yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Thanks for testing this program. I am not sure why the realize theme is not working - could you please post a screen shot? Another programmer rewrote the screen display code in order to support background images and I am still going through this.

I am currently working on a manual and will include instructions on how to customize a theme.

Regarding other feeds, that could be a possibility. If it's XML then it should be simple to add a little code to parse and use those values instead of Yahoo. I'll Google WindGuru to see what that uses.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Version .35.1

Developer edition .35.1 is attached to this post. I am still waiting on updates for the landscape fix and for VGA support, but I wanted to get this out for testing since it fixes some known bugs.

Also attached are updated themes for default, realize, and sunset.

Instructions: Install .35 from main post, and copy update into installed directory.

.35.1 changes

===================================================

- Main page fonts changed from bold to normal to reduce 'fuzziness"

- Today details now show today's forecast, not current

- Add locations are aligned on screen properly

- Fixed drop down combos to inherit theme colors

- Weather direction for 360 degrees now shows "N"

- Merged image library source, DLL no longer required

- Main page weather icons now inherit theme color

- Background images can be png, gif, or jpg (define in theme.ini)

Outstanding

====================================================

- Landscape support (repaint screen when switching between modes)

- VGA support

- Bug: when minimized app will gain focus on any auto-refresh

I appreciate everyone who is testing and reporting back any bugs or comments.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digidigi123:
Hello,

one problem in the Today details page, for the german language. The time from the sunrise and sunset overlap the words sunrise and sunset, because the german words to long (sunrise = Sonnenaufgang and sunset = Sonnenuntergang).

Thanks digidigi123
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Version .36

Developer's version .36 has been uploaded to post #1

.36 (11/28/08)

=====================================================================

- Main page fonts changed from bold to normal to reduce 'fuzziness"

- Today details now show today's forecast, not current

- Add locations are aligned on screen properly

- Fixed drop down combos to inherit theme colors

- Weather direction for 360 degrees now shows "N"

- Merged image library source, DLL no longer required

- Main page weather icons now inherit theme color

- Background images can be png, gif, or jpg (define in theme.ini)

- Fixed settings crash when location added & went back into settings

- NEW: portrait/landscape (switch back & forth)

- NEW: VGA (I can't test this)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Seems to be a text issue still

If the text is white, everythig is fine but as soon as you change the colour, it looks almost as if white bol halo is superimposed around the normal, unbold text in whatever colour you set.

Possibly the text colour and the bold colour are mismatching.

Getting there
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
same bug and some screenshots

Thanks for the new version, and the sunset theme looks very nice, but I have always the same problem (almost):

- with the defaut fontcolor (black) the text has ugly white borders

- switching to landscape mode no more fuzzy white border

- changing to white font color (as suggested by others) the text disapear in all forecast screens (see screenshots)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Trying version 0.36 Noticed something, when I switch to landscape from portrait, it doesn't switch which image file it uses, it just stretches the portrait file.

Also, the white outline is still there on the text, can't find a way to resolve it through the .ini files

A suggestion: When you update the zip file in post #1, name it with the version # so it is easier to realize that it is a new version posted. for example, name the file PocketForecast36.zip just a thought
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] rifraf1:
Been waiting for the VGA version so gave it a try and Ver .36 has the screen layout a bit off, attached a screenshot so you can see the results.

Did I miss some settings or a VGA executable?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Developing for VGA may be enough of an excuse for me to upgrade to the Fuze. :)

I'm going to ask the person who has been helping with the code for themes to come over to the xda forums and look at some of these screen shots.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
The guy who did the VGA support has a screen shot showing that it works for him (http://www.basic4ppc.com/forum/open-source-projects/3323-pocket-weather-7.html#post19547) so I'm not sure what is happening here. Maybe I placed the wrong exe in the zip file? Attached is just the exe (36 developer release) - could you try this and let me know if it works?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
How does it look on the PDA if you use these settings for theme.ini?

themeFormColor=245,205,160
themeFontColor=128,0,0
themeBorderColor=128,0,0

The person who did that font uses those settings. It is a orange font for the Sunset background.

I use black font & border and it is sharp on my AT&T Tilt, but kind of blurry on the PC. There seems to be only a couple of fonts on WM6 (Tahoma and Courier) I may add an "themeFont=" settings in the next release, with it defaulting to Tahoma if none is specified.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Good catch! The code is only checking for the portrait file. The next release will check for both files and load the appropriate one.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
One thing I noticed is that if I set my font to 255,255,255 on the PC, it disappears on sunset; but if I set it to 254,254,254 on the PC, I get white font. But this trick doesn't work on the PDA.

