Weather Monitor v.1.2 - has been released

Take a look at this topic. Weather Monitor 1.2 is already very close to achieving all this and more

I am using the Weather Monitor Custom Full 32 and after trying many times, I've come to a standstill. I'd like to know how to edit these and what each heading means under [DataSlot0] -

[DataSlot0]
param = CUSTOM
SkinText = 0
rect = 0 0 68 13
LabelType = short
LabelRect = 0 0 10 10

What I'd like to do is include the parameter text name next to the actual weather reading. For instance, instead of just seeing in the skin the following -
85%
7:10 AM EST
7:10 PM EST
etc.

I'd like it to display as -
Humidity: 85%
Sunrise: 7:10 AM EST
Sunset: 7:10 PM EST
etc.

Is this possible? And if so, would I be changing the items in [DataSlot0] to accomplish this. ???

I'm interested in that too. I've no idea what these parameters do:-

LabelType = short
LabelRect = 0 0 10 10

Can't see any difference when they're altered.

The windspeed on my wind direction skin to reads "8" rather than "8mph"

/Mark

We will definitely vote for more of the above also. Also - is the daytime/nightime function supposed to work? If so how can we program it?
Thanks

HMSS Q Section

I think I can help with some:-

[DataSlot0]
Each slot defines one space in the skin layout where a type of weather info (e.g. the temperature) can be displayed.
If you have two slots, then two different types of data may be displayed in the skin (e.g. temperature and wind speed.)
Which info fills these slots is selected in the skin properties, by switching stuff between the boxes entitled 'parameters' and 'use in skin'. If you select more info parameters than there are slots defined in the skin, then the last ones are ignored.
Slot numbering always starts at 0, then 1,2,3 etc

param = CUSTOM
This seems to mean that the slot can be filled with whatever is selected using the 'use in skin' config box (as described above) Sometimes I see "param = Temperature", which I guess means that the data slot is fixed to displaying the temperature.

SkinText = 0
Use proper everyday fonts, rather than those teeny tiny number graphics you see saved in the skin.

SkinText = 1
Use the teeny tiny numbers, I guess. Haven't tried it.


rect = 0 0 68 13
This is the rectangular area which the text in that slot will be stretched to cover. The first number is the across position of the top left corner, the second is the down position to the top left corner. The third is the across position of the bottom right corner, the fourth is the down position of the bottom right corner.

Expanding on Mark's post, SkinText=1 forces the plugin to use an image file for the numbers instead of standard fonts. To use this, you also have to define the digits file (i.e. digits=digits.png) in the [general] section of the skin. They don't necesarily have to be tiny (as the defaults tend to be), they can be any size. The image must be a single row of numbers and symbols, all with the same width and height, using the format "0123456789+-." The plugin takes the width of the image and divides it by 13 (the number of characters required) to determine the width of the individual digits. The height is taken from the height of the image. The advantage of this method: platform independant appearance, greater control of margin sizes surrounding font, and easier to read fonts at very small sizes. (Yes, the defaults, particularly in the 3 lines inside 22 pixels versions, are hard to read, but if you use a standard font in those configurations they are completely illegible). Fixed width also make it easier to determine how big the dataslot's rectangle needs to be. Drawbacks: slightly bigger resource impact, more time to develop skin, more difficult to change font.

mark76uk -
rect = 0 0 68 13
This is the rectangular area which the text in that slot will be stretched to cover. The first number is the across position of the top left corner, the second is the down position to the top left corner. The third is the across position of the bottom right corner, the fourth is the down position of the bottom right corner.

Thanks Mark, your description was perfect. I hope that someone will tell us what LabelType = short and LabelRect = 0 0 10 10 means.
In the meantime, I've changed the appearance of Weather Monitor to look like the following -


When you click on the sun and cloud icon in the Taskbar, the Weather Monitor screen comes up.

Wish there was a way to automatically change the icons with a sun in it to a moon depending on the time of day. It sure looks dumb showing an icon with the sun in it at night time. ??? Any ideas out there?

BTW - Thanks for the info on the digits.png, shapeshifter. I tried it but I believe that you have to use a font in which every digit has the same size like Courier. It doesn't work with Arial or Verdana.

Thanks Mark, your description was perfect. I hope that someone will tell us what LabelType = short and LabelRect = 0 0 10 10 means.

LabelType and LabelRect are for future releases to make display like:

Code:

Humidity:  85%
Sunrise:    7:10 AM EST
Sunset:     7:10 PM EST

Label text will be defined in the provider file.

Wish there was a way to automatically change the icons with a sun in it to a moon depending on the time of day. It sure looks dumb showing an icon with the sun in it at night time. Any ideas out there?

This feature will be released in the next version of WM.

I tried it but I believe that you have to use a font in which every digit has the same size like Courier. It doesn't work with Arial or Verdana.

Why not? You only need to center every symbol inside its rectangle in digits.png. And more over you can add special effects like shadow, glow etc.

Thanks for the info, Yuri. You covered all the bases with my wants and questions with Weather Monitor. The next release should be great!

Yuri,

Would it be possible for future versions of Weather Monitor to be able to show more than one weather icon or other icons? Presently, we have to seam together a number of Weather Monitors to do so as I did for the seven day forecast. It would be much easy for the user to include the info in one Weather Monitor in the Providers .ini and Skin .ini files.