Topic: Meteotemplate - new free website template

[PaulMy]

Now it does
 
Jachym, your efforts are truly amassing and beyond duty.  I hate to bug or even mention some of the things and usually investigate on my own a bit but most often run into a 
 
I love the comparisons, and as you mention certainly beats the manual recording.  Also a good way to check own station to see how it tracks to the other Current (taking in consideration the different times of recording).  To follow up on SimonB's comment, what does it take to add other resources such as Environment Canada in the comparison?
 
Paul

[Skyview]

OK, so for others with WU problems I figured it out and it's strange but this just worked for me:

I changed the $wuCity in the script to "pws:KNCFUQUA31" and it works! So theoretically you might be able to do the same with your PWS.

Jachym,

I see you told Paul to use the same format that I found. Any insight on this as to why WU is doing it this way? I have no idea why a particular PWS ID would be the default for a particular city/town.

[Jáchym]

David: No clue.... but for the current it is not so important, if you used your own station then it would be pointless

Paul: You are welcome. With regards to Environment Canada.... I already got this question - see the comments in the blog post about this new plug in Bill has already asked me about Environment Canada. The problem is that they basically only offer info such as "Partly cloudy, highs around 80F." Thats it, for the whole day, so it would not really fit with the rest, they dont even have this as separate parameters, just plain one sentence of text.

Btw. based on what Simon mentioned, would you guys be willing to pay for Accuweahter? If I somehow implemented it, would people use it (given they do not offer free plans so the API key would have to be purchased). I mean if people wanted it I would do it.

And also, if you know of any other API I am open to suggestions, I expected this to be further expanded, these are just the services I knew about.

[Skyview]

David: No clue.... but for the current it is not so important, if you used your own station then it would be pointless

I guess I don't understand your comment based on the fact that you told Paul to use his PWS ID for Current...

Btw. based on what Simon mentioned, would you guys be willing to pay for Accuweahter? If I somehow implemented it, would people use it (given they do not offer free plans so the API key would have to be purchased). I mean if people wanted it I would do it.

It would depend on cost and the relative quality/accuracy of the data. If it's no better than the others, why bother. If there is other value available with such an account (i.e. the ability to do other cool stuff that other API's can't) then that would also be a reason to have an Accuweather API account.

[Jáchym]

David: No clue.... but for the current it is not so important, if you used your own station then it would be pointless

I guess I don't understand your comment based on the fact that you told Paul to use his PWS ID for Current...

Btw. based on what Simon mentioned, would you guys be willing to pay for Accuweahter? If I somehow implemented it, would people use it (given they do not offer free plans so the API key would have to be purchased). I mean if people wanted it I would do it.

It would depend on cost and the relative quality/accuracy of the data. If it's no better than the others, why bother. If there is other value available with such an account (i.e. the ability to do other cool stuff that other API's can't) then that would also be a reason to have an Accuweather API account.

Hi,

no if you read all my comments I actually told him not to use his own and either not use WU or use alternative station, for some cities, like mine for example, there is a page for current conditions for my "city" - no particular station - then it makes sense, but not like this

With regards to Accuweather, it is even more problematic given they dont tell you how much it is. It just says to contact them if you are interested...

[PaulMy]

I actually told him not to use his own and either not use WU or use alternative station

I have not yet been able to get WU work for Current comparison with any local area IDs nor "London".  I will continue to experiment to see if I can add local WU to Current.

In regards to paying for Accuweather, I likely would not buy the API just from them.

Paul

[Jáchym]

I actually told him not to use his own and either not use WU or use alternative station

I have not yet been able to get WU work for Current comparison with any local area IDs nor "London".  I will continue to experiment to see if I can add local WU to Current.

In regards to paying for Accuweather, I likely would not buy the API just from them.

Paul

.... which exactly proves my point. I dont think people would want this if it was not for free. It would be a different matter if they provided something special, but in this case, it would be just another service, and to be quite honest I dont see any added value in comparison to the other free available ones. And also, as I have already mentioned, they dont even say how much it is, it just says "contact us to get info about pricing", which seems suspicious to me...

Nevertheless, if you guys know about any other API, which would be free, would provide data in XML, JSON or RSS format and that data would be similar to the ones already present (i.e. either daily or hourly values, but something more than just one sentence with conditions), then let me know and Im opened to any suggestions and adding it. Also, although it is definitely not a must, I would prefer something that is global rather than doing a service that only offers data for a particular country.

