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» Features
» Installation
» Upgrading to New Releases
» Configuring
» Purchasing
» Troubleshooting
» Release History
» Appendix
wdlconfig.xml tags
Weather Display Live works with Weather Display to provide real time viewing of your weather station data on the internet. Weather Display Live is a Flash TM 1 movie which uses the file transferred to your website by FTP or other means from Weather Display. The data is displayed in your web browser which requires the free Macromedia Flash plug-in 2 - this is currently installed on 98% of internet-enabled desktops worldwide 3 and is pre-installed on many browsers and computers. The data can be updated on a regular configurable basis by the user but it is suggested to set it the same as the upload from Weather Display. (See the Weather Display documentation for advice on this.)
Weather Display Live is free to use on a local PC or test web server with the address http://localhost/ with no restrictions. It will run on an internet web server in evaluation mode with no time limit but an Evaluation Version notice is displayed. After registering the software you will be sent a serial number which will remove this notice and allow you to use the file as many times as you wish for that particular website.
Installation is straightforward with only one file needing to have 2 changes made to it to get the software working in evaluation mode. Step by step instructions are listed below.
There are ten files and a folder within this self extracting installation file:
File |
Notes |
readme.html |
This document which explains the installation and configuration
of Weather Display Live. |
wdlv4_02.swf |
The actual Flash movie file. |
wdlconfig.xml |
The configuration file for Weather Display Live. You can use this file as is, modify it or use one of the other pre-built wdlconfig.xml files included in this download in the config folder. For more information on customising Weather Display Live see the file configuring_wdl.pdf |
| configuring_wdl.pdf | A guide to how to customise Weather Display Live. |
licence.txt |
The licence agreement for using Weather Display Live. By installing and using Weather Display Live on a web server it is understood that you have accepted the terms and conditions of the licence. |
index.html |
A sample web page to display Weather Display Live. This can be used by itself or as the basis for incorporating into your own pages. |
| wdlv3_10.exe | WDL as a standalone application for ease of setting the configuration options on a local PC. Please read configuring_wdl.pdf for more information. |
| flashtest.html / flash_detection.swf / flashno.html | Files that you can use to check the visitor to your website has the correct version of Flash installed. Please read configuring_wdl.pdf for more information. |
| mapsmall.jpg | Map of the UK for evaluation of MesoMap Live. |
| Folder | |
| config | A selection of pre-built wdlconfig.xml files - see the file configuring_wdl.pdf for information on customising Weather Display Live |
To install Weather Display Live on a web server –
Open up a web browser and navigate to the index.html file. You should see your live weather data with an Evaluation Notice displayed on top of it.
New versions of Weather Display Live will be given a new name for two reasons: to avoid problems with browsers caching old versions and to avoid confusion over which version is being used.
If you are applying a new version of Weather Display Live all you need to do is rename the reference to it in the web page that hosts the swf file so that it now refences the new swf. With reference to the above section on installation change both references to the file in the web page so that if your new file is wdlv4_02.swf and the existing entry reads -
="wdlv3_01.swf?http://www.mywebsite.com/wdlconfig.xml"
change it so that it now reads
="wdlv4_02.swf?http://www.mywebsite.com/wdlconfig.xml"
Refresh your browser to see the new version.
The wdlconfig.xml file allows many options to be set for Weather Display Live. It is an xml file which allows for great flexibility but care when altering it is required. The slightest typo can stop the software working. It is recommended you make a backup before amending any details. In addition the file is case sensitive! Open the wdlconfig.xml files in a text editor such as Notepad and have a look at the contents within it. Each configuration option is specified on a new line. For a comprehensive guide to customising Weather Display Live see the configuring_wdl.pdf file. Here are a few of the most useful tags to get you started.
If you wish to place index.html, wdlconfig.xml and wdlv4_02.swf files in a different location than the clientraw.txt, clientrawextra.txt and clientrawdaily.txt files then you can specify their location by amending the lines -
<clientraw></clientraw>
<clientrawextra></clientrawextra>
<clientrawdaily></clientrawdaily>
Enter the full path to the files ie http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientraw.txt and http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawextra.txt as appropriate.
