Needles

A needle object is actually a container for what you would like the needle to be. You can make your visual needle out of a line, a picture, or any other shape. Once you have added a needle to your dashboard, right-click on it and hover over Add Object. Whatever object you add will fall under your needle and your needle object will be rotated it around its center point. You can edit the individual objects inside the needle container by highlighting them in the View window and editing them in the Properties window. To edit the position, type, OBD-II value, and visibility of the needle container, highlight it in the View window and edit it in the Properties window.

Once you've added a needle object in the View window, go to the Properties window and select the type of needle you would like to use (linear or circular) in the drop-down menu under the Needle section (the second section listed). (The linear needle works well for bar gauges; the circular needle works well for the typical circular gauges.) Next, customize the section corresponding to the type of needle you chose.

To test your needle, turn on the Needle Tester window by checking the box inside it on the left. Using the scroll bar in the window, drag the arrow back and forth to see what your needle does. If you have any text under your needle container that is linked to an OBD-II value, it will show you the formatting of the text, but not the actual value that the needle is showing. The text will show the actual value when it is hooked up to the car and the program is running.

CIRCULAR NEEDLE PROPERTY REFERENCE
Center Point	Enter the coordinates for the center point around which the needle container will be rotated. You can also select the point with your mouse by clicking inside the box, then clicking the box at the right.
Sweep	Enter in the length of the needle's sweep in degrees. Click here for more information on an angle sweep.
Range Start	Enter the starting value for your gauge (usually zero).
Range End	Enter the end value for your gauge.

LINEAR NEEDLE PROPERTY REFERENCE
Type	There are two types of linear needles: Offset (which is your typical bar-gauge needle the runs from the start point to the end point) and Clip (which is a needle that fills from the clip point, described below).
Start Point	Enter the coordinates for the starting point for your needle container. You can also select the point with your mouse by clicking inside the box, then clicking the box at the right.
End Point	Enter the coordinates for the needle's end point.
Range Start	Enter the starting value for your gauge (usually zero).
Range End	Enter the end value for your gauge.
Clip Point	If you are making a fill gauge, the clip point is the point from which you want the needle to fill. Click here to see examples of this and more information on clipping. (If you are using a clip point, make sure you select Clip under Linear Needle Type described above.)

OBD-II VALUE PROPERTY REFERENCE
PID	Type in the parameter you want to link to here (i.e. SAE.RPM, SAE.VSS)
Value Type	This is where you select what it is you want to display about the PID. Name (String)- This will display the name of the PID (i.e. Engine RPM) Unit (String)- This displays whatever unit the PID is in (i.e. MPH) Value (String)- If you wish to show the value of the parameter, and the value to be displayed is text (i.e. on/off), select this option. Value (Number)- If you wish to show the value of the parameter, and the value to be displayed is a number, select this option. Value Min (Number)- Selecting this will display the lowest value the PID has been so far in the log. Value Max (Number)- Selecting this will display the highest value the PID has been so far in the log. Value Average (Number)- Selecting this will display the average of the PID's values so far in the log.
Unit System	You can switch the system to English or metric by using the drop-down menu here.