DesktopX Weather Widget Fixes

Published on July 8, 2009 By sViz In DesktopX

The purpose of this thread is to compile and post fixes for the recent weather widget problem for anyone who has the patience to implement them. I'll try to edit this post to keep it up-to-date.

Edit 7/10: Important information for DX authors.

Edit 7/12: Added clarification to 2a for DX users - ZubaZ

Edit 7/13 : Removed fixes due to legal ambiguity

Contents

1. The Problem

2. The Fixes

e. Disable the Weather

3. For Authors

a. Using The Weather Channel Feeds

b. Using Another Source

c. Weather & DX Themes

1. The Problem

If your weather widget has suddenly stopped working properly, it is likely because the source, Weather.com, has changed their site to prohibit unlicensed usage. The majority of weather widgets on this site were built with the same code which is now outdated.

Symptoms of this particular problem are:

-You get a message saying the location is invalid
-When you try to clear this message it keeps popping up

2. The Fixes (as far as we know)

*** UPDATE 7/13/09 ***

I have tried to find more information and understand the legalities of the TWC XOAP data feed services and due to ambiguity I have removed these fixes so as not to put anyone else at risk of violating known or unknown weather.com license agreements.

A very good read on the situation with weather.com and their feeds can be found here: http://www.rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=615

At the present time the only remaining option for end-users is to disable and/or discontinue using the weather widgets.

E. DISABLE THE WEATHER:

If you are using a combo widget or theme and would just like to disable the weather parts read below.

There are a few objects that need to be "turned off". To do this you will open the widget/theme in DX Builder (be sure to turn off internet connection first,) find the object, right-click and uncheck Script Enabled.

These objects may be several of the following. (You can ctrl + click to select more than one object in the object list, then r-click and uncheck Script Enabled.)

Version 1:

"weather_image"
"weather_temp"
"weather_location"

Version 2:

"kdockweatherimage" (and/or "kdockweatherimage2")
"Kdockweatherlocation" (and/or "kdockweatherlocation2")
"kdockweathertemp" (and/or "kdockweathertemp2")
"kdockforecastimage1" (through "kdockforecastimage5")

Version 3:

"Weather_Output"
"Weather_Script"
"WeatherFunction_ToggleUnits"
"CUI_SCripts"
"WeatherFunction_SetLocation"

3. For Authors

A Notice From the WC Staff:

Starting Monday, July 20th, we will start exiling weather widgets from the WinCustomize galleries that have not been updated and/or violate any ToS/ToU in regards to weather feeds.

See here for more details.

Q: Can't I fix and reupload my widgets?

It's fairly certain that our widgets are not in compliance with The Weather Channel's license agreements. Among other things, a widget using TWC's feed now needs to include their logo and 5 advertisement links (to see the full details get registered and download the SDK file included in your confirmation email.)

This is aside from the fact that most of these fixes hard code YOUR license ID and KEY, and you CAN NOT allow others to use these; uploading a fixed widget with your ID and KEY is in violation of the license agreement.

The short answer is no. We can't use these fixes and then reupload our widgets.

Q: What CAN I do?

Right now you need to archive your skins before they are deleted from the galleries.

Q: So that's it? No more weather widgets?

Not necessarily. We have two options: A. Re-build our widgets in compliance with TWC's license agreement or B. find another data source.

A. USING THE WEATHER CHANNEL FEEDS

If you are looking to rebuild your widget in compliance with TWC's agreement you'll need to do the following:

- Register, download and thoroughly read the SDK file included in your confirmation email
- Comply
- Add a function to allow the user to input their license key and partner ID.
- Add a link to the registration page so users know where to get the key and ID.
- Be mindful of the fact that TWC could change their site again and consider putting contingencies in place to prevent further headaches. (i.e., Use and external script that can be copied onto the user's computer, and have as little code in the actual objects.)

To be clear, anyone looking to make a weather widget using weather.com services MUST be in compliance with their terms of service and license agreements.

B. USING ANOTHER SOURCE suggestions by Zubaz

If you decide to part ways with TWC, here are some alternative weather feed sources to consider (You will need to abide by their Terms of Service as well):

- Wunderground.com -- LINK

- Yahoo! -- LINK

- rssweather.com -- LINK

Again, I strongly advise using an external script to save yourself (and by extension your end-users) from any headaches in future.

