Version 3.5.0 - Build 3071 is now available for download.
This release introduces two new features: the generation of a Moon phase image, and the ability to push data to MQTT brokers.
As in a
separate announcement post, this release also sees the removal of the Highcharts script files from the distribution. This may impact on a few users, so please read that announcement before installing this release.
Moon Image
There are a number of new configuration settings for the moon image generation, they can all be found in the Settings|Internet Settings.
First is in the Web/FTP settings, there is a new option
"Include Moon image file". When this is enabled the moon image will be transfered to your FTP server at set intervals. These are on the first upload after Cumulus MX starts, and every hour on the hour thereafter. Note, this will only be effective if you enabled the Moon image generation...
Next there is a new section lower down on the same page -
"Moon Image". This contains three configuration items.
Generate Moon Image - this must be enabled to generate an image at all, if you do not enable this then the
"Include Moon image file" option above will not work!
Image Size - The output image file dimensions in pixels. The image will be square format, default is 100x100 pixels
FTP folder - Sets the folder to upload the image file to on your FTP server. This is relative to your default FTP folder name. The default value is
"images/moon.png" which is compatible with the supplied default web site.
Notes:
- The generated image file is always <cmx_folder>/web/moon.png.
- The base file used for generating the image is web/MoonBaseImage.png, this image has a transparent background which transfers to the output image.
You can change this image if you wish, but it must have the same filename, and must be in PNG format.
- The supplied default web site index page has been updated to incorporate the new image file.
MQTT
Cumulus now has the ability to upload data to MQTT brokers. The configuration for this is found in
Settings|InternetSettings|MQTT.
There you configure the server name (and port), username and password - currently CMX does not support advanced authentication options.
There are two upload options...
Send message on data update - This will send a message every time data is received from your station - useful if you need real-time data e.g. wind speed/direction.
Note the interval depends on your station, it could be as short as every 2.5 seconds for Davis stations, or even sub 1 second for Instromet!
Send messages at fixed intervals - As it says, specify an interval in seconds to perform the uploads. It defaults to 600 secs = 10 minutes.
Both these options allow you to specify the MQTT topic name, and the name of template file to be used to construct the messages.
The default template files are called
mqtt/DataUpdateTemplate.txt and
mqtt/IntervalTemplate.txt. The templates can be any format you like, and use the normal web tags to substitue data. The supplied demo files contain some simple JSON formatted data to get you started.
The full list of changes is...
- Fix to "Stop second instance" of Cumulus running
- Fix for hung update interval (S)FTP sessions getting hung
- Fix to <#moonage> web tag to improve accuracy
- Adds support for MQTT output
- Tidy up of /interface folder to remove unused files
- Removal of Highcharts scripts from the distribution
- Add support for generating a Moon Phase image. This is disabled by default. The output image will be generated and optionally FTP'd once an hour. The generated local image file is always \web\moon.png
New Cumulus.ini file settings
Code: Select all
[FTP site]
IncludeMoonImage=1
[Graphs]
MoonImageEnabled=1
MoonImageSize=100
MoonImageFtpDest=images/moon.png
[MQTT]
Server=
Port=
UseTLS=0
Username=
Password=
EnableDataUpdate=0
UpdateTopic=CumulusMX/DataUpdate
UpdateTemplate=DataUpdateTemplate.txt
EnableInterval=0
IntervalTime=600
IntervalTopic=CumulusMX/Interval
IntervalTemplate=IntervalTemplate.txt
- New files
Code: Select all
\Licences-Additional.txt
\MQTTnet.dll
\mqtt\DataUpdateTemplate.txt
\mqtt\IntervalTemplate.txt
\web\MoonBaseImage.png
- Updated files
Code: Select all
\CumulusMX.exe
\FluentFTP.dll
\Newtonsoft.Json.dll
\interface\ - [Many changes, delete and replace]
\web\indexT.htm
\webfiles\js\cumuluscharts.js