Weather Update
Freeware by Patrick Dugan

Installation:
   I did not include install/uninstall routines for this program.  Since it essentially is composed
of two files (weatherup.exe & readme.txt) I didn't feel it made a lot of since to include an
installer program.  This means that you can copy the files to any location you want.  Create a
shortcut in your start menu and your ready.  When the program starts you will need to set the
display and location options so the city you are interested in will be reported on.  

Instructions:

   Version 1.60 Created by Patrick Dugan September 17, 1997.

   This program is designed to access weather information from over 2400 sites all over the world.
Only US sites have forecasts so far.  These sites send the weather information to the National
Weather Service.  The NWS then places this information on the Internet.  This program will access
the site and download (via FTP) the data requested.  The site is ftp.nws.noaa.gov and the data is
presented in a format called METAR.  This format is then ''decoded'' by this program in order to
display the data in a more readable form.

   There are several screens involved in this program. They are accessed via the ''tabs'' located
at the top.  Each tab bears a label indicating the nature of that screen. Below the tabbed screens
are two buttons which are:
UPDATE - which causes the program to retrieve the data.
HIDE - which hides the form and taskbar and only shows
       the tray icon.

The status of the download process is also displayed at the bottom of the screen.

   The first page in this program shows the weather for the site you have chosen.  The listings are
both metric and imperial and if data is missing it will appear as dashes in the field. Despite the
fact that these sites are supposed to create output that strictly follows the METAR standard
sometimes they do not.  In these cases you may see odd information appearing in the display.
You can examine the METAR screen and see exactly what the data was.  All the data should be straight
forward except the time of the report.  The time listed will usually be in ZULU format, but not always
so I simply copy the time they listed in the METAR report itself.  I do not have the time nor space
here to describe all definitions for dew points, barometeric pressure, ect. If you are really
interested the NWS web site can provide you with plenty of information.  That web site:
www.nws.noaa.gov

   The second page concerns options.  This is where you pick the site that you wish to view.  The site
name and station call letters will appear directly below.  You have an option to update the information
on a regular interval from 1 minute up to 1440 minutes.  You can request the update happen as soon as
the program starts.  Another option is to log all the forecasts as text files when they arrive.  The
files are STATE.TXT, WARN.TXT, ZONE.TXT and SHORT.TXT and will appear in the current directory where
Weather Update was started.  The next option is whether the taskbar will display the temperature in
Celsius or Fahrenheit.  If you minimize the display and move the mouse over the application name
it will display the temperature and cloud or storm conditions.  The next option is the ''Get forecasts''
which lets you decide if you want to bother attempting to get the forecasts at all.  Below that is the
option for getting local information for short and zone forecasts.  If not checked, it will get the
short and zone forecasts for the entire state.  The next option is whether to log the METAR report or
not.  The last option is whether a warning sound will play if a warning has been issued  for your state.  
You can use any WAV file you like for the warning sound. The display options is also where you can 
determine how the program starts up, either in full view, task bar and tray, or tray only.  By clicking 
on the tray you can bring the main window back into view.  By moving the mouse over the tray icon you 
can see a small weather reading of the temperature and cloud or other conditions.

   The third screen is the METAR report itself.  This is actual text that came from the NWS for that
site.  You can also set the ''log METAR'' option on. The program will then write the METAR information
to a text file called METAR.LOG.  This file will appear in the same directory that this program is
running from.  At the bottom of the METAR screen are buttons that will display the log file for the
various reports.  You can print or delete the logs that appear.

   The fourth screen is the U.S. State forecast.  This is obtained from the iwin.nws.noaa.gov site and
only has U.S. state information.  Other sites are not available. This site has a nasty habit of not
answering requests so many times you see that the forecast is not available.  In that case you can
simply keep trying to access it until it shows up.  If you choose the ''log forecasts'' option in the
options screen it will write all of the forecasts if they contain any data.  The files are STATE.LOG,
WARN.LOG and ZONE.LOG.  These files are simple ASCII text files and can be viewed with any text editor.
I chose not to redisplay an old report to avoid seeing information that may be outdated.

