vB Weather Mk. 2

This is a post of a much-revised hack originally posted (by myself) here. I am posting this as a new hack because MSNBC, who the raw weather data is provided through, has changed their source provider (from AccuWeather to The Weather Channel), which required a retooling of the data parsing code, as well as completely new databases. I have also made obsolete the weather_functions.php file, moving the functions to admin/functions.php, simplifying the ability to show current weather data on any page (if desired). Finally, in what I'm sure will be welcome news to many people who have installed the original, I've completely rewritten the instructions, making them, as far as I can tell, much simpler.

If you are unfamiliar with the original: This hack provides current weather conditions and a five-day forecast to your members. Each member can select from over 34,000 cities, by narrowing down from region (like continents), country, and subdivision (like states). Each member can also select to see temperatures in Fahrenheit or Celsius, as well as metric or standard measurements for the other data.

A demo is available on my test board: http://www.jjr512.com/testboard/. I have set up an account for anyone to use to test it out (username: test; pw: test). If you are not logged in, you will see default weather on the home page (default is set to New York City), and cannot change settings (I forget if you can view a detailed forecast, though; you may be able to). If you do log in, you can change the settings for the test account, to see how it works.

***
If you have installed any previous version, you should completely uninstall it. Read the instructions and work backwards from there: Delete all templates added, remove changes to any existing templates (I forget if there were any or not), delete all new tables from the database, delete all new files added by the old hack. All have been changed to some extent, some more than others, and it would be easier to work from a clean slate. Especially since some of the template names have changes, so if you don't delete the old ones, they'll just be sitting there doing nothing at all. It is also vitally important to delete (or "drop") the tables--I believe there were six--you added for the original version. The new ones have different data and, for some, a different structure, so do not just empty them. Remove them totally.

Good luck!

Change Log
v1.1a: Current Version: Corrects a small error where an incorrect variable was used in the code to show the local time of the last update. If you already have v1.1, you only need to do the fix described in Post #82 below.
v1.1: Changes display of last update time to be the correct time in the user's own local time zone; previously, it was always Eastern Time (GMT-5) (Upgrade instructions are in Post #79 below). Also breaks the weather_city.sql into six smaller pieces (useful only to new installations; existing installations need not worry about this).
v1.0a: Adds instructions on how to add location to current weather on forums home page (changes to code added to index.php and forumhome_weather template).
v1.0: Original Release

[David Bott]

I have received notices that the home page has stopped working with Netscape 4.7x. Seems to have just happened in the last hour when I instlled this hack (the other version worked without issues until the move). The weather shows up, but no forums are listed.

Page is ok with Netscape 6.3.2 and IE it seems.

HELP!

[PhoenixBB]

I have received notices that the home page has stopped working with Netscape 4.7x.

Gawd, I'm starting to hyperventilate now!! The problems I had trying to get my whole forum to show up in NS4x still gives me nightmares. Better take it off my page then before the Mac people come on and yell at me. *sigh*

Thanks for the warning!

[Erwin]

My site works with Netscape 4.x with the weather hack installed. Make sure it's not another hack (usually Javascript is what NN 4 has trouble with).

[David Bott]

Nope...The issue was not their until the new code when into place. I did move the weather data to show up at the bottom vs the top...so maybe some this with the template is the issue???

THe members reported all they could see is the welcome pannel and the weather...no forums listed in between.

I have removed the code for now.

[PhoenixBB]

Originally posted by Erwin
PhoenixBB - the vBPortal weather add-on adds a whole LOT of queries to your forum, as opposed to this one, which only adds 2. I actually removed vBPortal which has optimized by many many times. You can convert your forum index into a portal very easily - no need to use a 3rd-party program.

How can this give you only 2 queries when I get 9?? I had 38 queries before installing and now I got 47! See for yourself www.bigbad.net

Is it using 9 queries for me - as opposed to your 2 - because of the portal? I haven't actually got it in any of the blocks, I couldn't figure that out, so I just added a table on the right and it appears in the right place. Last time I tried that with a table the Mac users on NS4x couldn't load it, so I suppose I'll have to shift it from there tomorrow. *sigh*

It's still stuck on the default and I'm unable to change settings or get a detailed forecast as it just brings up the background page and header - nothing else. Will the queries go up further if I actually do get it to work properly?

Gonna be peeved if I have to remove it, as I think it's really great.

[Boofo]

Have you put it with the icons in the file? I just downloaded it and it wasn't there. Just a reminder.

And thank you very much for the time fix. It looks much better and is a lot easier to understand.

Originally posted by JJR512
Attached is 2.gif. Everyone should add this to wherever you have uploaded the rest of the icons.

[Kars10]

Hello JJR!
The Hack works like a charm. But one question. I use the Vbindex-Hack and in your old version (the first weatherhack ever) you put a template that can be used for guys like me with a Vbindex or something. Now i have the weather on the Forumhome, but i also wanna place it on my Vbindex-Site (home.php).
The template that youre old hack used was "homeindex_left_weather" (so i name it).
Whart must i do, to use this template again. The thing with the data-changes is clear, but what code must i put in my home.php??
Pleas help!! And Thanx for this great addition!!
[high]* Minifreunde klicks the install-Button again! [/high]

[snyx]

lookin tight man! love this hack..

[Boofo]

For some reason, the time is showing way off of my local time set on the board. I just now did an update and it reads this:

Time of last update: Yesterday at 11:40 pm

but the time here is 5:53 AM (Today)

The time on the server is set at GMT and my time is set at -6 (Central US time). Any ideas why it is so far off?

[JJR512]

Minifreunde: The code you put in home.php is the same code you add to index.php. Without having that hack, I can't guarantee this, but you should probably put my code just before the line in home.php that calls the main template...the template responsible for the overall appearance of the page; i.e., in index.php, it goes before the line that calls the forumhome template. That kind of line looks like this:

eval("dooutput(\"".gettemplate('forumhome')."\");");

(Where forumhome is the name of the template.) This kind of line is usually the last code line in the file, or the last line in a section of code for an action.

Itworx4me, I don't know what to tell you...It works for me ...Can anyone else try this? Assuming you have set your city to something other than New York City (the default), go to your detailed forecast page, then in your browser's address bar, add "&citycode=USNY0996" (without the quotes) to the end of the URL, right after "getdata", and go, and see if it gives you the detailed forecast for New York. Then go back to the home page and click the link to the detailed forecast to verify that your settings are still set to whatever you set them to, and that it shows you your own weather, not New York's.