Your Stations Weather in your (or your visitors) system tray

[jassing]

I posted 1.0.3.3   This includes tide table support and various fixes.
As surgery looms monday I won't be around to respond -- but I do hope others will spread the word -- I don't expect to make any $ off this and want it to be a "universal" application that can be used by any personal weather station website for their visitors.  I no longer consider it it "beta" but there may still be bugs.  Please feel free to test it; customize it for your weather station and share with your visitors.

please let me know bugs/suggestions/ problems  etc ...

[Anthony]

Sorry to hear you have to have surgery. Hope it's nothing serious. Our thought are with you.

[jassing]

Thanks Anthony...  Back surgery -- hurniated disk, compressing nerves..blah blah blah... fairly standard surgery stuff.... just might be "out of it" for a couple of weeks

3 years of pain -- I can live iwth a few weeks recovery!


This thread is now officially waaaay off topic.   but thanks for the well wishes.

[weathergirl]

I couldn't open the chm or hlp formats, so Josh gave me this link:

http://aiweather.com/help/aiweather.htm

This is a great help, thanks Josh

[jassing]

I've gotten stats on downloads of the zip file and the email response -- apparently I'm on the right track for something that people want to provide their visitors.

I'm encouraged -- and with the next few days of being "not working" I can have a lot of time to think about implementing ideas.  So i would really appreciate ideas for the app.  I think I'm going to need things to think about while recovering.

So really; hit me with any ideas you'd like to see from easier installer/deployment for YOUR visitors, to features you'd like to see. 

I recently added Tide data but that's pointless for the majority of the USA and the way I worked it; utterly useless for non-usa weather stations, so i have no problem adding features that it's good for 'everyone'.

Basically; if I can tap into the data on a website; I should be able to provide it in AIWeather.exe;   

If you run other systems (non VWS apps) I can add in support for their data files -- I really want this to be a universal app we all can use, for free.

I'll be reading messages/emails/forums over the next few days; but probably  not responding.

Thanks for the well wishes...

-j

[jassing]

I couldn't open the chm or hlp formats, so Josh gave me this link:

http://aiweather.com/help/aiweather.htm

This is a great help, thanks Josh

You're very welcome -- Like I've said -- i want this to be of use for everyone that runs a personal weather station... I'm a geek at heart...

Let me know any ideas you have.

[Mark / Ohio]

Josh,

I seemed to have kill it last night from updating conditions after the initial start by removing the [tide] from the .ini as it did update OK with your initial settings.

*Edit*  See next post..

But now I'm not sure.  I think I might have just flubbered the install and had a couple versions on top of each other.  I just downloaded a fresh zip to start over and play with.

I spent some more time tonight looking over the help files and looks like you've been busy adding more features and options.   

[Mark / Ohio]

I seemed to have kill it last night from updating conditions after the initial start by removing the [tide] from the .ini as it did update OK with your initial settings.

Actually I tried it again tonight using your default aiweather.ini and it seems removing the "Tide now <tide:now> Next low is <tide:Low> at <tide:lowtime> Next High is <tide:high> at <tide:Hightime>" from the aiweather.txt file is what stops the data from updating in the tray.

That will give you something to mull over during recovery.   

[jassing]

I seemed to have kill it last night from updating conditions after the initial start by removing the [tide] from the .ini as it did update OK with your initial settings.

Actually I tried it again tonight using your default aiweather.ini and it seems removing the "Tide now <tide:now> Next low is <tide:Low> at <tide:lowtime> Next High is <tide:high> at <tide:Hightime>" from the aiweather.txt file is what stops the data from updating in the tray.

That will give you something to mull over during recovery.   

I did a LOT of work on tide stuff - working with fetching it each time or fetching a days worth to see what was better.... speed wise, it was better to grab a days worth and work with a database.  So if it's stopping on that - i need your StationID your testing with so I can replicate.

I'm off on the next boat to the mainland; but please post your ini file either here or PM. (or via emai)  I have a few other ideas for tide related stuff.  The tide is of use to me living on the water; but i dont think it's will be a widly used feature .

[Mark / Ohio]

....I did a LOT of work on tide stuff - working with fetching it each time or fetching a days worth to see what was better.... speed wise, it was better to grab a days worth and work with a database.  So if it's stopping on that - i need your StationID your testing with so I can replicate....

No, just the opposite.  As long as I leave the Tide information in both the config\aiweather.ini and aiweather.txt files it works.  It is when I remove the tide information (Tide now <tide:now> Next low is <tide:Low> at <tide:lowtime> Next High is <tide:high> at <tide:Hightime>) specifically from the config\aiweather.txt that regular updates stop.  If I only remove them from the config\aiweather.ini "Tide" file alone it throws a script error on startup.  It's just odd the data only updates on startup but not after that.

I'll send you an email with my current ini & .txt files so you can just plug them in for testing.  It will come with a "From" address of Fairfield County Weather.   

[jassing]

Uh-oh..  My tray icon is intermittently showing daytime and it's currently half past midnight.   

What version of aiweather.exe do you have?
do you recall the time it was? like 00:14 etc?

