WeatherAlert

[virgo89]

Nice program, using it now.

[Sartoris]

I just wish weather.com wouldn't of changed the alert pages. All I get is giberish now.

[Saadu]

Ive been using this program for umm i think a year almost. Handy little gadget it is. Ive got a bug report

Bug: Pop up notifications dont work. (It could be tinkering on my part, could someone confirm it?)

Looking forward to updates...

[darkmark327]

Yeah unfortunately, like I said, automatic updates was hosed (and now irrelevant with ClickOnce) so I can't release any further updates to 2.3 without precluding automatic updates in the future, which I can't do.

3 is progressing albeit slowly. It is a very ambitious release; I plan on releasing it with weather providers being a plug-in architecture. It will obviously include the weather.com provider, but then others could develop and release other providers e.g. NOAA if they want. All this is making things tricky, of course. Plus, as I said, I am trying to overcome the UI hurdle vis-a-vis resizability and localizability.

[Sartoris]

Nice Idea. I am currently taking computer science classes and maybe I will be able to work on a plugin (as long as C# is similar enough to C++ for me to understand it).

This is definately my favorite program from the Software Contribution forum.

[darkmark327]

Nice Idea. I am currently taking computer science classes and maybe I will be able to work on a plugin (as long as C# is similar enough to C++ for me to understand it).

This is definately my favorite program from the Software Contribution forum.

C# is similar to C++ but there are pitfalls. Main thing to realize is that in spite of garbage collection, you do need to worry about freeing some things and closing() what you open().

[no-sweat]

I CAN'T WAIT!!!

:woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot: :woot:

[nolimit05]

TY so much for this little app. :cool:

[one321]

I had seen this a while back and forgot about it. I'm glad I saw your signature because it reminded me. Thanks for the app.

[kirk26]

Does this program contain spyware like WeatherBug or use almost all of your computers resources like WeatherBug?

[no-sweat]

Does this program contain spyware like WeatherBug or use almost all of your computers resources like WeatherBug?

nope

[darkmark327]

Does this program contain spyware like WeatherBug or use almost all of your computers resources like WeatherBug?

Of course not, why would the world need another one of those? I wrote the program first and foremost for myself, and then decided to release it (and people's suggestions make it better for everyone). It demeans all software developers when people sell themselves out in such a way by including spyware with their programs.

The only 'phone-home' type activity is when you first install it, it accesses the website, which counts the number of installs, and if there is a crash, it uploads the error report which only contains the program uptime, version, and where in the program the crash occurred. Here is an error report:

042905_212244

Title: Unhandled WinForms Exception
Versioning Info: WeathAlert 2.3.0.2
OS: Microsoft Windows NT 5.1.2600.0
Computer\User: (redacted -- this is just to help me filter duplicates)

Program Uptime: 00:06:52.4530784
Extended Info: System.ArgumentOutOfRangeException: Index was out of range.  Must be non-negative and less than the size of the collection.

Parameter name: index

   at System.Collections.ArrayList.get_Item(Int32 index)

   at WeatherSpy.LocationChooser.FinishedButton_Click(Object sender, EventArgs e)

   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.OnClick(EventArgs e)

   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.OnClick(EventArgs e)

   at System.Windows.Forms.Button.WndProc(Message& m)

   at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)

   at System.Windows.Forms.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)

   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)

And the error reports have been invaluable to me for fixing crashes (like this one).

As an aside: please, when programs crash, do send the error reports to MS, otherwise you're only hurting yourself because then the programmers don't know about the problem so they can't fix it! (My error reporting capabilities are separate from this, I don't care if you want to send them or not, fixing bugs is more important to me). See here: https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?act=...t&pid=587230059

This is a fascinating one: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/.../12/407562.aspx

Another aside: I highly recommend reading through Raymond Chen's blog entries; there are some fascinating insights into Windows and why things are the way they are, and also why MS gets the blame for a lot of things that aren't their fault. Check out the history section specifically: http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/category/2282.aspx

Some more examples:

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...9/03/54760.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...2/23/45481.aspx

Also:

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...8/05/54603.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...7/28/54583.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...7/22/54559.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...9/20/55055.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...9/12/54896.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...8/25/54700.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...8/12/54634.aspx

http://blogs.msdn.com/oldnewthing/archive/...0/15/55296.aspx

Read, it's quite interesting.

