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Sections.shtml
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01//EN"
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<title>JMRI: Sections Documentation</title>
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<h1>JMRI: Sections Documentation</h1>
<h2>What is a Section?</h2>
<p>A <b>Section</b> is a group of one or more connected
<b>Blocks</b> that may be allocated to a train traveling in a
given direction. Sections were created to solve the direction
problem that can occur when using Blocks directly. A Section
has only two directions, "forward" or "reverse". Sections can
be traversed by a Train in either direction. Section
direction is independent of the direction set for the
locomotive by a throttle. In addition to solving the
direction problem, Sections offer the user other useful
features.</p>
<p>Sections can be considered an extension of Blocks. Many
Sections contain only one Block. All Blocks contained in a
multi-Block Section must be different. Blocks are kept in
order--the first block is connected to the second, the second
is connected to the third, etc. That means a Block in a
Section must be connected to the Block before it (if there is
one) and to the Block after it (if there is one), but may not
be connected to any other Block in the Section. A Section may
not contain any reverse loops.</p>
<p>Sections and their associated <b><a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/TransitTable.shtml">Transits</a></b>
are designed to provide support for dispatching, either
manual dispatching (by a dispatcher sitting at a panel), or
automatic dispatching by the computer. Dispatching is the
temporary allocation of Sections for the exclusive use of
trains, either run by engineers with a throttle, and/or run
automatically by the computer. Support for dispatching is
provided by <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/dispatcher/Dispatcher.shtml"><b>Dispatcher</b></a>,
which also provides for set up and running of trains
automatically.</p>
<p>A Section's <b>direction</b> is defined by the sequence in
which Blocks are added to a multi-Block Section. For a single
Block Section the direction is chosen arbitrarily when the
Section is created. A train may run through a Section in
either the <b>forward</b> direction (from first block to last
block) or <b>reverse</b> direction (from last block to first
block). If a Section has only one Block, the <b>direction</b>
of that Section is chosen when setting up its <b>Entry
Points</b> (see below).</p>
<p>Therefore, when setting up multi-block sections, you
should choose blocks in the same order across the layout for
sequentially connected sections. That way, the forward and
reverse directions will have consistent meaning for sections
on a relative basis</p>
<p>A Section has one or more <b>Entry Points</b>. An Entry
Point defines a connection from a Block inside the Section to
a Block outside of the Section. Entry Points are set up using
Paths of Blocks in the Section--Paths that represent
connections to Blocks not contained in the Section. Entry
Points are classified in one of two ways:</p>
<ol>
<li>Whether entering the Section at that Entry Point will
result in a train traveling in the "forward"
direction.</li>
<li>whether entering at that Entry Point will result in a
train traveling in the "reverse" direction.</li>
</ol>
<p>Sections are designed to be allocated to one train at a
time. If a portion of connected track is long enough to
support multiple trains simultaneously traveling in the same
direction, one following the other, that connected track
should be divided into two or more Sections, if the user
wants to run following trains in that area.</p>
<h2>Requirements</h2>
<p>Sections may be used with a Panel Editor Panel, with a
Layout Editor Panel, with a CTC machine, or directly without
any Panel. Sections build on JMRI's Blocks and Paths
structure. So before attempting to create any Sections, you
should have Blocks and Paths fully initialized for your
layout. (An easy way to automatically initialize your Blocks
and Paths is to sketch out a Layout Editor panel of your
layout, with Blocks assigned. By assigning Blocks to all
track segments, Turnouts, etc., the paths will be created
automatically for you by JMRI.)</p>
<p>Layout blocking should be carefully planned, to provide
"<i>reasonable</i>" Sections--Sections that make sense for a
Dispatcher to allocate to a certain Train. For right-handed
or left-handed Turnouts switching mainline track, for
example, this usually means including the Turnout in the same
Block as the track entering at the Turnout throat, and
providing separate Blocks for continuing and diverging
tracks. Some users prefer to have a Turnout in a separate
Block, and that works fine also. From a Dispatching
perspective, tracks of mainline Turnouts that branch to
industries do not need to be separately blocked, but blocking
here is acceptable. A layout blocking scheme that works well
for Signals, should work fine for Sections also.</p>
<p>Signals are not required for using Sections, but Sections
will work fine with Signals installed. If Signals are
installed, the direction Sensors included in Sections provide
an easy way to set up simple APB signaling (see <a href=
"#SignalMast">below</a>).</p>
<h3>Support for Optional Direction and Stopping Sensors</h3>
<p>Optionally each Section may have two <i>direction
sensors</i>, one for the forward direction and one for the
reverse direction. These are normally internal Sensors,
bearing system names that begin with IS. They automatically
follow the state of their Section. A Section has three
states, <b>FREE</b> (not allocated to a train),
<b>FORWARD</b> (allocated for travel in the forward
direction), and <b>REVERSE</b> (allocated for travel in the
reverse direction. When the state of the Section is
<b>FREE</b> both direction sensors are set <b>ACTIVE</b>.