C. WEATHER & DX THEMES

If you are a DesktopX theme author, the best advice for now is to exclude the weather widget from your theme and consider uploading weather as a separate widget in future.

That's all for now...

Leave questions, comments, and your experience reports below.

Comments (Page 6)

sViz

on Jul 12, 2009

bilbo1930

reply 24

Johnny please code this... cos this not work for my widgies

RedneckDude

on Jul 12, 2009

Well, great sleuthing by everyone, hope it all works out... meanwhile I've managed to come up with an alternative method

1. Open Door

2. Look outside

3. Close door

ZubaZ

on Jul 12, 2009

I couldn't find door code . . but I did find window

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE> Window Open And Close Tester </TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<CENTER>
<H1> Window.Open And Window.Close </H1>
<INPUT TYPE="BUTTON" NAME="btnOne" VALUE="Open One">
<INPUT TYPE="BUTTON" NAME="btnDOne" VALUE="Close One"><p>
<INPUT TYPE="BUTTON" NAME="btnCloseMe" VALUE="Close Me">
<SCRIPT LANGUAGE="VBScript">
Dim objNewWindow
Sub btnOne_onClick
  Set objNewWindow = Window.Open("http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=Novi%2C United States", "myWindowOne", "toolbar=no, menubar=no, location=no, directories=no")
End Sub    
Sub btnDOne_onClick
  objNewWindow.Close
End Sub
Sub btnCloseMe_onClick
  Window.Close
End Sub
</SCRIPT>
</CENTER>
</BODY>
</HTML>

vStyler

on Jul 12, 2009

I couldn't find door code . . but I did find window

Thou art the clever'est bugger

wish I could read Greek too

RedneckDude

on Jul 12, 2009

John, I hope you don't mind, I put up a semi transparent version of KROME DX. What was that font again, the one you used in your screenshots?

Wizard1956

on Jul 12, 2009

I put up a semi transparent version of KROME DX.

And it's a real beauty,even better than the original.

*shameless plug for my friend Jim*

az0th

on Jul 12, 2009

Oops sorry about this, can't find a 'delete' option so reposted below.

ZubaZ

on Jul 13, 2009

Wonder if SD will pull weather widgets off MyColors for the same reason.

Stardock has an agreement with accuweather that prevents such things.

az0th

on Jul 13, 2009

which docklet is that? my ODock weather docklet goes to accuweather ObjectDock uses an Accuweather feed. Right clicking on it will give accuweather options and choosing the properties of teh docklet provides links to their site. Yep, turns out my Objectdock weather docklet runs off accuweather while the widgies show N/A coz they ran off TWC’s feed. I guess a global switchover to accuweather etc. isn’t feasible coz they might follow TWC. I guess that’s it for weather widgets on MyColors too for now. Bichur, Zubaz: thanks for the diagnosis! yep this works only if you CHEAT... Bilbo my post says I didn't register coz I'm in Europe for that reason.

az0th

on Jul 13, 2009

Stardock has an agreement with accuweather that prevents such things.

Ok, noted.

Thanks Zubaz!

Bichur

on Jul 13, 2009

crap..

too slow

dialup flashback

Jafo

on Jul 13, 2009

az0th ...could you please not use whatever text edit you did in #84....the HTML was several pages long and broke this thread in Internet Explorer. ...

_Martin_

on Jul 13, 2009

Zubaz - rather than deleting these weather object from accounts, why can you not just flag them in some way and stop them appearing in WC?

Changing these objects is not the shortest task and some people have a lot of objects.

Brutally deleting objects is likely to drive some authors away.

I know we can "archive" them, but can you image what a time consuming effort that would be for some of us?

Island Dog

on Jul 13, 2009

Zubaz - rather than deleting these weather object from accounts, why can you not just flag them in some way and stop them appearing in WC?

Items are not really being deleted, exiling just removes them from WC. Mostly everything stays in the database and if someone needs access to a widget they don't have anymore, they can contact us and we will do our best to help.

Our goal is to remove non-working items from the galleries so people don't download a bunch of things that don't work.

Vad_M

on Jul 13, 2009

Hi Zu,

The first door is here: http://wiki.wunderground.com/index.php/API_-_XML

The second - retrieving the web page as HTML for parsing in the widget.

Then you may go here: http://weather.a.ua/?countryw=USMI0617 and look how some people uses not only the TWC feeds but full content of their site without any licenses and has no any problems. By the way they uses Stardock's icons too...

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