To change an option such as the temperature units that Weather Display Live starts with find the line –
<initTempUnits>C</initTempUnits>
Change it so that it now reads –
<initTempUnits>F</initTempUnits>
Be careful when changing settings in this file as you can easily stop Weather Display Live from working with the smallest of typing mistakes. The xml file is case sensitive! Refresh your web page to reload Weather Display Live and see the new temperature units.
In the same way you can change the barometric pressure, rainfall, altitude and wind units at start up.
It is recommended that you set the frequency with which Weather Display Live attempts to update data to be the same as the clientraw.txt file gets updated from Weather Display. Therefore if Weather Display sends a new clientraw.txt file every 10 seconds change the line that says –
<refresh>4</refresh>
to say –
<refresh>10</refresh>
If after changing this setting or any other in the wdlconfig.xml file your browser does not reflect the change see the Troubleshooting section below.
The full set of configuration tags in the wdlconfig.xml file and comprehensive instructions for customising Weather Display Live to look exactly the way you want are described in the configuring_wdl.pdf guide included in the installation download.
You can change the size of Weather Display Live by amending the width and height tags in the index.html file. For example if you wish to make the display a fixed size enter the values 550 and 400 for width and height respectively. Alternatively you can make Weather Display Live automatically fill the screen by setting the values to a percentage. Enter 100% for both the width and height tags. It’s best to keep the values relative to each other or the display will appear distorted due to the incorrect aspect ratio.
You can change the background colour of the display or place a background image by changing the <BODY bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> tag. For example to give Weather Display Live a yellow background you would change the tag to <BODY bgcolor="#FFFF00">. For more information on any of this visit the Flash pages on the Macromedia website 4 or any decent html book.
To purchase Weather Display Live please click here –
OrPlease make sure you include the URL of your website with your order as the serial number issued will only work for that website. I cannot give you a serial number without your website address.
The URL of your website is the webserver/subdomain + domain. For example if your website is at http://www.myweb.com/ the serial number will be registered to www.myweb.com; if your website is http://members.mywebsite.org/weather the serial number will be registered to members.mywebsite.org.
Once I’ve received your payment I’ll email you a serial number as soon as I can. When you receive the serial number replace the serial number line in the wdlconfig.xml file so that the word ‘evaluation’ is replaced by your serial number. Refresh the web page in your browser to remove the evaluation notice.
For more information on purchasing visit the Weather Display website at http://www.weather-display.com/order.php
If Weather Display Live fails to load correctly in your web browser please carefully check the following –
If you have made changes to the wdlconfig.xml file and they are not showing up in your web browser this is usually because the file is being cached somewhere, either by your web browser or a proxy server somewhere in the chain. This is commonly hosted by your Internet Service Provider to reduce internet traffic. There are four things you can try if your browser is caching –
Flash will not load data files which reside in a different domain to the actual swf file for security reasons. Therefore make sure your swf, wdlconfig.xml and clientraw.txt files all reside in the same domain.
For all features to work correctly you must be using Weather Display v10.19j or greater.
For any other issues please post to the Weather Display forum at http://www.weather-watch.com/smf/ where I’ll do my best to help.
