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Using the GETWEATHER.exe Application
Overview
The optional GetWeather.exe application is a seperate Windows application dedicated to retrieving weather data for Simian to display. The reasons for using an external application rather than Simian are:- Problems caused by Internet Blocking calls that may cause a network lock-up now only affect the external application rather than Simian itself.
- The external application can convert the temperature into Celsius, rather than the default Fahrenheit using an optional command line parameter.
- Weather data is written to a text file at c:\bsi32\weather.ini from where Simian can easily read it at all times
IMPORTANT: Each time the information has been retrieved, you must tell Simian to read the updated information from the weather.ini file (see the Using GetWeather section below for details)
Using GetWeather
The GetWeather.exe application is called by Simian as an App event using Event Builder with the zipcode code or station name added as command line parameters. Navigate to the c:\bsi32\Apps folder (or wherever you installed the application) and click the GetWeather.exe application in the right-hand Window as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: click the GetWeather.exe application in the right-hand Window
You must now manually type in the zipcode or weather station details into the Application Name text box. Figure 2 shows an example command entered.
Either:
/zipcode= enter 5 digit US zipcode (or US airport code)Or:
/station= enter international Weather Station numberOptionally:
Adding /display=C will convert the retrieved Fahrenheit temperature into Celcius preferred by many international customers.IMPORTANT: Now that you have retrieved the weather information, you must tell Simian to read the updated weather.ini file. This is done using the GETWEATHER Macro with the filename parameter.as shown below. Without this additional step, Simian will never read the updated information.
Figure 2: Manually type the zipcode or weather station details into the Application Name text box
Updating Weather Automatically
The entire process of retrieving the weather with GetWeather.exe and displaying the updated information in Simian can be automated by the simple use of Scheduled Events.In the example below the GetWeather application reads the weather at three key times per day (05:45, 11:45 and 17:45).
Simian is then told to read the c:\bsi32\weather.ini file that the application generates (in this case 15 minutes later)
The frequency and times of updates is up to the end user and in the example shown in Figure 3 we have removed all other events for clarity.
Figure 3: The frequency and times of updates is up to the user. In this example we have removed all other events for clarity
Possible Errors
Missing Command Line. Please check your command line syntax and try again,
or
Missing Location. Cannot read 5-digit Zip or Station ID code. Please check command line and try again.
You must add either the /zipcode= or /station= command line parameters when calling the GetWeather application to identify the weather station from which information will be retrieved. If you fail to add these details correctly, the above errors will warn you of a problem.
Please check that c:\bsi32 exists and that you can write to the folder.
The GetWeather application needs to write the weather.ini file to the above folder. If this folder (created by default when installing Simian) can not be written to or does not exist, the GetWeather application cannot save the latest information. Check that the folder exists and that there are no Windows permission issues preventing the application writing to this folder.Socket Error # 11004
This error indicates that there is no working Internet connection.
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