John B,
Here is the suggestion. You create virtual signals at first. Give them
meaningful user names. Build the logic for them. Later when you get
real hardware, you 'move' (it's a right click option) the user name to
the real hardware. You also replace the signal on the panel with the
username (if you didn't from the start) and it will follow the
hardware for your display of the signals. That way you never lose the
logic, it is tied to the user name.
-Ken Cameron, Member JMRI Dev Team
www.jmri.org
www.fingerlakeslivesteamers.org
www.cnymod.com
Ken Cameron