🛫 MSFS Layout Generator

A tool for Microsoft Flight Simulator (MSFS) developers to automatically generate and update layout.json files for their add-ons.

✨ Features

• Automatic Layout Generation
  Scans package directories and creates layout.json with file metadata

• Watch changes in Package Directory
  Scans all changes in provided directory and updates layout.json accordingly

• Manifest Integration
  Automatically updates total_package_size in manifest.json

• Multiple Processing Modes
  Process single packages, multiple packages, or batch operations

• Batch Processing
  Interactive Windows batch file with menu system for easy use

• Flexible CLI
  Command-line interface with various options for different workflows

• TypeScript Support
  Fully typed API for programmatic usage

📦 Installation & Quick Start

Windows batch file with menu system (recommended)

1. Download msfs-layout-generator.bat from the latest release
2. Place it in your desired directory
3. Double-click to run
4. Choose options from the interactive menu

Manual Installation as a Global CLI Tool

npm install -g msfs-layout-generator

💻 API Usage (For Developers)

Use your manager (npm, yarn, bun etc.) to install the package:

npm install msfs-layout-generator

Simple Usage

import { generateLayout } from 'msfs-layout-generator';  
  
// Process a single package (throws on errors, uses default options)
await generateLayout("F:\\fs20\\Community\\my-package");  

Advanced Usage with Options

import { processLayout } from 'msfs-layout-generator';
import type { ProcessOptions, ProcessResult } from 'msfs-layout-generator';

// Overwrite existing layout.json silently
await processLayout("./my-package", { force: true, quiet: true });

// Get a result object instead of throwing on errors
const result = await processLayout("./my-package", {
  returnResult: true,
  force: true
});

if (result.success) {
  console.log(`Processed ${result.fileCount} files (${result.totalSize} bytes)`);
} else {
  console.error(result.message);
}

// Generate layout without requiring or updating manifest.json
await processLayout("./my-package", {
  force: true,
  checkManifest: false,
  skipManifestUpdate: true
});

Exports

| Export | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | generateLayout(dir) | (dir: string) => Promise<void> | Simple wrapper — processes a package directory with default options. Throws on errors. | | processLayout(dir, options?) | (dir: string, options?: ProcessOptions) => Promise<void \| ProcessResult> | Full-featured function with configurable options. |

ProcessOptions

| Option | Type | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| | force | boolean | false | Overwrite existing layout.json | | quiet | boolean | false | Suppress all console output | | debug | boolean | false | Enable verbose debug logging | | checkManifest | boolean | true | Require manifest.json to exist in the package directory | | skipManifestUpdate | boolean | false | Skip updating total_package_size in manifest.json | | returnResult | boolean | false | Return a ProcessResult object instead of void. When true, errors are returned in the result instead of thrown. |

ProcessResult

Returned when returnResult is true:

| Field | Type | Description | |---|---|---| | success | boolean | Whether the operation completed successfully | | fileCount | number | Number of files included in layout.json | | totalSize | number | Total package size in bytes | | layoutPath | string | Absolute path to the generated layout.json | | manifestPath | string | Absolute path to manifest.json | | skippedFiles | number | Number of files that were excluded | | message | string? | Error message (when success is false) |

Happy Flying! ✈️