However the black font is sharp on my AT&T Tilt, so I'm not sure what is going on here. I'm combing through the code to see if anything was missed. I think I may add a font option in the theme.ini file which would allow people to install fonts that they like and use something besides the default MS ones.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
It looks the same as black color, fuzzy white border ;)

the main problem is the white border around text...

and i have just tried a value for color near the white and the text appears as white but always with the fussy thing which makes it even harder to read...

it strange that it does not behave as others user around here...

I will try the new version ;)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
At least your PC behave like my PDA :) !!!

cool im not alone...
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Something else I noticed today

Tried the S2U2 option and it functions perfectly except for the fact that it shows current conditions and not today's forecast
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I may have found a fix! I hope so...

Please try this attachment.

Changes:

Modified code so that it loads theme.ini colors and set form forelayer (it originally was set to 'white')
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I can change it to forecast, or I can add an option to choose S2U Current or S2U forecast. Is "forecast" default expected behavior?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
Marvelous! it works good :p !

by the way it is possible that the difference between landscape and portrait mode on my device came from the non use of cleartype in landscape...
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Version .37 (developer's release)

Version .37 (developer's release) has been uploaded to the main post.

.37 (12/1/08)

=====================================================================

- Changed how form color is set to reduce font 'fuzziness'

- Added optional themePCFont, themePDAFont variables

- Fix background image file to select fileP, fileL (portrait, landscape)

- Fixed minor bugs

OPEN ISSUES

- S2U loads current weather, request for day forecast

- Must restart program when selecting theme for best results

I will also zip up and upload the (4) themes that I have tested.

Thanks to everyone for their help, feedback, and suggestions.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Themes for Pocket Forecast

Sky (by Klaus)

Realize (icons by Bluemetalaxe)

Sunset (by Klaus)

HTC Diamond (icons by Bluemetalaxe)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Thanks for fixing the landscape background image issue, and for taking my file name suggestion. As for the fuzzy font problem, it is directly tied into the cleartype setting. If I turn this off, I lose the white fuzzyness around the text. Turn cleartype back on, and the fuzzyness returns. It doesn't matter portrait or landscape.

Another thing I noticed. I wasn't able to have an Internet connection from saturday until monday. so this morning( Monday morning), looking at pocket forecast 's main page, it said Today-saturday 29 Nov 29 and Tomorrow sunday 1 Dec 2008. I thought since it had a couple of days stored in the "Four" cast it would realize the date change based on the internal clock and still present the information correctly.

thanks,

-Wolf
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] rifraf1:
No that version gave the same results. But the new version .37 appears to work in VGA see attachment, Yeah!

It does give an exception error every now and then, but I click continue and it seems to continue running until the exception occurs again.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Not sure about everyone else, but I can certanl look out of the window to see the current conditions ;-)

Seriously though, ye, most weather apps would show current foecast on S2U2 (I've tride spbWeather and SBSHWeather)

This is getting closer on every release. Well done

p.s. any chance of setting a manual update as well as an automatic one?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] eric_cymok:
Thank you buddy.

It is very cool...
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I don't understand what you mean by a setting a manual update. You can press the top icon on the main screen to manually refresh.

Attached is .37.1 that adds an option for S2U forecast, as well as traps the error that rifraf1 pointed out.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
I have the same bug :)

and as from yahoo weather you can have 10 days forecast it could be very good to have also 4 days weather during at least 6 days, this could be very useful when you go on holidays without connexion... (even if it is less and less exact...).
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
always font colors ;)

another comment on font colors and fuzziness: I've just checked with the last version that if you set themeFormColor to "black", the font fuzziness is "black"... strange no? Well with dark background white text with black fuzziness is ok for me and I suppose that it's a cleartype font problem (I have not tried to deactivate cleartype in wm options...)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I found that the fuzziness happens when the first RGB value is zero. If you set black as 0,0,0 - you get fuzzy. If you set black as 1,0,0 - it seems to be fine.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I will put this on my request list and think how I can implement it. The reason that I don't refresh and roll-over the date is because the forecast doesn't contain as much information as current. Having "outdated" information is a way to let the user know that it's reading from a cache file and not getting any updates.

It wouldn't be hard to create a way to over-ride this behavior, I just need to think of a way to gracefully do it.

A feature that I wanted to get done first is the plug-in feature. It will be a new page that is basically a container for HTML and javascript, with access to the weather values. This would give users the ability to create their own current summary, and forecast displays.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Thank you, I'll test this evening.

With regard to the refresh setting, my app seems to refresh whenever it's opened and this often menas connecting to GPRS (£££).

I was hoping to be able to set it so that it only updates when I want it to. I thought that the refresh time of 0 would do this but it still updates every time it's opened.

With the forecast for S2U2, one more cheeky request...could you add the option of tomorrow's forecast? