Big Screen Weather Update (v2)..

[Niall]

Originally Posted by philzgr8

Unfortunately I still don't understand the reaction and the latest one confuses me even more so I will try once again to be completely constructive. I really would have thought it's quite simple. Most of us are not weather enthisiasts but have a need/desire for something simple that will tell us at a glance what the key indicators are for the present day as well as some indication about the next few days. Let's face it, pages of metrics about history or the forecast beyond a few days are nice to have but not something you're likely to look at on a regular basis. In trying to be constructive I put it to you Niall that most people with such a need would be happy to pay for something simple which provides something akin to the following info:

• Today's Min/Max temps and precis. (I think precis is the right word!) Tide and Sunrise/Sunset info might also be handy.
• Forecast Min/Max temps and a graphical representation of the precis for the next few days.
• A static satellite image would be nice but not essential
• An animated Radar image with switches for differing resolutions.

As far as anything else goes I probably would rarely use it and it could therefore be placed on other screens if people wanted it. I don't expect you to do anything with this Niall but I just wanted to explain a bit better what I and others have been getting at. The simple fact is that if I have to navigate screens to get the information I want quickly I can probably do it far easier in a web browser with the aid of a mouse and therefore a product like this would be wasted money as far as I'm concerned. Not because it's no good or too expensive but purely because I simply wouldn't use it.

To explain a bit further maybe it's worth understanding why people like me would like something like this in the first place. The truth is that most of us like to have an indication of the day's weather forecast so that we can make informed decisions about our plans for the day and/or what clothing to wear. As such the day's weather forecast is the prime need. In addition, some of us occasionally wish to participate in activities which require an understanding of tide times and daylight hours, hence my suggestion about these in the main page. For most of us it is worthwhile having some understanding of the next few days forecast also so that we can make plans about what activities we might like to engage in and so some representation of the forthcoming weather is handy. The satellite image does provide some aid in understanding the upcoming weather but in my mond it's seconadry and so I reckon it's an optional thing. Perhaps a simple switch could alternate between satellite and radar imagery if it could be done ergonomically. The last thing which I reckon is really worthwhile is the animated radar which I would see as being selectable by resolution by some ergonomic switch or some such. The reason this is important, and I'm sure that many people who engage in outdoor activities will agree is that it gives you a very immediate understanding of rain conditions. I personally rely very heavily on this to make last minute decisions about golf or fishing. It is the single most reliable thing on the BOM website IMO since it has such immediacy.

Again, I don't want to tell you how to suck eggs Niall as I have said before that I have been very impressed with the quality of your work but I do believe my comments are constructive and based on what I would want and what I believe others would want too. This is backed up by the logic I have provided and while I understand it is only my opinion, I would have thought it was worth at least some consideration instead of the dismissive type of comments you have made. If it's not viable then it's not viable and I fully accept my lack of knowledge of all the challenges involved. The simple undeniable truth is that for me if it doesn't meet those needs then why would I pay for what I can get far more easily and for free on the BOM website?

Hi...

Apologies we had a bit of a tussle the other week - and appreciate your constructive comments.. I'm taking it all on board (some good suggestions above) - and will try to make it a little more 'Aussie' friendly in a future revision (in a way that doesn't deteriorate the experience for o/s user's - who don't have all that lovely BOM data available to them).

thanks .. (and peace )

Niall

[philzgr8]

Originally Posted by Niall

Hi...

Apologies we had a bit of a tussle the other week - and appreciate your constructive comments.. I'm taking it all on board (some good suggestions above) - and will try to make it a little more 'Aussie' friendly in a future revision (in a way that doesn't deteriorate the experience for o/s user's - who don't have all that lovely BOM data available to them).

thanks .. (and peace )

Niall

Cheers Niall. Glad we don't need to continue down that road and only too happy to provide input. As I have said, I am well aware that you have constraints that probably make my suggestions implausible but none the less I hope there's at least something in there of use.
Cheers

Phil

P.S. As a matter of interest, I was wondering if you couldn't use something like the channel + and - buttons to cycle through the different images or animations. That might mean you could provide the BOM radar imagery for Aust without having to make any changes at all for your US clients.