When the state of the Section is <b>FORWARD</b>, the forward
direction sensor is <b>INACTIVE</b> and the reverse direction
sensor is <b>ACTIVE</b>. Similarly, when the state of the
Section is <b>REVERSE</b>, the forward direction sensor is
<b>ACTIVE</b> and the reverse direction sensor is
<b>INACTIVE</b>. These sensors may be used in signal logic to
force signals for travel in the direction opposite to the
allocated direction to <b>RED</b>. Tools are provided here in
the Section Table to automatically add direction sensors to
signal logic or to automatically remove all direction sensors
from Signal Mast Logic (see the <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/TransitTable.shtml#tools">
Transit Table Tools</a>). Alternatively, if <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/dispatcher/Dispatcher.shtml"><b>Dispatcher</b></a>
is being used, it can add direction sensors to signal logic
as needed.</p>
<p>Also optionally each Section may have two <i>Stopping
Sensors</i> that indicate when a Train in the Section has
reached the end of the Section by traveling in the forward
direction or in the reverse direction. Stopping Sensors
should be physical sensors on the layout, for example
infrared point detectors. For manual dispatching, these
Sensors may be displayed on a Panel to indicate to the
Dispatcher when a Train has reached the end of its
allocation. For automatic running, these Sensors may be used
to stop a Train before it reaches the end of its allocated
Section, and before it overruns a Red signal, if Signals are
present.</p>
<h3><a name='SignalMast' id="SignalMast">Using Signal Mast
Logic with Sections</a></h3>
<p>If your signaling is based using <a href=
"signaling/SignalMasts.shtml">Signal Masts</a>, with the
associated logic that has been generated using the Layout
Editor, then it is possible to also have Sections
automatically generated based upon the logic.</p>
<p>The tool can be found in the <b>SignalMast Logic Table</b>
| <b>Tools</b> | <b>Generate Sections</b> Running this will
immediately create Sections that each contain all of the
Blocks between any already-defined Signal Mast Pairs. It will
also setup each "Automatically Generated" Section so that
they include those Blocks in the correct order, with the
direction being set as FORWARD travel, going from the source
to destination Signal Mast. Please note that the Block
details are not saved when the Panel is stored, but are
re-created when the file is loaded.</p>
<p>The tool will also automatically create forward and
reverse direction Sensors and places them in the Section,
however currently the Signal Mast Logic does not use these
and their creation is only there to allow validation of the
Section (or use by the user in unrelated Logix if
desired).</p>
<p>Sections generated with the tool will only have a pair of
Entry Points and simply follows the path between the two
Signals.</p>
<p>Direction Sensors (Forward and Reverse) are created by the
Generate Sections tool, but Stopping Sensors (Forward and
Reverse) need to be added manually by the user via the Edit
Sections window for each section if desired.</p>
<p>The details of the Optional Direction and Stopping Sensors
are saved when the Panel file is stored.</p>
<p>To use the Sections that have been built this way you will
next need to setup <a href=
"Transits.shtml">Transits</a>.
Following that, you will also need to set the <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/dispatcher/Dispatcher.shtml"><b>Dispatcher</b></a>
to use SignalMast Logic via the Dispatcher's <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/dispatcher/Options.shtml"><b>Options</b></a>
menu.</p>
<h2>How to setup Sections</h2>
<h3>Displaying and creating Sections</h3>
<p>All the Sections that JMRI knows about can be viewed using
the <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SectionTable.shtml">Section
Table</a>. Select <b>Sections</b> in the <b>Tables</b>
submenu of the <b>Tools</b> menu of the main JMRI program
window. Sections can either be created manually from the
Section Table pane, or they can be created automatically if
you also plan to use <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SectionTable.shtml#SignalMast">
Signal Mast Logic</a>. There are eight columns in the Section
Table:</p>
<ul>
<li><b>System Name</b> - The system name is assigned to the
Section when it's created, and can't be changed.</li>
<li><b>User Name</b> - If you're interested in having your
Sections carry "human readable" names, you can click in the
"User Name" column and change that information to whatever
you want.</li>
<li><b>State</b> - The state of a Section tells whether a
section is "allocated" or "in use" by one or more trains.
