Webtag problem

[kroma]

Hello,

I've run into an issue with a text overlay for my webcam.

It used to be working great but today, I noticed that a change of Cumulus host folder I made back in July (!) had stopped my webtags from working properly and so my webcam was overlaid with data from July.

I changed the information in the configuration>internet>files menu to point to the new folders which seemed to do the trick. Alas, this evening it seems to be stuck on this afternoon's readings.

I have two files which are used for the overlay, webcam and webcam2.

The way I understand it is that I have files called webcamT.txt and webcam2T.txt. When processed these turn into webcam.tmptxt / webcam.txt and webcam2.tmptxt / webcam2.txt

The tmptxt files are being grabbed for the overlay. I swear this used to work before I changed the folders. Not any more. webcamT.txt and webcam2T.txt seem ok with their web tags. However, both webcam.tmptxt / webcam.txt are the same (with an old value) as are webcam2.tmptxt / webcam2.txt

I experimented with making webcam.txt the same as webcamT.txt (with tags) and this caused webcam.tmptxt to update correctly - but only once before I ended up in the same situation again.

I'm really confused by it now and, as I say, it did used to work.

These files are all in my root Cumulus folder.

How can I get this to work properly?

Thanks in advance,

Kroma

[beteljuice]

I'm a little bemused by what you mat be putting where ?

It all depends on how the overlay is being done ... (html or a prog)
That is probably the path that needs investing. Is this 'local' or on the web ?

[kroma]

Hi,

The overlay is working fine but the files webcam.tmptxt etc which are updated by Cumulus aren't updating correctly. Hence the overlay shows incorrect information from these files.

Kroma

[beteljuice]

You still haven't said if this is all local (running your own server) or on the web.

Sequence should be:

webcamT.txt > processed > webcam.tmptxt > [renamed],[exported > to where ?]

... and if your overlay is using webcam.tmptxt then it should be looking in your new Cumulus location.

Are all your other templates working OK ?

[mcrossley]

It's unusual to rely a temporary file to say the least, you cannot guarantee that will always exist if say the processing logic is changed. You should use the end result file.
That said the temp file should exist.

EDIT: Ah! just realised this is Cumulus 1 - that isn't going to change!

[ExperiMentor]

From the part where you wrote:

I experimented with making webcam.txt the same as webcamT.txt (with tags) and this caused webcam.tmptxt to update correctly - but only once before I ended up in the same situation again.

I suspect the problem is is the Cumulus setup setting where you tell Cumulus to process an 'input' file and where to store the Output. I haven't run Cumulus (non-MX) for years, but it seems like you have it set to convert webcam.txt (input) back into itself (same filename as output). So when you start off with tags in webcam.txt, it is properly converted. But next time there are no tags in webcam.txt, so it doesn't get changed.

You need to have the 'input' file set to webcamT.txt and the 'output' to webcam.txt.
And similarly the 2nd 'input' file set to webcam2T.txt and the 'output' to webcam2.txt.

In CumulusMX these are in Settings / Extra web files. The 'input' file is called 'LOCAL FILENAME' and the 'output' file is 'REMOTE FILENAME'. Look for something similar and put those 'T's in!

I do agree that you shouldn't ever have been using the *.tmptxt files - they could have disappeared at any update - but at least you know there won't be any updates to Cumulus 1 now!

[kroma]

Thank you all. Problem solved.

Yes, they were local files I was dealing with and I must have followed a guide at some point to set the whole thing up. I was sure it had been working before but I'm less sure that it had been now I think about it because all I changed the other day was the folder names.

The confusing bit for me is that all that is mentioned in the Cumulus dialog box is local and remote file names. Of course, the remote filename is simply what would go online if needs be but, for this purpose, it's still local.

Anyway, all sorted.

Thanks again,

Kroma

[kroma]

Update - it stopped again! However, the tmptxt files appear to be updating (I MUST have seen instructions to link to those at some point) so, I've left the filenames in Cumulus as I had this morning but the software overlaying the text now takes it from the tmptxt files. I'll keep an eye on it!

Kroma

[ExperiMentor]

Please tell us exactly what you have entered in the place where you state the LOCAL and REMOTE FILENAMES

[kroma]

It's all working now.

In the local filenames boxes I have D:\Cumulus\webcamT.txt and D:\Cumulus\webcam2T.txt whilst in the remote filenames boxes I have /cumulus/webcam.txt and /cumulus/webcam2.txt

Thanks for your help everybody. Now to tackle the more serious problem which has arisen this week - I think the USB socket on my console is failing! Aaargh!

Kroma