[Niall]

Originally Posted by philzgr8

Cheers Niall. Glad we don't need to continue down that road and only too happy to provide input. As I have said, I am well aware that you have constraints that probably make my suggestions implausible but none the less I hope there's at least something in there of use.
Cheers

Phil

P.S. As a matter of interest, I was wondering if you couldn't use something like the channel + and - buttons to cycle through the different images or animations. That might mean you could provide the BOM radar imagery for Aust without having to make any changes at all for your US clients.

Thanks Phil,

Thats a great idea - and although I'm totally trying to avoid touching any of the playback controls (including channel, volume, stop/play/pause etc) - due to a lot of user potentially having a 'now playing' window going (with current tv/dvd/video/etc running) - potentially the way to go is to catch into the numeric or arrow keys in a similar manner to what you suggested. (and this way some direct shortcuts to image favorites could be provided directly from the main menu - and saved to automatically display on relaunch).

Also on the 'view image/radar' etc screen - there's definitely opportunity to catch all the directional buttons (ie. up/down/left/right) to allow for fast movement between the available images - similar to how v1 was done (and would actually make it more usable for users everywhere)..

Anyhow I'll definitely look at some of these options for the next revision - and am already (from yours and others suggestions) - getting a good feel for how to make it work better for everyone.

thanks again for the constructive feedback!.

Niall

[jgriffin]

Well, seeing as this place has become a supported support arena, i thought i'd post the issues i have seen. I am currently set to Brisbane by
Oceana / Australia / Queensland / Brisbane / Brisbane Airport.
On the front screen the Forecast is always blank. By going to the dedicated Forecast 'tab' i can navigate to brisbane and get valid data though.

The rest is related to the radar images...
The first image in the list of "local images" is the 128k Grafton Radar Loop. The rest are correct (Mt Stapylton, Marburg etc).
Occaisionally the moment you click an image, it comes up "download failed". If you do it again, then you get the normal "downloading" screen then it comes up.
Sometimes too, when you switch between images the background image isn't there. You see the cloud, but not the map if you will.

[Niall]

Originally Posted by jgriffin

Well, seeing as this place has become a supported support arena, i thought i'd post the issues i have seen. I am currently set to Brisbane by
Oceana / Australia / Queensland / Brisbane / Brisbane Airport.
On the front screen the Forecast is always blank. By going to the dedicated Forecast 'tab' i can navigate to brisbane and get valid data though.

The rest is related to the radar images...
The first image in the list of "local images" is the 128k Grafton Radar Loop. The rest are correct (Mt Stapylton, Marburg etc).
Occaisionally the moment you click an image, it comes up "download failed". If you do it again, then you get the normal "downloading" screen then it comes up.
Sometimes too, when you switch between images the background image isn't there. You see the cloud, but not the map if you will.

Hi there..

I just had a look - and while it appears Brisbane Airport Forecasts aren't coming through - the forecasts for Brisbane itself is actually there and selectable (in this same locations wizard).

I think part the confusion is that if you follow that path of selection - the item for Brisbane is in the column that is to the left of the default selected item (when you get to forecasts step) - however as I don't display a 'Item xx of yy' type message at the bottom - it isn't immediately obvious that you can scroll both left + right in this list of forecasts. The Forecast list itself actually starts with 'A' (Archerfield being the first item).

For the next revision I'll add in some additional visual hints to help with this - and also will investigate why Brisbane Airport Forecast is coming up as blank (as it either should return data - or be ommitted from this list).


