldPosition>
            <ICAO>
                <ICAOIdent>NZQN</ICAOIdent>
            </ICAO>
        </ATCWaypoint>

However, if a waypoint is a custom checkpoint inserted by a user, i.e. a user waypoint, it is saved as:

        <ATCWaypoint id="UserWaypoint">
            <ATCWaypointType>User</ATCWaypointType>
            <WorldPosition>S45° 50' 52.56",E168° 20' 16.85",+000758.00</WorldPosition>
            <Descr>A custom user waypoint</Descr>
        </ATCWaypoint>

Putting it simple, PlanG completely ignores the <ICAO> section, if a waypoint is of type "User". Guesstimating that PlanG's PLN export module was developed in compliance with FSX SDK's "waypoint naming convention" (?) , I thought it might be better to refer to FSX SDK first, or ask this question directly at Active Sky forums but both of them are silent about it...

Now, when you import the flightplan into Active Sky the latter doesn't show user way-points along the route unless they're embraced with <ICAO> and <ICAOIdent> tags. Only departure and arrival airports are visible. This is annoying when one wants to know say winds-aloft en-route. It's not a serious issue actually since I can add the missing section of the flightplan by hand but I'm just curious - is it possible (without breaking the rules?) to modify the PlanG code in a way that it considers a user waypoint as an ICAO-type waypoint?!? For the sake of Active Sky... :D

[tim arnot]

The key question is, what breaks if you add those tags?

[bina]

Well, if I understood you correctly, it depends on the software... When I add those tags and open up the flightplan in PlanG, nothing seems changed - PlanG shows up the same waypoints as before, so everything looks OK. When I open the same FP without <ICAO> section around user waypoints in Active Sky however, it shows only departure and destination airports, no user waypoints.