| v4_02 | 09/07/2005 | Fixed "undefined" appearing in station name. |
| v4_01 | 26/06/2005 | Fixed bug with heat on dual temp instrument. Fixed bug with ET not changing units. Added session timeout option. Added auto swap for heat and windchill instruments. Added barometer min/max text box. Added min/max to gauge barometer. Fixed bug with certain values of cloud height causing instrument to sit at ground level when first started. New icons. Fixed solar text oddities. Text box option for wind average, gust and direction. Added repeat checkbox for lightning playback. No more white backgrounds whilst WDL is loading. Added no data warning option. More tweaks to languages including addition of Portuguese. Added MesoMap Live "lite". |
| v3_12 | 06/03/2005 | Fixed bug with extra sensors when used in dual temp instrument. (If you've been using the workaround you'll need to now remove it.) Corrected 30 days barometer graph x axis label. Added new translations. Fixed bug with locking of dual temp instrument scales. Added Nexstorm last 24 hours lightning activity graph. Added new temperature horizontal linear bar instrument. Added new dual temperature horizontal linear bar instrument. |
| v3_11 | 18/02/2005 | Fixed bug with colour of text on linear temperature instrument. |
| v3_10 | 17/02/2005 | Fixed bug that was causing text boxes to fail to display values if snow was displayed. Added soil temperature instrument. Added white background to linear temperature instrument. |
| v3_09 | 12/02/2005 | Fixed bug with apparent and dew max min indicators on gauges. Fixed bug with rain rate / hour. Fixed bug with lightning playback. Added only show forecast option. Added ability to set clientrawextra to fast update. Changed lightning icon to show for 5 minutes once triggered. Updated mist and fog icons. Added wind icon. Added dual temperature instrument with ability to choose what is displayed. Added solar W/m2 bar option. Corrected mB abbreviation to mb. |
| v3_08 | 23/01/2005 | Added new temperature gauge. Added new barometer gauge. Added new rain gauge. Added ability for WDL to work on a secure (https) website. Added ability to lock temperate scales. Number of lines for Current Conditions text increased. Minor language tweaks. |
| v3_07 | 16/01/2005 | Added new wind gauges. Added new temperature gauges. Solar and UV bars now change colour gradually rather than stepped. Minor modifications to German and Italian languages. |
| v3_06 | 08/01/2005 | Added last 24 hour history for Nexstorm. Added optional distance rings for Nexstorm. Added options to remove graphs displayed. Added option to choose intial graph displayed. Reduced snowfall to one decimal place to avoid rounding errors when displayed in inches. |
| v3_06 | 21/12/2004 | Fixed bug with zoomed lightning map not loading correctly. |
| v3_04 | 13/12/2004 | Fixed refresh rate bug. |
| v3_03 | 12/12/2004 | Added ability to zoom as per Nexstorm applet |
| v3_02 | 09/11/2004 | Added Nexstorm and Lightning 2000 integration |
| v3_01 | 30/10/2004 | Upgrade to Actionscript v2 so Flash Player 7 is now required. Forecast display - if you're using a Davis VP. Solar and UV graphs - if you have the sensors and are showing them. Improved loading routines. Option to combine Windchill and Temp on a graph. Option to show rainrate in inches/hr. Italian language. Improved graphing component New look buttons. New look dropdown menus. Webcam option. |
| v2_05 | 04/10/2004 | Fixed problem loading clientrawextra.txt file. Added third colour (amber) to records LED. Now red indicates record within last 24 hours, amber last 7 days. |
| v2_04 | 25/09/2004 | Added W/m2 option for solar sensor. Added snow fall text options. Added decimal point option for mb or hPa for barometer. Fixed bug with meterHumidity for extra sensors. Added all the extra sensors - now 16 available. Added Beaufort option for wind dials. Added days without rain reading. Added mercury barometer instrument. Fixed tooltip for Barometer when displayed as a VU. Added km/h option for French users. Added Norwegian wind direction settings. Fixed couple of errors in configuring_wdl.pdf. More amendments to German language. |
| v2_03 | 14/09/2004 | Added Norwegian language. |
| v2_02 | 12/09/2004 | Added tool tip to compass. |
| v2_01 | 06/09/2004 | Instruments in WDL can now be configured by use of the WDL configuration file. |
| v1_08 | 30/06/2004 | Maintenance release - fixed bug with wind scaling. Added version number to WDL link, |
| v1_07 | 17/06/2004 | Changed thermometers to have a sliding scale and reduced range to only 50 degrees Celsius instead of 65. Added gradient background to UV bar. |
| v1_06 | 14/06/2004 | Added peak markers to wind average and gust dials. Added option to select date, time or alternating next to station name. |
| v1_05 | 24/05/2004 | Large scale rewrite behind the scenes to make it more object oriented - mainly in preparation for v2 and to reduce file size
Line wrap sorted for Metars Tooltips added UV sensor added Rainfall gauges animated Heat index/humidex option Ability for users to enable or disable buttons with config file. More icon keywords added Comments taken out of config file and put in readme to reduce file size. |
| v1_04 | 22/4/2004 | Fixed bug causing compass to keep rotating if wind moved anticlockwise
to 0 degrees. |
| v1_03 | 6/4/2004 | Re-engineered the way data files load to avoid problems some people were having with webservers not being able to respond quickly enough. |
| v1_02 | 4/4/2004 | Added switching between date and time next to heartbeat indicator. |
| v1_01 | 30/03/2004 | Increased size of weather station name field. Increased Barometer display in inHg to 2 decimal places. Added refresh advice to serial number error screen. Fixed bug in serial number routine. |
| v1_00 | 29/03/2004 | The first release of Weather Display Live |
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3. Macromedia current statistics. You can view the latest figures at http://www.macromedia.com/software/player_census/flashplayer/
4. Macromedia website for Flash is at http://www.macromedia.com/flash
5. Wdlconfig.xml configuration tags :
Please take care changing entries in this file.