[jassing]

No, just the opposite.  As long as I leave the Tide information in both the config\aiweather.ini and aiweather.txt files it works.  It is when I remove the tide information (Tide now <tide:now> Next low is <tide:Low> at <tide:lowtime> Next High is <tide:high> at <tide:Hightime>) specifically from the config\aiweather.txt that regular updates stop.  If I only remove them from the config\aiweather.ini "Tide" file alone it throws a script error on startup.  It's just odd the data only updates on startup but not after that.

Good news is I replicated this issue.
the bad news is I have no idea why it's happening....

[Mark / Ohio]

....
Good news is I replicated this issue.
the bad news is I have no idea why it's happening....

That's good news as you are halfway there to solving the problem. 

As for the daylight issue, I'm only at the computer intermittently 8pm Eastern until about 1-2 am at the most.  It seemed to flip to daylight right around midnight or shortly after for me.  This continued including the version that you found a bug in the daylight section.  Currently I'm running 1.0.3.3 and I believe it done it with this version as well last night.  I'll see if I can pin it down closer to the time it happens.

[jassing]

....
Good news is I replicated this issue.
the bad news is I have no idea why it's happening....

That's good news as you are halfway there to solving the problem. 

The better news is that the latest version fixed it.

As for the daylight issue, I'm only at the computer intermittently 8pm Eastern until about 1-2 am at the most.  It seemed to flip to daylight right around midnight or shortly after for me.  This continued including the version that you found a bug in the daylight section.  Currently I'm running 1.0.3.3 and I believe it done it with this version as well last night.  I'll see if I can pin it down closer to the time it happens.

Any help would be appreciated... I am, however I'm using the local computer time but the remote times for sunrise/sunset.  (I hope to fix this later)

I saw it happen but by the time I went t work on it it was no longer doing it (ie: it had self corrected).  I'll keep an eye on it...
Thanks
-josh

[Mark / Ohio]

These may not be exact as I was trying to keep one eye on it while making my forum rounds.  But the two times (EST) I seen it change where as follows: (ver 1.0.3.3)

11:01pm switched to Daytime, back to Nighttime at 11:16pm

00:32am switched to Daytime, back to Nighttime at 1:03am



Edit: Just downloaded ver. 1.0.3.7, removed the tide data row from config\aiweather.txt and all is well.  Thanks!   

[jassing]

So -- Should I keep going with this?  My visitors have been favorable to it..
It has been suggested to me to do an installer for the "webmaster" to deploy to users and a wizard to help configure the files.
The 1st is very easy; the 2nd is easy as long as I know all the parameters (vws, weatherflash, weatherdata)

-josh

[Mark / Ohio]

An installer would be nice.  I know some of my visitors are elderly and are limited to email and web surfing at best as far as their computer skills.  So the simpler the better for them.

Also, would it be possible to make an option where the weather data only pops up when the icon is clicked upon similar to it's menu?

Sometimes when I'm heading to click on one of the adjacent icons I pass over it and of course then have to wait for the pop up to timeout before trying again.  This could pose as an irritation especially to older folks with a tremor, visual impairment, or not real proficient with a mouse.  Also it would allow easier access to the menu in general.

(My dad has Essential tremor.  I have to slow the motion and lower the sensitivity of the mouse on his computer way down along with increasing the size of the icons but he still has problems.)

[jassing]

an installer then, is on the list....  You,as the webmaster, must do some work configuring it, but I will try to make it as easy as possible.

Regarding the tray-over option issue -- sure;that's simple.

When the menu item is selected, would you like it as a "tool tip" (like now) or as a standard windows dialog box (where you click "OK" to close it) ?  (or should I just make it either way and web-master configurable?

[Mark / Ohio]

.....When the menu item is selected, would you like it as a "tool tip" (like now) or as a standard windows dialog box (where you click "OK" to close it) ?  (or should I just make it either way and web-master configurable?

Personally I would probably prefer a windows dialog box.  But that's just me.  The option for it to work either way would be good.   

BTW, Thanks for all your work on this!   

[jassing]

Personally I would probably prefer a windows dialog box.  But that's just me.  The option for it to work either way would be good.   

That's already in there
[tray]
Weatherbox=1

I'll add in one to "drop" the tooltip....

BTW, Thanks for all your work on this!   

It was something I always wanted to do for my users; it's been more work making it "generic"  but it's been fun..... I probably shouldn't have started version #'s at 1.  since it's not really "relase stable".....

I have been laid up from a back surgery and have been busy with work & recovering....  I should have some time sunday to work on it...

[user3162]

When I saw this for Weather Display:
If you would like a pre-configured ini&txt file, download this file and place the contents in your .\config\ folder.

I figured, that sounds good to me! But when I clicked on it, I got a page not found.

[jassing]

When I saw this for Weather Display:
If you would like a pre-configured ini&txt file, download this file and place the contents in your .\config\ folder.

I figured, that sounds good to me! But when I clicked on it, I got a page not found.

I havne't created an installer to walk webmasters thru configuring the ini & txt files (yet) that' the major hold of up the next release; it'll take  couple of hours to do and I just don't have the time right now to set the time aside.

Here's one set I made or another weatherdisplay user (you'll need to change "YOURSITE" to, well, your site.

Unzip the file (with directories) to overwrite the existing files & edit .\config\aiweather.ini
it requires clientraw.txt and clientrawextra.txt to be uploaded to your site...

[user3162]

Works a treat, very nice!