[Skyview]

Hi,

no if you read all my comments I actually told him not to use his own and either not use WU or use alternative station, for some cities, like mine for example, there is a page for current conditions for my "city" - no particular station - then it makes sense, but not like this

With regards to Accuweather, it is even more problematic given they dont tell you how much it is. It just says to contact them if you are interested...

Do you mean this:

Code: [Select]

For WU however, there isnt much point in using this, because this would take data directly from your station and so it would obviously always be an exact match.
That actually does not play out that way based on the defaults for the plugin that I left in place, you can see that it is not exact. My guess is that WU is taking any in that zip code and providing the same forecast for all in that zip code. I would think they are not literally providing a custom forecast for a station that is a mile from my house that is different than the one for my station. Do you see what I mean?

[PaulMy]

I think Jachym was referring to the Current comparison script, which would be what my station actually provided to WU so therefore my station current data, to which the current data for all the comparisons is compared, would be identical to the WU current.  Using another local WU station current data would make more sense for comparison.  This WU Current comparison script is which I am having my issue.  The WU Forecast comparison script is working fine.

Paul

[Skyview]

I think Jachym was referring to the Current comparison script, which would be what my station actually provided to WU so therefore my station current data, to which the current data for all the comparisons is compared, would be identical to the WU current.  Using another local WU station current data would make more sense for comparison.  This WU Current comparison script is which I am having my issue.  The WU Forecast comparison script is working fine.

Paul

Paul,

Sorry, I may have confused it a bit by referencing two things in the same note. I did reference forecast, but the pic you see in the above note was from the current conditions script, and as you can see it is not an exact match (i.e. less than 500/500). I haven't had time to research the code in this new plugin yet, but based on what Jachym said previously, I would expect it to produce an exact match if his statement about it was correct. That's why I think WU is probably using some information at a higher level of abstraction than down to the PWS level to produce forecast and even the values in the current conditions script. Maybe I'm just missing something.

[Jáchym]

Hi,
as far as I know it is like this:

Forecast - WU has a forecast for areas, and based on where your station is, it assings it to one of these "grids" and gives the forecast, so I think a station that was right next to yours would have the same forecast.

Current - if you enter the "pws:..." then you are basically taking data the same data that you are actually sending - i.e. exact match

[bianconero57]

It is with great pleasure that I now posts this message !
A hat off for this template, bright, very well done ... in short, easy to read and it's always a pleasure to browse it !
A big thank you also to the friendly @Jachym who has not hesitated to give of his time as a service to "colleagues".
I contacted live and the template was installed, functionally the same day 

http://valdefench57sgz.franceserv.com/meteotemplate/

Congratulations and thank you for this generosity and availability so rare today
Continues it's just great, and I know how to create a web template is complicated and involved 
best regards

[Jáchym]

It is with great pleasure that I now posts this message !
A hat off for this template, bright, very well done ... in short, easy to read and it's always a pleasure to browse it !
A big thank you also to the friendly @Jachym who has not hesitated to give of his time as a service to "colleagues".
I contacted live and the template was installed, functionally the same day 

http://valdefench57sgz.franceserv.com/meteotemplate/

Congratulations and thank you for this generosity and availability so rare today
Continues it's just great, and I know how to create a web template is complicated and involved 
best regards

Hi Bianco,

first of all thanks for the comment and Im really glad you like your page.

This also applies to anyone else:
Bianco has never had any experience with MySQL, CRONs etc. and I understand it can be slightly more tricky than setting up the other templates, which do not use MySQL. But - feel free to contact me and if you create an FTP profile and provide me with your login data, then if you want I will set up the whole template including the plugins like I did in case of Bianco. Obviously I know the template very well and so it only took me about an hour including all the setup, plugins, menu etc.

[bianconero57]

it was the least of it 
you do well to confirm that I was in my first weapons
not clear when the installation knowledge is minimal
do not hesitate to call his assitance
the results will be OK without problems
then hop hop i'm on there will be the world 200% satisfied 

[Jáchym]

Yes And also, as you can see language is not a barrier so even if you are not so confident with English or do not understand some things in the template wiki, this should not be a problem, Im sure that we will both always get the point

[johnny]

I'm trying to install the template. According this step http://www.meteotemplate.com/wiki/doku.php?id=install1
i have to insert the URL of the file tableCreate.php in a browser. Where is this url? 