   The fifth screen is the State Warning forecast.  This is obtained from the iwin.nws.noaa.gov site and
only has state warning information.  The ''Warn'' tab will have exclamation marks flashing if a warning
is received. To turn off the flashing click the left mouse button in the text field containing the warning
and it will stop.

   The sixth screen is the State Zone forecast.  This is obtained from the iwin.nws.noaa.gov site and only
has state zone information.  This will display only the local information.

   The seventh screen is the Short Term forecast.  This is obtained from the iwin.nws.noaa.gov site and
only has short term state information.  If you do get these reports it is a good idea to read ALL of them.
Some of  the reports may contain a city or location that does not appear in the others.  This will only
display local information.

   This program is freeware and comes ''as is.''  Since the information is obtained from the Internet the
data should not be used for anything other than casual viewing and you should rely on more immediate
broadcasts via radio or television for possible weather conditions.

   If you find that a reported condition makes no sense please send me a copy of the METAR log file so I
can see what might have happened and correct for future builds.

   Patrick Dugan
   patrickd@getonthe.net or patrickd@usti.com


Version/Build Information History:

V1.60 (September 17, 1997) 
	The directory where the metar info is kept was moved and caused the program
	to be unable to login and get the information.  I updated the directory in the
	program and created a registry entry under:
	HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\PatrickDugan\LocalWeather\Direct1
	If they change the directory again, you will be able to edit this field and
	it will use that as the new directory location.  This is a temporay fix and I will
	add a simple screen to modify and save the directories there, but this will work
	for now.

V1.59 (September 11, 1997) 
	Hopefully finally fixed a bug when the visibility is reported in fractions. The 
        visibility will be rounded according to the fractional value (e.g. 1 1/2 will be 2) Also
	changed settings were not being saved unless you closed the main window.  If you simply
	shut down Windows the program would not save the changes.  

V1.58 (August 24, 1997) 
	Corrected reporting "moderate" when should be "light" for conditions. 

V1.57 (August 21, 1997) 
	Bug fix.  The longer hint text that included the location name caused a runtime 
	error.  The hint text can not be longer than 64 characters so I now truncate the 
	front portion of the hint text if it is longer than 62 characters.  Only appears 
	when the location name is fairly long or you have several weather conditions that 
	add up to long string.  

V1.56 (August 20, 1997)
	Added more error checking again.  Also added some features to allow viewing, printing
	and deleting the log files.  The taskbar/tray hint will now display the city name
	along with other data.  Fixed the warning sound that played whether you wanted it to
	or not.  Changed the Imperial label to English to avoid confusion.  Some fractional
	values (e.g. 12 1/2) caused float to string errors so hopefully those are now taken 
	care of.  

V1.55 (August 11, 1997)
	Added more error checking for invalid inpout from METAR.  Program dying after getting
	a few invalid integer/string conversions so did error checks for every spot that occurs
	to squelch.

V1.54 (August 10, 1997)
	Added an option for getting local or statewide forecasts for short and zone information.

V1.53 (August 6, 1997)
        Changed Short and Zone forecasts to display only the information regarding the city that
	was being updated.

V1.52  (August 4, 1997)
        Cleaned up thread problem that was creating a new thread each time weather was accessed
	and eventually would use up resources.

V1.50 (July 25, 1997)
        Began using threads to access data in order keep program from freezing while data was
	being accessed.  Fixed a bug where the program would also refuse to shut down when 
	requested to by Windows but would if a user requested it.

V1.4 - V1.0 (July 1 - July 20, 1997)
        Various changes made, essentially from a simple one screen list of one city to 2500 cities
	and the inclusion of US forecasts and tray icon appearnace.

Known Bugs:
        Currently if you attempt to close the program while it is accessing
        internet data it will cause the program to generate an exception error
        and die.  Since you are trying to exit anyway this should not be a
        big issue but it is there anyway.  