For the image radar problems - OK that was my fault - but no reinstall is needed to fix this - and was due to me rapidly changing (too many) directory names when I was switching off the old mobilewares.net site (and accidentally renamed the directory that had the background image parts). The caching going on locally made this somewhat confusing (if you were on the 'early' invite list and had used this prior to Jan 31 - then you may have had 'some' of these backgrounds already cached - hence the strange behaviour). I suspect the 'Image failed' notice was directly caused by this - and should no longer appear either for these radars (when you go to download it for the first time - or it believes your cached image is too old).

To fix this problem 100% (and ensure no further problems) - please remove ALL the image files out your Weather v2 image cache directory (just the files contained within - not the entire directory) :

x:\ProgramData\Big Screen\Weather 2\ImageCache

(where x: is the path where you have installed Widows Vista. Please don't accidentally delete any of the files from the other directories ie. \images - as this will break the geobrowser).

When you restart the addin - then you should be able to see all the correct backgrounds.

Please advise if these don't work for you. (When I get a chance - I'll place a sticky note about this along with the other support notes - none of which should affect Australian users).

Hope this helps eliminate both these issues for you.

thanks for finding these issues / reporting them..

cheers

Niall

[Blackdog]

Originally Posted by jgriffin

Well, seeing as this place has become a supported support arena, i thought i'd post the issues i have seen. I am currently set to Brisbane by
Oceana / Australia / Queensland / Brisbane / Brisbane Airport.
On the front screen the Forecast is always blank. By going to the dedicated Forecast 'tab' i can navigate to brisbane and get valid data though.

The rest is related to the radar images...
The first image in the list of "local images" is the 128k Grafton Radar Loop. The rest are correct (Mt Stapylton, Marburg etc).
Occaisionally the moment you click an image, it comes up "download failed". If you do it again, then you get the normal "downloading" screen then it comes up.
Sometimes too, when you switch between images the background image isn't there. You see the cloud, but not the map if you will.

Hi Niall i have a similar problem with the radar screen were as i have never yet seen the image of the places on the radar screen. I see the rain doppler stuff but not the actual image that you get of the locations.
I went and looked for the Whether2\Imagecache folder on my Vista Ultimate box and it doesn't exist. I only have the trial version at the moment but if i can get the radar working i will buy the full thing as it does what i want it to do.
I used the Mt Staypleton radar in Brissy.

[Niall]

Originally Posted by Blackdog

Hi Niall i have a similar problem with the radar screen were as i have never yet seen the image of the places on the radar screen. I see the rain doppler stuff but not the actual image that you get of the locations.
I went and looked for the Whether2\Imagecache folder on my Vista Ultimate box and it doesn't exist. I only have the trial version at the moment but if i can get the radar working i will buy the full thing as it does what i want it to do.
I used the Mt Staypleton radar in Brissy.

Hi -

Just to confirm - are you using v2 or v1 of this software? (the above notes are only for v2 - the original v1 is a discontinued/unsupported product now).

This folder is definitely available on the trial version for v2 as well (the actual software install is identical between full/trial verions - it's the license/registration info thats different) - so if you can't find it - it's more than likely it might be due to the 'ProgramData' directory being a 'hidden' or 'system' folder (you can set this via your Windows Explorer folder browsing properties to show all hidden/system folders).

Alternatively - if you open Windows Explorer and manually copy/paste/type the path into the URL bar - for example if your Windows Vista was installed on C: drive - type/paste
'c:\ProgramData\Big Screen\Weather 2\ImageCache' in - and it will take you there directly.

Let me know if any issues with that. (otherwise it's possible your Internet Explorer Image cache \ or Media Center MCPL image cache is holding onto the invalid image file from before).

rgds

Niall

[Blackdog]

Niall, thanks for the response i have cleared that folder and it is all good now, i can see the background image on the radar screen.
The reason i didn't see the cahce folder was that i hadn't enabled the hidden files/fiolder views.

Now that its all working i'll go for the WAF and buy it if she likes it, but you have my vote.
Thanks Blackdog.