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

[JJR512]

You can theoretically get it to appear on any page by adding the same bit of code you added to index.php to whatever file generates the page where you want it. For example, in vBulletin, if you wanted it to appear on the same page as a thread, you'd put it in showthread.php. Some files contain multiple actions which generate different displays and you may need to put the code in more than one spot in the same file. In general, you should probably put the code just before the line that calls the main template for the page you want it on. Because each page, file, and template are different, that is as far as I can go with helping to get it on other pages.

As for the other problem, I can't say if it's caused by the portal or not, because I don't have it. I don't know how the lite version is different from the regular version, but if it's really a portal, it should probably affect every single page. I just don't know how to help.

[JJR512]

In the 1.1 version, in the new bit of code to show the update time in the local correct time, I had used an incorrect variable. If you've already installed it, in both index.php and weather.php, please find:

$time_lastup = strtotime($weather[lastup]);

And change it to:

$time_lastup = strtotime($weatherdata[lastup]);

Sorry for the inconvenience.

The fix will be in v1.1a which I am about to attach. This is the only difference between v1.1 and v1.1a, so if you already have v1.1, just use the fix I just described.

[Erwin]

JJR512 - Thanks, the update works great!

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.

[Erwin]

It seemed to be working without the new variables being changed, but I've changed them anyway.

[Erwin]

For some reason, the time of update lies 1 hour in the future for me... any way of fixing that?

[JJR512]

What do you have your Time Zone Offset set to (in the admin cp/vbulletin options/date time options)? And your own time zone?

[Erwin]

My time and timezone works everywhere else in vB - just not for weather.

Let me make sure I upgraded correctly... I followed the instructions in Post#79 and Post#82 - that's correct?

[JJR512]

I didn't say anything else doesn't work anywhere else. I'd just like to know what those settings are so I can test it myself and maybe see what's going on.

[Erwin]

I see... the server time is Pacific Mountain Time. My time is GMT +10. Currently my time is 11:12 am. The Weather tells me that it last updated 11:40 am. (Has been telling me that since 10 am actually).

[JJR512]

Is the server time Pacific Time or Mountain Time? The two are different (PT is GMT-8, MT is GMT-7).