The state of a newly added section is always <b>FREE</b>.
When a Section is allocated for travel in the direction
from the "First Block" toward the "Last Block", the state
is <b>FORWARD</b>. When allocated for travel in the
opposite direction, the state is <b>REVERSE</b>.</li>
<li><b>Comment</b> - This column is for your use to record
any comment you may want to use to keep track of your
Sections. It is for information only.</li>
<li>Click the <b>Delete</b> button in a specific row to
delete the Section in that row. Remember to remove any
Transits using this Section. Any Transit that uses a
deleted Section will be broken! Use this button with
caution!</li>
<li><b>First Block</b> - This column displays the first
block in the Section. Since a section is a group of one or
more connected blocks, there is always an entry.</li>
<li><b>Last Block</b> - This column shows the final block
in the Section. Since a section may contain only one block,
the Last Block may be the same as the First Block.</li>
<li>Click the <b>Edit</b> button in a row to view or change
entered information for a Section. The System Name cannot
be changed but the User Name may be changed, Blocks may be
redefined, entry points may be reconfigured, etc. Only one
Section may be edited at a time. A Section may not be
edited if another one is being created.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Section Table Controls</h3>
<p>Below the Section Table there's an <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SectionAddEdit.shtml">Add...</a>
button.</p>
<p>The <a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SectionTable.shtml#tools">
<b>Tools</b></a> menu gives access to:</p>
<ul>
<li>Validate All Sections...</li>
<li>Set Direction Sensors in Logic...</li>
<li>Remove Direction Sensors from Logic...</li>
</ul>
<h3>Creating a new Section</h3>
<p>To Create a new Section, click the "<a href=
"../../package/jmri/jmrit/beantable/SectionAddEdit.shtml">Add..."
button</a>. A window will be brought up that will allow you
to define the blocks included in the new Section, and if
necessary, designate which entry points to the section result
in travel in the FORWARD and REVERSE directions.</p>
<p>Currently the user must manually select <b>FORWARD</b> or
<b>REVERSE</b> for each Entry Point after all Blocks are
added to a Section. The program will set some directions
automatically, but others are left as <b>UNKNOWN</b>. An
Entry Point should be set to FORWARD if a train entering the
Section at that Entry Point would be traveling in the FORWARD
direction. Otherwise it should be set to REVERSE. A possible
future addition is to set directions of Entry Points
automatically from the connectivity found in a Layout Editor
panel.</p>
<p>For Sections with more than one Block, travel from a
lower-numbered block to a higher-numbered block is FORWARD
travel. Stated a different way, moving from a block higher in
the block list to a block lower in the list is FORWARD
travel. Similarly moving from a higher-numbered block to a
lower-numbered block is REVERSE travel. For Sections with
only one block, it doesn't make any difference which
direction through the Section is designated FORWARD, as long
as Entry Point travel directions are consistent. That is:</p>
<ul>
<li>REVERSE and FORWARD directions of travel must be
opposite.</li>
<li>Entering at any FORWARD Entry Point must result in
travel in the same direction as entering at all other
FORWARD Entry Points.</li>
<li>Entering at any REVERSE Entry Point must result in
travel in the same direction as entering at all other
REVERSE Entry Points.</li>
</ul>
<p><b>WARNING: If Entry Points are not consistent strange
behavior may result when using the Section.</b></p>
<h3>Saving Sections to disk</h3>
<p>Use the <b>Store</b> item in the <b>File</b> menu of the
Section Table (or the <b>Store Panels...</b> item in the
<b>Panels</b> menu of the main JMRI window) to save Section
information to disk. This information (and any modified
signal logic information) is saved with the configuration and
panels in an XML file, along with control panel setup and
similar stuff. To store your panels in the same file
(recommended), select <b>File>Store>Store Configuration
and Panels To File...</b> or select <b>Panels>Store
Panels...</b> in the main JMRI window.</p>
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