Help with WM url for weather.com - for german weather?

Hello,

I'm using WinXP with SP1, TLB v3, WM v1.3beta (skin weather16).

I can't get WM work together with the weather.com provider.
I'm living in germany, so the correct weather.com url for me is http://de.weather.com/weather/local/GMXX0080?

But when I paste this in the url field I get no data at all, resulting in a blank field showing up with nothing, no icons, no text, only the tool tip showing up when the mouse is over the field where the icons/data should be, but showing also nothing (the head title weather.com, then a separator line, then nothing). It's not the WM skin, cause it happens no matter which skin I use.

I tried some alterations of the url (i.e. replaced the url with http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/local/GMXX0080?, which seems to work in my browser, too, or deleted the ? at the end of the url line), replaced <!-- w --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.weather.com">www.weather.com</a><!-- w --> in the provider file with de.weather.com, but to no avail.

What am I doing wrong? What url do I have to choose to get weather.com to work? Or how do I have to tweak the provider file?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in regard,
AmandaK

Weather.com has started using some clever HTML re-direction to discourage programs (but not people) from reading their web pages. In other words, the information you are reading is not really genereated at the address you entered. They have set up an XML feed to serve programs (which is what the Weather Forecast plugin uses). However, the XML layout is not compatible with the weather.com provider file. All of this means that you probably won't be able to use your current provider file. I'd suggest using a different provider or Weather Forecast plugin instead of Weather Monitor.

I'm afraid you'll have to tweak the provider file in order to parse the required information from their web page.

Looking at the raw output, the data does exist and weather.com hasn't got around to playing with the HTML (yet).

As shapeshifter says, perhaps you ought to look at another provider, or use the Weather Forecast plugin.

Let me know if you're having trouble with this, and I'll try to help you.

Found it! I started to write a provider file for weather.com XML and you're welcome to modify it as you see fit...

HorusUK -
It does not seem to be working here. We have not yet looked at the code, though.

Hello AmandaK

How about trying a different provider like Yahoo?

We have tried it and the parameters image correctly.

Try this provider file for Mainz -

EDIT Please ignore this file but obtain the corrected file below.

Here is the corrected file -

If you have not obtained it yet you may wish to try the DK Weather skin below. It is with this one we coded the provider file.

Load the link in a Netscape-based web broswer (Navigator, Firefox, Mozilla) and watch the address line and you'll see what I'm talking about regarding the "clever HTML redirection". However, I haven't had much luck in getting any of the URLs that show up to work. Perhaps this is related to the bug that WM doesn't handle cookies correctly, because if you turn off cookies in your web browser and load the link, you get an error that the page cannot be found. Obviously weather.com is using cookies somewhere during this redirection.

Hi,

thanks for all your work. Unfortunately it still doesn't work with weather.com. So I'm now using the Yahoo weather forecast.

But now I have another question:
how can I configure which information is shown on the mouseover tooltip? Is it depending on the skin I use? I use weather16, which fits neatly in my small taskbar. I would like to see only
- today temperatur
- today condition
- today wind
- today humidity
- today pressure
- tomorrow condition forecast
- third day condition forecast

If I choose these in the "use in skin" section it has no effect, i.e. still all information is shown.
Any tips for configuring this?

thanks again,
AmandaK
- updated

Hello AmandaK
We will work on a custom provider file for you. It should be ready within mere moments.

error

AmandaK

Please try these files and let us know if and how they work for you. Replace the skin file in the Weather 16 folder that you have with this one. The provider file can merely be added to the provider folder.

Go to the Weather Monitor>Properties and reselect the new provider file. Then place only Temperature Humidity and Pressure on the right side under "Use in skin". The left side should have (in this order)

Temperature
Conditions
Wind
Humidity
Pressure
Tomorrow Cond
Third Day Cond

Awaiting your report.........

Thanks people!

I used all your tips and files, and now I can use the Yahoo weather with a tooltip info just as I like it.

I just did some minor changes... mainly I replaced the green digits with some white, bigger ones. Reduced the data shown right to the condition icon to only the temperature, tweaked the aligning of the temperatur a bit and added some more condition png to the skin ini file.

But now everything is perfect! :-D
Again, thanks to all of you who helped me. Great community here!

Greetings,
AmandaK

You are welcome. Feel free to post a screenshot of your TLB!