Weather

Please support NextPVR

This plug-in shows current weather conditions, forecasts, radar maps (US/Canada only), satellite maps, and active alerts (US only).

Downloading and Installing

The latest version of the Weather plugin is v1.0.1.0 (09 November 2010)
Download:Weather.zip (4338 downloads)

Requirements

.NET V2.0.50727 or greater required.
All required DLLs are included in the installer package.

Configuration

Weather has a configuration frame within the NPVR settings. The config has 3 tabs, "Profile", "General", and "About".

Profile Tab

The Profile tab sets profile settings for the Weather plug-in. A different profile is needed for each location you want to access.

Profile drop-down box - The Profile drop-down box allows the user to change settings specific to each profile.
- Note: When the Save button is selected, the current profile selected in the Profile drop-down box will be the default profile (the default profile is the profile that is initially loaded when the plug-in starts).
Up/Down Arrow buttons - The Up and Down Arrow buttons move the currently selected profile up and down in the list. This way the profile order can be changed at anytime.
Create button - The Create button creates a new profile.
Rename button - The Rename button renames the current profile.
Delete button - The Delete button deletes the current profile. It also deletes the directory for the profile.
Profile option tabs - The option tabs under the Profile drop-down box of the Profile tab is used to change settings specific to the current profile.
- Location tab
  1. Location ID - Press the "Find ID" button and a new window will appear that will let you search for your location's ID.
  2. Unit of Measure - This is the units you want this profile to retrieve its data in. When 'Custom' is selected, the Temperature, Distance, Speed, Pressure, and Precipitation combo boxes will enable, allowing you to customize your units.
  3. Use Profile Name for Location Display - If checked, plugin will use the Profile name instead of the Location city/state.
- Radar tab
  1. Radar Map - This setting allows you to customize what radar map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose to not show a radar map, show a standard radar map, or show an enhanced radar map. The maps can also be animated if you choose. Show Maps allows you to choose which radar maps you want to display.
  2. Local Radar - This setting allows you to customize what local radar map you want displayed. The map can also be animated if you choose.
  3. Metro Radar - This setting allows you to customize what metro radar map you want displayed. The map can also be animated if you choose.
    - Note1: Only US/Canada can receive radar maps.
    - Note2: Each animated map can be up to 1MB in size.
- Satellite tab
  1. Satellite Map - This setting allows you to customize what satellite map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, standard satellite maps, enhanced satellite maps or radar/satellite combo maps. The maps can also be animated if you choose. Show Maps allows you to choose which satellite maps you want to display.
    - Note1: Only US can receive enhanced and radar/satellite combo maps.
    - Note2: Each animated map can be up to 1MB in size.
- Maps tab
  1. Temperature tab
    1. 'High Temperature Map' - This setting allows you to customize what high temperature map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, Standard, or Hi-Res. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    2. 'Low Temperature Map' - This setting allows you to customize what low temperature map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, Standard, or Hi-Res. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
  2. Wind tab
    1. 'Wind Chill Map' - This setting allows you to customize what wind chill map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, Standard, or Hi-Res. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    2. 'Wind Speed Map' - This setting allows you to customize what wind speed map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None or Standard. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    3. 'Wind Gust Map' - This setting allows you to customize what wind gust map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None or Standard. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
  3. Precipitation tab
    1. 'Total Precipitation Map' - This setting allows you to customize what total precipitation map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None or Standard. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    2. 'Precipitation Probability Map' - This setting allows you to customize what precipitation probability map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None or Standard. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
  4. Index tab
    1. 'Heat Index Map' - This setting allows you to customize what heat index map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, Standard, or Hi-Res. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    2. 'UV Index Map' - This setting allows you to customize what UV index map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None or Standard. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
  5. Surface tab
    1. 'Surface Map' - This setting allows you to customize what surface map you want displayed for the current profile. You can choose None, Standard, or Hi-Res. You can also determine how many days you'd like to show (each day is its own map).
    - Note1: Only US can receive Hi-Res maps.
    - Note2: Only US/Canada can receive Standard Surface map.

General Tab

The General tab sets general settings for the Weather plug-in.

Update Frequency - The update frequency is the rate the plug-in will download new weather information and maps.
- Note: 15 minutes is the minimum update frequency.
Update at Startup - If checked, this will begin the download of weather information at NPVR startup, not startup of the plugin.
- Note: It will only update at startup of NPVR/plugin if the current weather data stored locally is older than the 'Update Frequency' value.
- Note2: "Update at Startup" is only used when being executed on a NPVR Server or Client. MVP/NMT users have to enter Weather in order to update weather information.
Update during video playback - If checked, this will allow the plugin to download weather information when a video is being played. (If your CPU is running high when showing video, it's probably best to uncheck this box).
Max. Forecast Days - Number of days to show on the forecast screen list.
- Note: 9 days is the maximum. At least 5 days is recommended.

