Environment Canada Weather/Weather Warnings

[langenet]

Okay... that looks much better. I think we were thinking the same thing.

Thanks for the change.

[Wadenut]

Well, it seems this is a no-win situation.
I've noticed here, the daily forecast can be quite lengthy as well, and with the field height limitation in HS3, the short range forecast text often exceeds the available space.
Add to this that recently we've been under a heat warning here, and the text of that warning in the Weather Warnings/Statements device string also exceeds the space available. I'm not sure what more I can possibly do to include all of the text.
The good news is that in HSTouch, we can adjust the font size as required in a text box to display all the necessary text. I don't use HS Mobile here (yet) but i hope it's also the case there.
If HS could be convinced to make the web page device string field dynamic, without this limitation, as was the case under HS2, there would be no problem.

[langenet]

While it's better, one thing I notice is that you have a graphic image on the first line which if it wasn't there would probably help out.
Otherwise, it's still better in my opinion.

[Wadenut]

While it's better, one thing I notice is that you have a graphic image on the first line which if it wasn't there would probably help out.
Otherwise, it's still better in my opinion.

Originally there were no graphics. Several people requested them so they were added.
However they are completely optional. Just set GraphicSize = 0 under Options in the config. Pretty sure that's in the doc as well.
Personally, I've never used them.

[langenet]

Thanks. I haven't referenced your documentation for a long time since your script has worked so well... . Never thought to look. My bad.

[Wadenut]

I still wasn't happy with the fact that the text of the forecast devices were truncated in HS3.

v2.07.16 addresses this problem by allowing an option to break out the forecast data into separate daily forecast devices.
The documentation has been updated but in a nutshell in order to convert from the default two device forecast data to the broken out daily forecast devices, take the following steps.

All versions have been updated: HS2/HS3, French/English. This should also run without issue under Linux (please let me know of any problems).

- Replace "Environment Canada Weather.vben" in the scripts folder.
- Replace "EnvcanWeather.ini" in the Config Folder & edit this file for personalization.

A new option exists in the INI. "ForecastFmt". This has the following options: 1 = Breakout Forecast, 2 = First two items in Short Range, remainder in Long Range (this was the original format and is the default), or 3 = First three items in Short Range, remainder in Long Range (this was the format used in the previous version and was retained).
- If upgrading and you wish to use the Break Out option in HS3, it will be necessary to delete all of the existing Environment Canada Devices before running the new script. This is necessary to produce proper association of all of the devices. The devices will be recreated and properly associated on the next run. This step is not necessary in HS2.

Additional changes affecting both HS2 and HS3:
- More accurate selection of graphics (forecast devices) to match forecast data.
- Device Values for Advisory and Statements devices track contents (see doc). This is for use mainly with HSTouch so that alternate text or font colours may be displayed.

[Wadenut]

I'm seeing this message on the Environment Canada site:

The Treasury Board Secretariat and the Communications Security Establishment (CSE) have recommended that the Government of Canada update its security protocols for all its websites. In order to keep our servers and software up-to-date and secure, on August 28, 2019, we will support browser versions that support Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2 and above.

I was under the impression that this had occurred last year, and I'd dealt with it. EnvCanWeather should already support TLS 1.2 so there shouldn't be any issue.
If this isn't the case and Environment Canada is making further changes then on Aug 28 I may have some work to do. Fingers crossed.
I'm also aware that this message is showing in the Weather Statements Device String along with any actual statements. This should pass once the message disappears.

[langenet]

Thanks for the heads up Greg. Yes, I thought this was done already as well.

[sirbooker]

just wondering if there is a way to use better quality icons for displaying in hstouch ?
Paul.

[Wadenut]

just wondering if there is a way to use better quality icons for displaying in hstouch ?
Paul.

Well, there's no facility built in to choose graphics, but you could just replace the existing files in \html\images\EnvCanXML with whatever GIF files of the same name you'd like to use.
The only limitation would be that the files would need to be in GIF format. There are conversion tools out there if you need to use them.
In future, given the time I'd need, I suppose I could build the file selection into the INI.

[sirbooker]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, i will try and see what they look like converted.

PAul.

[langenet]

Greg, is there a way to stop the warnings filling my logs this morning? I have FullWarnText = False but am still getting...

Feb-18 6:22:21 AM

ENVCAN Weather

2. Warning: String was Observed at: Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier Int'l Airport 06:19 AM EST Tuesday 18 February 2020 Condition: Light Snow Temperature: -11.5°C Pressure / Tendency: 102.4 kPa falling Visibility: 8.1 km Humidity: 63 % Wind Chill: -20 Dewpoint: -17.2°C Wind: NE 19 km/h Air Quality Health Index: 3

[Guest]

First, thanks for an awesome plugin.

I have a question about the trigger conditions for the weather warnings. It is hard to test because there isn't a warning right now

If there is a warning that is updated periodically, does the plugin set the value to 0 in between the warnings so that I can trigger on the change of value to 100? I hope that makes sense. I'd like to trigger the event every time the warning is updated which can happen quite quickly in some weather situations.

Thanks.

[Wadenut]

Well, it's been a while, but as I recall that was the intent - use at your own risk however I'm afraid. The value should be determined by the level interpreted from the EC text; 0-3 I think, where 0 - no warning or statement, 1 - statement, 2 - advisory and 3 - warning (this is all from memory and I'd need to look more deeply to be sure). The value shouldn't change except in cases where EC makes a change in the text of the statement, EC doesn't provide a level value per se. The script tries to interpret this based on the text present currently. IE. If the word "Ended" is present and some level is currently set, the level is set to 0. If we find the word "Warning" (without "Ended") we set the value accordingly. Same for Advisories and Statements.
Hope that helps.

[langenet]

Greg,

Been using your script for years without issue. However, lately I've noticed that it doesn't get any data returned from EC periodically. Saying that, my temperature for Ottawa at times reads as N/A along with other readings. Have you experienced this? It might be as I suspect totally EC but for years I've never seen this until the past couple of months.
As I save this data in an Access DB, it inserts values such as -999.9 which doesn't graph well..

Robert