The slightest typo can stop the software working.
It is recommended you make a backup before amending
any details. The file is case sensitive!
This is a list of some of the configuration tags and their settings to get you started. See the configuring wdl.pdf guide for more on customising Weather Display Live and for a complete list of tags.
Enter your serial number here.
<serialno>evaluation</serialno>
Enter the language displayed in WDL. Note that the current conditions text are provided directly from Weather Display or a Metar.
Options are currently english(default), finnish, danish, dutch, french, swedish, german, spanish, norwegian, italian and catalan.
<language>english</language>
Specify the date format displayed by the all time records page
Options are dd/mm/yyyy(default), mm/dd/yyyy, yyyy/dd/mm, yyyy/mm/dd, dd,mm,yyyy, mm,dd,yyyy, yyyy,dd,mm, yyyy,mm,dd, dd-mm-yyyy, mm-dd-yyyy, yyyy-dd-mm, yyyy-mm-dd
<dateFormat>dd/mm/yyyy</dateFormat>
Specify the location of the clientraw and clientrawextra files if they are not at the same location as the Weather Display Live swf and wdlconfig.xml files. You must specify the full path ie. http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientraw.txt and http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawextra.txt as appropriate.
<clientraw></clientraw>
<clientrawextra></clientrawextra>
<clientrawdaily></clientrawdaily>
If you have a lightning detector you can enable a lightning activity animated icon by setting this tag to a number other than 0. The number you set corresponds to the number of strikes/minute recorded by your detector and Weather Display. When this threshold is reached the animated lighting icon is displayed.
<lightningAlert>0</lightningAlert>
Enter the initial temperature units here.
Options are - C or F.
If nothing is entered it will default to c - celsius.
<initTempUnits>F</initTempUnits>
Enter the initial wind units here.
Options are - mph, kph, knots or m/s. km/h is available if language is set to Catalan, French or German.
If nothing is entered it will default to mph.
<initWindUnits>mph</initWindUnits>
Enter the initial rain units here.
Options are - mm or in.
If nothing is entered it will default to mm.
<initRainUnits>mm</initRainUnits>
Enter the initial snow units here.
Options are - cm or in.
If nothing is entered it will default to cm.
<initSnowUnits>cm</initSnowUnits>
Enter the initial pressure units here.
Options are - mb, inHg or hPa.
If nothing is entered it will default to mb.
<initPressureUnits>mb</initPressureUnits>
Enter the inital cloudbase height here.
Options are feet (ft), metres (m) or yards (yds)
If nothing is entered it will default to ft.
<initCloudbaseUnits>ft</initCloudbaseUnits>
Enter the inital heat type here.
Options are humidex or heatindex.
If nothing is entered it will default to humidex.
<initHeatType>humidex</initHeatType>
Enter the refresh rate in seconds.
This should match the frequency with which you update
the clientraw.txt file within Weather Display.
If you don't enter an option it will default to 4 seconds.
Maximum rate is 4 seconds, minimum is 60 seconds.
<refresh>4</refresh>
Enter 0 to hide the compass heading.
Enter 1 to show the compass heading in letters.
Enter 2 to show the compass heading in degrees.
Enter 3 to show both.
<showCompassHeading>1</showCompassHeading>
Enter the display of data date/time next to station name
Enter 0 to hide station name, date and time
Enter 1 to alternate between date and time
Enter 2 to display date only
Enter 3 to display time only
<stationdatetime>1</stationdatetime>
© Julian Best 2005