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

[Erwin]

You're right JJ, I was upgrading from my own customized template... I've updated my post - just follow the instructions and you will upgrade from v1.0 to v1.0a

[Boofo]

You might want to update it again and use the disable tags so it won't show the vbulletin.org path to the image file.

Originally posted by Erwin
You're right JJ, I was upgrading from my own customized template... I've updated my post - just follow the instructions and you will upgrade from v1.0 to v1.0a

[skyline2002]

JJR512:

thanks for your new version. there is the another way to let the old version weather hack work.

as i know ,in the old version, only the high & low TEMP of Forecast Day of Week and icons did not work any more since MSN has changed their source provider .

so if we want to let the high & low temp works in old version, just have to make little changes like below:

in weather.php
find:
---------------------------------------------
// Forecast Highs
$weatherdata[forecasthigh1] = convert_temp($forecast[15],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh2] = convert_temp($forecast[16],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh3] = convert_temp($forecast[17],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh4] = convert_temp($forecast[18],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh5] = convert_temp($forecast[19],$usersettings[tpc]);

// Forecast Lows
$weatherdata[forecastlow1] = convert_temp($forecast[25],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow2] = convert_temp($forecast[26],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow3] = convert_temp($forecast[27],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow4] = convert_temp($forecast[28],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow5] = convert_temp($forecast[29],$usersettings[tpc]);
------------------------------------------

replace with:
-------------------------------------------
// Forecast Highs
$weatherdata[forecasthigh1] = convert_temp($forecast[20],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh2] = convert_temp($forecast[21],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh3] = convert_temp($forecast[22],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh4] = convert_temp($forecast[23],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecasthigh5] = convert_temp($forecast[24],$usersettings[tpc]);

// Forecast Lows
$weatherdata[forecastlow1] = convert_temp($forecast[40],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow2] = convert_temp($forecast[41],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow3] = convert_temp($forecast[42],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow4] = convert_temp($forecast[43],$usersettings[tpc]);
$weatherdata[forecastlow5] = convert_temp($forecast[44],$usersettings[tpc]);

-------------------------------------------

for icons, just replace old icons with new icons from jj's version!
or rename the old icons.

now, you old version should works fine.

sorry about my poor english. hope you guys understand me!

enjoy!!

[Erwin]

Originally posted by Boofo
You might want to update it again and use the disable tags so it won't show the vbulletin.org path to the image file.

The disable tags didn't want to work, so I modified my post to remove the { imagesfolder} bits... You don't need them.

[snyx]

Originally posted by snyx
JJR512 would it be too much trouble to make say.. 3 preset weather locations (ie. Vancouver, Seattle, Toronto) and even if the user hasnt selected any of them for their own use, they could click a link to take them to that places weather?

sorry :lick: just curious..

[snyx]

hahaha, and again..
how would I change the default location (New York) when your not loggedin/or registered.. to another location?

[JJR512]

I believe I put instructions for that (changing the default city) near the end of instructions.txt; it starts with "OPTIONAL".

[snyx]

thanks man, I will check that out.

[chris2707]

This is brilliant and I got it working straight away!

One question, I notice that if I choose London, United Kingdom, the time of last update is showing the USA timezone rather than the boards timezone setting. Is the update value being picked up directly from MSN? Can it be changed so it matches the boards selected timezone?

Many thanks for a great addition (and you know what the English are like for weather!)

Chris

[Crazy Mofo]

Database error in vBulletin 2.2.5:

Invalid SQL: SELECT subdivid FROM weather_city WHERE accid='USNY0996'
mysql error: Table '*****_db2.weather_city' doesn't exist

!!