As vs | plus is a standardised control method, the behaviour can only be influenced within the scope of the existing parameters / functionality. If it is not possible to solve the traffic-related problem with the existing functionality, vs | plus must be extended. The problem can only be solved with a new vs | plus version.
From the customer side, it became clear early on that customisation of vs | plus was nevertheless desired. It was not about big things, but rather about small things such as traffic-dependent control of a pedestrian crossing.
Depending on the control unit manufacturer, it was already possible to programme additional, simple functions in the vs | plus versions 3.x or 4.x. It was not available for every vs | plus control unit. The effort involved was considerable and a great deal of specialised knowledge was required to bring such add-ons onto the road.
With vs | plus version 6, the foundations have been laid for integrating an add-on to vs | plus. In addition, a tool was created that makes it possible to create these add-ons easily. To work together with vs | plus core, a library of functions is required. This makes it possible to query the current status of vs | plus and also to send commands to vs | plus. The first tool that offered the possibility to create additions was
vs | plus Freestyle.
The created add-ons were exported as a file and had to be compiled for the control unit or the vs | emulator. This made it possible to create your own add-ons for vs | plus and put them into operation in a short time. However, the major disadvantage of this is that a device-specific compilation is always necessary.
This has been fundamentally changed with vs | plus version 8.0.0. A script interpreter has been built into the vs | plus core. With the new tool
open vs | plus
the additions continue to be created and, depending on the vs | plus version used, exported as a compilable file or as a script with the vs | plus parameters. As of vs | plus version 8.0.0, an add-on can be supplied directly to the vs | plus core without additional processing. This is just as easy as supplying a vs | plus parameter file.