Sidebar Gadget for Windows Vista/7

[claydon_dan]

UPDATED TO V1.3
I have built a little sidebar gadget, to work on Vista and 7, to display realtime weather from your weather station.

Daytime Screenshot -

Nighttime Screenshot -


It works using MarkB's xml template v1.6 (https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=832), uploaded in realtime.

I should also thank beteljuice for some of the code I pinched his library (day/night switcher and forecast switcher)

I might see I can add a slideout to display some more data at some point. Hope you all like, and let me know if it fails on you!!

You can get the gadget here -> http://www.lenzphotography.co.uk/cumulu ... lus.gadget

[beteljuice]

Looks good

I should also thank beteljuice for some of the code I pinched his library (day/night switcher and forecast switcher)

No Problem, but if you are using marks xml, then you should have Sunrise / Sunset times - makes things easier / more accurate.

Always nice to see someone running with an idea and getting a result

PS. One forecast 'translation' error - "Faily Fine", but I forgive you

[w5afw]

need installation instructions

[claydon_dan]

The XML file should be downloaded and the added to the list of files on the Cumulus.



The gadget should self install from both IE and Firefox if you selct the Open or Run option (if you save it to disk, navigate to the file and double-click to install). You will see a warning message like the one below. Click Install



If if hasn't already done so add the gadget to your sidebar, as normal. On the gaddgets first run you will need to enter a couple of settings. Hover over the gadget in the sidebar and click on the 'Wrench' icon that appears on the right.



Set the URL to the Web Address for your cumulus website with the last part as the filename of the XML fle you entered into Cumulus earlier (cumulus.xml) e.g. http://www.yourdomain.co.uk/cumulus.xml

You can also adjust how often the gadget updates.

Hope that helps.

[steve]

Installed fine for me just clicking on it in FF. I'm not uploading the XML file, so that was as far as I got

Looks very good though!

[w5afw]

I am sure I am missing a step. My tpl file is processing fine and uploading as an xml. It services the other files that use it just fine. When I download the "gadget" file, it downloads with a .zip suffix. If I change the suffix to gadget, it appears to install. After I enter the appropriate file name for the xml file, the gadget just sits there without populating data. I have tried this on two different machines, both with seven and with vista. No joy.

[claydon_dan]

If you navigate to the following folder with the gadget closed.

Open My Computer and type into the address bar
%USERPROFILE%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\Cumulus.gadget

In that folder create a blank text file called debug.txt

Then re-add the gadget to your sidebar, and complete the settings as before. When thegadget gets as far as it goes, close the gadget and upload the debug.txt file here and I will have a look at what is happening.

[w5afw]

thanks for checking this out...

[claydon_dan]

w5afw,

It looks like the problem is caused by the version of XML you are using. MarkB's new version (v1.6), has moved several of the tags around, which means when the gadget is looking for certain pieces of information it is not getting the the right information.

For instance in the new xml file 'forecast' appears as item 124 but in the older file it appears as 13 (124 in your file is 'sunset').

If you can update your xml file to the new version it should work fine.

Hope that helps

[w5afw]

I thought I'd done that. checking. Thanks

[w5afw]

when I check my realtime xml file at http://www.w5afw.com/wx/wxdata.xml, it reports: - <!-- Cumulus WebTag XML Data file - as of version 1.8.6 r809
-->

what should it say? this indicates to me that I am uploading 1.8.6 data...

my tpl file was downloaded from Mark's posting.

[claydon_dan]

It should say:

Code: Select all

<!--Cumulus WebTag XML Data file - version 1.6-->

Update: new version of XML template file restructured to match the Webtabs entry in the Cumulus Wiki as of September 3rd 2009.
http://wiki.sandaysoft.com/index.php?title=Webtags
Attachment:
File comment: Version 1.6 (v 1.5 was downloaded 34 times)
xmltemplate.1.6.zip [3.38 KiB]
Downloaded 12 times

[w5afw]

ok, ok, my bad; got it now; very cool; thanks a lot! Cheers, lex

[gemini06720]

Daniel.

Thank you for the gadget ... I am new to Windows 7 (was installed about a week ago).

The Cumulus gadget installed properly, but, at first, I had problems getting it to read the XML file on my server.

Cumulus is updating/uploading the XML file in real time (every 10 seconds).

But the gadget does not seem to be updating its weather information! I have created a 'debug.txt' file in the Cumulus gadget directory - what should I look for regarding the updating of the gadget weather information (set to 10 seconds).

UPDATE: It now appears that the Cumulus gadget is updating its weather information...

[Frank02]

Hello,

Can the gadget work without a web site or that's a requirement?

Thanks.