Anyway, I'm just disappointed that I have so little time and can't really work on the program. But between work and school there's little leftover time that I can spend doing more programming.

Also if you're sharp and caught the "WeatherSpy" in there, that's what the program was initially called before it was pointed out to me how bad of an idea it is to have any such connotation in it : )

Edited February 22, 2006 by darkmark327

[struct]

Good to see you are still developing.

[dj6ross]

Good to see you are still developing.

Yeah me too.

I just tried it out and I like it. Keep up the good work darkmark

[adcmarti]

I love it. Nice to have something without all of the other junk tied to it. Thanks!

[darkmark327]

Got this in my mailbox the other day:

Hello,

Your product "WeathAlert 2.3.0.4" has been tested by the Softpedia labs and found to be completely clean of adware/spyware components.

We are impressed with the quality of your product and encourage you to keep this high standards in the future.

To assure our visitors that "WeathAlert 2.3.0.4" is clean, we have granted it with the "100% CLEAN" Softpedia award. Moreover, to let your users know about this certification, you may display this award on your website, on software boxes or inside your product.

More information about your product's certification and the award is available on this page: http://www.softpedia.com/progClean/WeathAl...lean-36331.html

Your product review page is located at:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhan...eathAlert.shtml

Please feel free to link to us using the URL above.

If you choose to link to the award page for your product, you may use the award graphic or a text link such as: "100% CLEAN award granted by Softpedia"

Don't hesitate to contact us for more information.

Sincerely,

The Softpedia Team

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

Softpedia is a library of over 70,000 free and free-to-try software programs for Windows and Unix/Linux, games, Mac software, Windows drivers, mobile devices and IT-related articles.

We review and categorize these products in order to allow the visitor/user to find the exact product they and their system needs.

We strive to deliver only the best products to the visitor/user together with self-made evaluation and review notes.

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[JRosenfeld]

Well deserved :-)

[illicit]

Well deserved :-)

Indeed... this is a great little program.

[darkmark327]

Another bit of news: I have to do a senior research project. I decided to turn WeathAlert into it. I have some interesting things planned using ClickOnce which I have to look into, and I plan to develop it with the WinFX api (which is supposed to be backported to XP). Should be interesting!

[Trommel]

Could somebody check if the program supports Ljubljana (Europe - Slovenia).

Thanks.

[Daninku]

Mine says it's 14C when it's almost 25C lol and no radar, but I guess that's weather.com wrong, nice cool app btw :)

[darkmark327]

Could somebody check if the program supports Ljubljana (Europe - Slovenia).

Thanks.

Yes, it does. It should support anything weather.com supports.

[Vistas2006]

Indeed... this is a great little program.

AWESOME program, graphics and info :)

Keep the good work :yes:

[Annorax]

darkmark327, I love your program, however I've been having some odd memory issues. At startup, it starts creeping up in memory usage, usually up to around 20mb. After I open the program and minimize it, memory usage is down to around 2mb, which is what I expect. However, I've been noticing that the program creeps up again to around 20-30mb of RAM usage. I'm using Windows XP Professional.

Is this a known issue, and if so, is there a fix in progress for the next version? Keep up the great work. :)

[darkmark327]

darkmark327, I love your program, however I've been having some odd memory issues. At startup, it starts creeping up in memory usage, usually up to around 20mb. After I open the program and minimize it, memory usage is down to around 2mb, which is what I expect. However, I've been noticing that the program creeps up again to around 20-30mb of RAM usage. I'm using Windows XP Professional.

Is this a known issue, and if so, is there a fix in progress for the next version? Keep up the great work. :)

This is just how the framework works. http://www.itwriting.com/dotnetmem.php