WeatherAlert

[darkmark327]

I have been alerted to a problem with the large radar display when it is closed. It has been fixed and re-released. Sigh.

[Snipe]

Nice app, I am trying it out now :)

Better than the ones you get from the weather sites - w00t

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

working here!! thanks :)

[Netegra]

Nice fix, dark!

I love the forceupdate.

Is this a restriction from weather.com that you can't have an option included in options, sort of like the adhiding thing?

Anyway, excellent work.

Keep it up!

:D (Y)

[AlwaysSmilingGUY]

I have been alerted to a problem with the large radar display when it is closed.  It has been fixed and re-released.  Sigh.

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Well, as of right now (on version 2.2.9.6) the maps won't work. It's not able to retrieve them. I was going to ask you if you've considered possibly getting the forecasts and data from weather.com as you are currently, and checking out a site like http://www.weatherunderground.com for the maps and radar?

Or even the IWIN site (NOAA's Interactive Weather Information Network).

Patrick.

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

Well, as of right now (on version 2.2.9.6) the maps won't work.  It's not able to retrieve them.  I was going to ask you if you've considered possibly getting the forecasts and data from weather.com as you are currently, and checking out a site like http://www.weatherunderground.com for the maps and radar?

Or even the IWIN site (NOAA's Interactive Weather Information Network).

Patrick.

585292126[/snapback]

please redownload, its at version 2.2.9.92 currently, it is the only one that works so far w/ the changes weather.com made

[darkmark327]

Nice fix, dark!

I love the forceupdate.

Is this a restriction from weather.com that you can't have an option included in options, sort of like the adhiding thing?

Anyway, excellent work.

Keep it up!

:D?(Y))

585292083[/snapback]

It's not supposed to be there at all. It's supposed to be only 30 minutes per update.:ninja::

As for the suggestion to use other sources, I will reiterate what I have been saying: none of the places suggested have free access to their raw data (not that I've seen, anyway, if you find otherwise let me know). Weather.com does. Therefore, Weather.com wins. For example, wunderground.com:

Feature uncomplicated local weather conditions and forecasts ... for as little as $250 a month!

Um, no.

[darkmark327]

Alright, just to update, I've continued work on the program to fix the issue that occurs if you try to pick one of the radars when you have no connection. After reading more about .NET things (specifically, a bunch on garbage collection and disposing) I have also gone through the whole program to clean up possible leaks, including one that may be causing the divide-by-zero. If this doesn't fix the divide-by-zero, I have also managed to write a method to play the sound using DirectSound, but I'd prefer DirectX9 not to be a prerequisite to a weather program. :) Since this is not as critical as yesterday's release (dont play with radar without a connection until you get the next release), I will take the time to test it overnight before releasing it, lest I repeat yesterday's performance of releasing several relatively buggy versions in a rush to fix the radar problem.

[darkmark327]

OK, no problems with the overnight testing; here's 2.2.9.93 which fixes the problem with downloading radar without a connection as well as other little things. Let me know of any issues.

http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/msowul/WeathAlert.zip

[enigma-penguin Veteran]

awsome stuff man.. I sent about 20 error reports from that last version, dont know what was going on there, it just kept crashing.

[darkmark327]

I know memory usage has come up a lot, along with the fact that minimizing it resulting in less memory usage. I will post some excerpts from a .NET chat I read that cover this issue:

...

Host: Paul_Harrington (Microsoft)

Q: when I minimize the application it goes down to 4K of memory

A: That's right. This is the OS trimming working your set for you. All applications do this.

(I mean "trimming working set" for you)

Q: Paul: can you please ellaborate on that point for those of us who don't know what "OS trimming working your set" mkeans

A: Sure. When you minimize the application, the OS assumes that it's an ideal time to free up memory - since you probably don't want to use that application for a while and another application is coming to the foreground. A simplified explanation is that it marks memory that has not been touched in a while and is not actively being used as "available for other applications". You can get the same effect by calling "SetProcessWorkingSetSize(-1,-1)" from kernel32.dll, however I would never recommend doing this in normal applications. Let the OS handle your memory usage. It knows best what is going on in the entire system and can make much better choices than you probably can.

Q: When minimizing the app, is the OS calling SetProcessWorkingSize or is it doing a little more than that? Additionaly, you stated the allocation is marked for free-use. I assume the memory isn't actually re-allocated on the PF then?

A: It's doing a little more "housekeeping" than that, but that's the essential piece. I gave you a simplified explanation of working set. The full story is too complicated to go into here, but you can read about it in MSDN online or in any advanced book on Windows internals (memory manager). The memory isn't actually de-allocated, it is just marked as "available for other apps". If there is no memory pressure from other applications, then the pages will stay in physical RAM and they'll be available immediately when you restore the application. If there is a lot of memory pressure, the pages that were freed will be re-used by another application. In that case, restoring your application from its minimized state will be slower because the memory has to be "paged back in" from disk.

Q: Paul: Then what your saying is minimizing and maximizing a window forms based app hurts more than it helps even though it 'appears' to be helping (task mon)

A: It's false accounting - the memory usage will go up again as soon as you restore the application. Most people notice a small improvement (the memory used after restoring is slightly smaller than the memory used before minimizing) and this is usually because there is a lot of one-time startup code run left around in memory that can be cleaned up. Again, if there is memory pressure in the system this memory will be naturally "decayed" and reclaimed by other processes. Simple advice: Don't try to second guess the OS. It knows more about the system than you because it can look at memory usage of all processes in the system when deciding where to go for more memory.