[PaulMy]

Hi Jachym,

I have not yet been able to get WU work for Current comparison with any local area IDs nor "London".  I will continue to experiment to see if I can add local WU to Current.

I am still striking out on adding a local WU for current comparison.  I have now used the setup lines from another template user and replacing his $wuAPI =" with mine and $wuCity =" with London and that still gives the following

Warning:  number_format() expects parameter 1 to be double, string given in /home/content/96/5379896/html/j-template/plugins/forecastComparison/current.php on line 1305

My line 1305 is

<?php echo number_format($observations['wu']['humidity'],0)?> %

 
Any idea what that warning indicates?
Paul
 

[Jáchym]

I'm trying to install the template. According this step http://www.meteotemplate.com/wiki/doku.php?id=install1
i have to insert the URL of the file tableCreate.php in a browser. Where is this url? 

Hi Johnny,

the tableCreate script is in the install folder of the template. Upload it to your server and run it, once your table is created you can delete it and continue. It will create the table and you will not need it in the future again.

[Jáchym]

Hi Jachym,

I have not yet been able to get WU work for Current comparison with any local area IDs nor "London".  I will continue to experiment to see if I can add local WU to Current.

I am still striking out on adding a local WU for current comparison.  I have now used the setup lines from another template user and replacing his $wuAPI =" with mine and $wuCity =" with London and that still gives the following

Warning:  number_format() expects parameter 1 to be double, string given in /home/content/96/5379896/html/j-template/plugins/forecastComparison/current.php on line 1305

My line 1305 is

<?php echo number_format($observations['wu']['humidity'],0)?> %

 
Any idea what that warning indicates?
Paul

Hi Paul,

I just checked your cached wu current file and it says:

"error": {
      "type": "querynotfound"
      ,"description": "No cities match your search query"
   }

Now, what I suggest you therefore try, is to first try to find URL which works, by simply entering it in the browser.

The format for WU is like this:

http://api.wunderground.com/api/API KEY/conditions/q/COUNTRY/CITY.json

So, plug in your API key and for country put "ca" and then try various cities for the "CITY" until you get some response. Then, you can hard-code this URL on line 607 of the current.php.


Also, Tony was asking what is the point of looking at current conditions from other sources, which are often based on Metar which is not exactly matching your station data. On one hand - yes it is correct, but, there are still reasons why this could be useful. There is the forecast and the forecast analysis available. This is just an addition and one possible use of this is for example imagine for some reason your station was offline or broken and did not measure for couple of days. Well based on this script you will then know, which service is most likely to be the closest to what your station would really measure.

[PaulMy]

Thanks Jachym,
Success now by using Komoka in the hard coded URL, but that is likely my own data after I have sent it to WU.  Still trying to get it to use another local station but London is the name for several cities in NA and WU throws in a page to select which one to use so that won't work with the script.  Will keep on trying, but several lessons learned so far...
 
Paul

[Jáchym]

Hi Paul,

the problem is that with all these URLs, they are not 100% consistent in their format. The template uses some general ones, which in most cases work, in your case however, "London" obviously is a problem, I guess the best way then is to manually try finding a URL that works using your browser and then hard-code it in the url.

[johnny]

I'm trying to install the template. According this step http://www.meteotemplate.com/wiki/doku.php?id=install1
i have to insert the URL of the file tableCreate.php in a browser. Where is this url? 

Hi Johnny,

the tableCreate script is in the install folder of the template. Upload it to your server and run it, once your table is created you can delete it and continue. It will create the table and you will not need it in the future again.

I ran it, but now i get the error: 500 - Internal Server Error 
Should i upload the entire template folder on server?

[SimonB]

Jachym

I may be blind but I don't see the save button for creating the snapshots for the forecast comparisons.

[SimonB]

Ok scratch that. Reread the instructions

[Jáchym]

I'm trying to install the template. According this step http://www.meteotemplate.com/wiki/doku.php?id=install1
i have to insert the URL of the file tableCreate.php in a browser. Where is this url? 

Hi Johnny,

the tableCreate script is in the install folder of the template. Upload it to your server and run it, once your table is created you can delete it and continue. It will create the table and you will not need it in the future again.

I ran it, but now i get the error: 500 - Internal Server Error 
Should i upload the entire template folder on server?

Hi,
the tableCreate script needs the config.php to be set up, or at least the MySQL bit. It uses the login information from there.