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

[Ian]

Just an update, I've removed this hack because I found it to be slowing down, the loading of my frontpage, a lot.

[scottct1]

Same here Ian, I just removed it from my site this morning. Seems like stuff went to hell when MSNBC changed from AccuWeather for The Weather Channel.

I still have the hack on my site, I just no longer have it on my index.php page.

Good hack though.

[NuclioN]

Correct, it's slowing down and so i removed it.

[Tigga]

I've noticed it slows my page down too, but it only seems to be something like 0.3 seconds or so. Occasionally when the weather isn't available it seems to slow it down a little more, but that isn't very often. Was it slowing your sites down more than that?

[Erwin]

Mine's still working quite quickly - no discernable changes really.

[scottct1]

It works correctly WHEN the local weather is available froom MSNBC / Weather.COM however if its not available my users are seeing a 25 to 75 second wait before the page comes up.

[Erwin]

I have to say that this is happening to me now - there is a bit of delay before the page loads, about 60 seconds on average...

[Tigga]

Yea, I've noticed that it slows down even more now when the weather isn't available from MSNBC. At least I have mine set where I can easilly turn it off in my admin CP, so if I happen to notice it delaying things I can switch it off for a few minutes.

[wolfe]

getting a problem i click the Force Update button and it goes to blank page whats up

[Erwin]

@ wolfe - missing template? Make sure all your templates are inserted.

[DraX]

Changing the city/etc. doesn't work on your test board.

[Tigga]

Originally posted by lemarsu
Hi,

Most of the time under the Temperature box there is no temperature, showing. (as you can see in the pic)

but under Detailed Forecast all comes up !
is it possible to fix that ?

LeMarsu

I've noticed the same problem... The temperature works fine on one of my sites, but not on another. It's the exact same code on both, so I'm not sure what could cause this. Anyone happen to know why it does this?

[Julio]

Has anyone been able to sucesfully change the default NY settings to your own? I have replaced the NY code with mine, (under weather.php) but it doesn't work.

Any help?

[lemarsu]

yes there are 2 places you need to change it in weather.php line 20 and line 201 aprox.

I think that all the changes I did.
if it doesn't work have a look in the database, that is a place a looked in when I 1st installed the weather hack.

all the best
LeMarsu

[Julio]

OK, thanks. Had to edit the database.

PlurPlanet - Can you please shoe me how to set it up that I can turn it on/off from the CP?

I have translated the text of this hack to another language, but notice that text under the 1st pic (below Current Weather..) still shows in English. I have modified functions.php already... anyone knows where exactly in the database I can change this (haven't found it) I know it is the "context" or it just comes from The Weather Channel?