Author Topic: VPLive 1.1.4 released  (Read 7784 times)

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Offline tinplate

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« on: October 12, 2006, 09:00:40 AM »
I just put up a new version of VPLive (v. 1.1.4)
http://www.softwx.com/weather/vplive.html
What's new:
* Significantly improved the robustness of the serial communications code to better handle catastrophic communciations failure of the device or device driver.
* Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented the communications retry logic from functioning properly.
* Changed the timing of attempts to re-establish communications - quickly at first, then scaling back to less frequent intervals if met with no success.
* Fixed a bug that sometimes caused the Connect/Disconnect menu item to fail to switch from Disconnect to Connect after an externally caused failure of the communications.
* Added feature for automatically restarting the console's USB device driver after a catastrophic failure.
* Added tray icon feature.

One of the features may help people who have the USB data logger on their Vantage Pro, and sometimes experience connection loss between the weather program and the console. In the past you had to unplug and replug the USB connector or reboot the computer to re-establish connection when this happened. This new VPLive feature can automatically restart the Davis USB device driver when connection is lost, without the need of human intervention. However, to use this VPLive must be connected directly to the console. VirtualVP owners, don't despair. I will be adding this same feature to VirtualVP very soon.

This feature is not turned on by default (since many users don't have the USB data logger). But you can enable it in the Com Settings dialog.

Steve

Offline Mark / Ohio

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #1 on: October 12, 2006, 09:45:54 AM »
Thanks Steve,

I have it up and running now.   8)
Mark 
2002 Davis VP I Wireless, WeatherLink (Serial), GRLevel3, VirtualVP, StartWatch, Weather Display, Windows 10


Offline Dragonfly

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #2 on: October 12, 2006, 07:10:34 PM »
Thanks Steve,
Been waiting for the Tray Icon feature.  :D  :D  :D  :D

-Ingo

Offline kray1000

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #3 on: October 25, 2006, 04:49:18 PM »
Steve,
I'm currently running VP Live 1.1.4.61...

I just recently started playing around with VP Live.  I'm currently using it to output the data.csv file, but it apparently is in a different format than what my version of VWS (13.00p02) produces.  I'm guessing the first element in these data sets indicates the format used?

Here's a sample VWS data2.csv file I used (which appears to be exactly the same as the data.csv file)...
1.01,2006,10,25,10,36,58,1,7,97,31,48,74.7,44.3,30.23,27.38,0.00,0.00,3,0.0,0,0.0,0,0.0,0,0.00,0.0,0,44.3,74.0,44.9,25.9,0.00,1.7,-0.2,0.00,0.0,0.0,0.0,4.78,0.00

... and a sample file from VP Live...
1.00,2006,10,25,16,6,48,1,3,119,31,31,76.1,53.5,30.110,27.38,0.00,0.0,0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,--,53.5,0.0,0.0,23.6,0.00,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0,0.0

VWS changed the format of its output .csv file, but that was quite some time ago.  I don't know what format other weather applications are using.  

I use the .csv file in ImageSalsa to show the current conditions for my webcams.  Beginning with version 1.9.12 of ImageSalsa, the new 1.01 .csv format was used.  When I use the file output by VP Live, the weather values shown in ImageSalsa do not agree with what's shown in VP Live or the console.  Frequently, the gust is less than the wind speed itself.  It appears that averages are being used for one or both values, but I haven't been able to figure out what values correspond with wind speed and wind gust in ImageSalsa.

Some other thoughts/wishes...

Being able to tell VP Live what filename to use (data.csv or data2.csv or whatever) and where to put the .csv file would be helpful for applications running on network machines that need the .csv file.  

I'd like to be able to tell VP Live how many decimal places to use for the barometer and temperature in the .csv file.  And being able to choose the sea-level barometer rather than the CWOP value would be nice as well.

I'd like to be able to specify the interval used in creating the .csv file.  I'd like VP Live to create the file, but every 2 seconds is more than I need.

I'd like an option to choose whether to use a 2-minute average or the instantaneous speed for wind speed.

All that being said, I'm happy with VP Live as a whole, and thrilled with VirtualVP.  I realize you're busy working on other stuff at the moment, so whenever you can address my concerns is fine.

Thanks,
Kevin

Offline ncpilot

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #4 on: October 25, 2006, 07:11:57 PM »
Quote from: "kray1000"
Steve,
I'd like...

I'd like...

I'd like...

Thanks,
Kevin


What, it's Christmas time already??  :lol:  :lol:
Marc
Wilmington, NC
"Monkey Junction Weather"
Davis VP2 wireless, WeatherLink

Offline kray1000

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #5 on: October 26, 2006, 09:19:24 AM »
'Tis the season to start shopping...

Offline FishDude

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« Reply #6 on: October 26, 2006, 09:41:34 AM »
FA RA RA RA RA...RA RA RA.........

Offline tinplate

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #7 on: October 26, 2006, 10:00:40 AM »
That's quite a list!

I actually appreciate getting feature requests. Although I can't implement all I get (I'd have to figure out how to clone myself), folks have sent me some great ideas in the past that would not have occured to me.

Right now I'm finishing up concentrating on StartWatch and will be moving to VirtualVP for a while. So it's going to be a little while before I get back into the VPLive code (probably not more than a couple weeks). Supporting the new cvs format is something I would like to add at that time. I wasn't aware it had changed. I may be able to put in some of the other things you mentioned, mostly the ones that are easy and quick to implement.

Regarding the barometer precision, why not just always output the maximum precision of the console's data? I'm curious why you'd want to have less than that.

Offline kray1000

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2006, 10:32:49 AM »
Thanks, Tim.

Quote from: "tinplate"

Regarding the barometer precision, why not just always output the maximum precision of the console's data? I'm curious why you'd want to have less than that.


The primary reason is because official reports always use 2 decimal places.   :D
In the old days this was probably due to a lack of precision of the aneroid barometers used, but weather reports today still do this.

The other reason is that the resolution of the barometer was stated by my owners manual to be 0.01".

Another example... VWS is capable of reporting wind speed in tenths of a degree, but that doesn't mean that the measurement of the wind speed is accurate to tenths.

Kevin

Offline tinplate

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #9 on: October 26, 2006, 11:05:39 AM »
The owner's manual may say .01 because that's the limit of the display. The data VPLive (and other weather programs) receives from the console is to the .001 inHg. This is probably required internally to support display of millibars and hectoPascals to tenths (.1 mb = .003 inHg).

Some NWS pressure data is now being displayed to the .001 inHg. For instance...
http://www.wrh.noaa.gov/mesowest/getobext.php?sid=KBOI
which kind of gives the whole range... one item in millibars, another in inHg to .01 and another in inHg to .001

Steve

Offline kray1000

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VPLive 1.1.4 released
« Reply #10 on: October 26, 2006, 11:31:15 AM »
I still have to wonder just how accurate those thousandths are, though.  When I look at the rate of change for the barometer, for example, it's almost invariably a multiple of 0.003.  It could change that much every time my central air turned on or off!  :D  

I'll revert back to using VWS to create my .csv files for now, but I'll be watching closely for an update.  Anything I can do to take a little load off VWS will be a good thing!

EDIT:  Regarding the rate of change for the barometer, I was looking at my web site, which actually gets that data from Weather Display.  WD uses metric units internally, and probably millibars for the units, so I figure it's a conversion problem caused by a lack of precision in WD.

Kevin

 

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