Custom Plugin Name and Description

Weather supports a custom plugin name and description. This is not available to change via the config GUI. You need to manually update NPVR's config.xml. Please make sure NPVR is closed before editing the config.xml file. **Please backup BEFORE making any changes to the config.xml file!**

For example, within the <PluginSettings> XML element, add the following:

    <Weather>
        <Name>MyWeather</Name>
        <Description>My custom weather description</Description>
    </Weather>

Using the Plugin

After installing the plug-in, the first thing to do is configure the plug-in via the NPVR configuration settings.

Once the plug-in has been configured, select the plug-in from the main menu. An information screen will appear that is showing that the plug-in is downloading the latest weather information and the applicable maps to the configured location(s). Once this is complete, the current condition screen will be displayed for the default profile.

Menu items

There are 2 menus used with Weather.

The Top menu contains the following buttons:

Main Menu
Current
Forecast
Images (if applicable)

Main Menu

This will return you to the main NPVR menu.

Current

This shows the current condition information.

Forecast

This shows the extended forecast information.

Images

This will display the Image menu, described below.

The Image menu may contain the following buttons:

Main Menu
Back
Radar (if applicable)
Satellite (if applicable)
Maps (if applicable)

Main Menu

This will return you to the main NPVR menu.

Back

This will return the display to the Top menu.

Radar

This shows the radar images. If multiple radar images exist, a left/right button will appear next to the image title. You can scroll through the radar images using the left/right buttons on your remote or keyboard.

Satellite

This shows the satellite images. If multiple satellite images exist, a left/right button will appear next to the image title. You can scroll through the satellite images using the left/right buttons on your remote or keyboard.

Maps

This shows the map images. If multiple map images exist, a left/right button will appear next to the image title. You can scroll through the map images using the left/right buttons on your remote or keyboard.

Buttons

The following table is a list of actions, and the different ways to invoke these actions using a keyboard, mouse, and remote control.

Action	Keyboard	Remote	Mouse
Previous Profile	CTRL-Y	Yellow	Yellow button (upper-right corner)
Next Profile	CTRL-B	Blue	Blue button (upper-right corner)
Previous ForecastDay/Image/Alert	Left arrow	Left	Left arrow button (upper-right corner)
Next ForecastDay/Image/Alert	Right arrow	Right	Right arrow button (upper-right corner)
Refresh weather data	CTRL-R	Red	Refresh button (lower-right corner)
Show alert screen	CTRL-G	Green	Alert button (upper-left corner)
Play animated image	CTRL-P	Play	Play button (right of paused animated image)
Pause animated image	CTRL-Q	Pause	Pause button (right of animated image)
Previous animated image frame	CTRL-D	Rew	Rewind button (right of paused animated image)
Next animated image frame	CTRL-F	FFwd	Fast Forward button (right of paused animated image)

The selected (highlighted) button can also be changed using the Up/Down arrows on the keyboard, or the Up/Down buttons on the remote. Pressing "ENTER" or "OK" on remote will select these buttons.

Forecast Information

The Forecast screen displays up to 5 forecast days at one time. If more than 5 days were set in the General tab, then you can scroll to the right to get to those forecast days. The each day's forecast contains the day, date, icon, short description (16x9 skins only), high temp, and low temp. By selecting different days, the information below the list changes, with the day's forecast on the left side, and the night's forecast on the right side. After 3:00PM (15:00), the "Today" forecast item will change to "Tonight" and display only the night's information.

Multiple Profiles

If you have setup multiple profiles, Yellow and Blue buttons will appear to the right of the location text in the upper-right corner of the screen. Yellow will switch to the previous profile, while Blue will switch to the next profile. Switching profiles will attempt to remain at the current screen for the next profile, but if that screen does not exist, it will default back to the Current conditions screen.

Alerts (US locations only)

If an alert is active, an alert icon will appear in the upper-left corner of the screen, below the menu bar. If there are multiple alerts, the left/right scroll buttons will be visible. Use the buttons listed in the Button header above to move between the alerts. Once the alert is inactive, the icon will disappear.

Note: Alert information is scraped, which could break at any time.

Weather Icons

Weather comes with the Stardock icons as the default icons. If you want to use your own icons, the following file is the legend between icon number and the picture associated with it.
Download:Weather_iconcodes.txt

Here are the default Stardock weather icons:
Download:Weather_Stardock_icons.zip

Here are the default pressure arrow icons:
Download:Weather_Pressure_arrows.zip