[Spyder Veteran]

i just noticed this by accident actually and wondered if this is a setting that could be added (or not ;) )

is it possible to make it not load multiple instances of WeathAlert if you double click the exe a second time? I had it minimized but xp hid the icon in the systray so i double clicked the exe again to load it. I had 2 of them running in my tray at that point though I dont see how thats beneficial. if its already running and minimized, could double clicking the main exe just maxmized the already running app?

that was probably way more wordy than needed but hey :D

[darkmark327]

Good idea! I went and did it; I can think of no reason to make it an option. At first, fast user switching/terminal services threw me for a loop (because that would have multiple instances running, and finding the owner of a process is practically impossible) but then I found a much more elegant and effective way to do it. Unfortunately, it cannot re-display the instance if it is running in the tray, because that instance no longer has a window handle (since its invisible, not merely minimized), but it will notify you that the other instance is running. If its not in the tray it will restore it and/or bring it to the front. Let's call it 2.2.9.94 http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/msowul/WeathAlert.zip

[darkmark327]

im from ontario, and there is a city named the same thing in prince edward island.  it only gives the option to choose cornwall, canada, which displayd the cities info in PEI.  i wonder if this problem could be fixed.

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KingAndrew, I just realized: does putting in your Postal Code work?

[darkmark327]

I had PMd him and he said it didn't work : \

Anyway, I have completed work on version 2.3.0.0, which you can obtain through automatic updates or the usual link. 2.4 will begin to add features again, such as:

- viewbar on right side option (maybe, depending on how difficult it would be)

- Summary view semi-transparent with fadein

- Week at a glance (alternative view of forecast pane)

- Detailed forecast (hour by hour)

- Tray font options will be enabled

For now enjoy the revamped settings, slight new features, and improved stability of 2.3 :happy:

If you're wondering what's changed since the last test (2.2.9.94) I fixed a slight, rare bug with radar downloading, and added the option for the auto-update interval (as well as the option to turn it off, but I recommend not doing so).

[username]

awesome (Y) #2 install here :D

[war]

Thanks for another great update.

Damn its cold! 19f atm. Freezing. Hope it snows. :)

[darkmark327]

Thanks for another great update.

Damn its cold! 19f atm. Freezing. Hope it snows. :)

585318736[/snapback]

9 here. I dont think we broke 15 all day. I hope it doesn't snow in the next few days, I have to move back into school Sunday :pinch:

[war]

Well 19 is pretty damn cold here. Normally its around 40 this time of year. Like its 43 atm. And thats the low since the other day.

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

one thing I have noticed that kind of bugs me...when I dont have a connection, it pops up saying cant get data...thats fine and dandy, but it keeps doing it over and over (I assume everytime it checks?) Can you make it so once it displays it once, perhaps have a var that set to true that its been shown during the current offline...and not show it again until it once again downloads info and then goes offline again?

basically...only show the 'cant get data' balloon once per going offline?

[Spyder Veteran]

Good idea! I went and did it; I can think of no reason to make it an option.  At first, fast user switching/terminal services threw me for a loop (because that would have multiple instances running, and finding the owner of a process is practically impossible) but then I found a much more elegant and effective way to do it.  Unfortunately, it cannot re-display the instance if it is running in the tray, because that instance no longer has a window handle (since its invisible, not merely minimized), but it will notify you that the other instance is running.  If its not in the tray it will restore it and/or bring it to the front.  Let's call it 2.2.9.94 http://www.ic.sunysb.edu/stu/msowul/WeathAlert.zip

585301407[/snapback]

awesome :) cheers

[Spyder Veteran]

hey there..have some feedback from a friend. I passed this prog onto him and he wanted to set the extreme temp notification when it goes below -20C .. the prog only goes as low as 0. It would be nice to have this accept negative values as during winter here, i'd consider -20 starting to get extreme as right now its -22 but feels like -30C ;)

(this is all metric)

is it doable? perhaps a max of -50C just to cover all bases? :)

i've attached a screenshot of the pref dialog i'm referring to

this is why I request this :(

[AlwaysSmilingGUY]

Ok, I have an interesting problem.

At some point, I got an alert. For whatever reason, instead of clicking OK, I accidentally clicked on Forecast (I've done this with "RADAR" as well). It switched to the screenshot where the forecast would be below the current conditions, and went absolutely crazy. I've attached a screenshot for you, but it doesn't do it justice. It's flipping up and down inside of it's window so fast, you can't click anything except the CLose button. And, it gives me the "WeathAlert Program is not responding" error. I have to click End Now to close it.

This was with 2.9.2, but when I upgraded just now to the latest version, it's still doing it. The only solution I found in the past was to clear out the registry entries, and act like it's a clean installation.

[kingbob]

Whenever I set the tray icon to transparent, it doesn't go transparent. There's a really ugly opaque blue around the temperature. WTF?

[SkyyPunk Veteran]

Whenever I set the tray icon to transparent, it doesn't go transparent. There's a really ugly opaque blue around the temperature. WTF?

585337125[/snapback]

thats strange...I have been using transparent all the time on two different machines which use different themes, and never had that problem :huh: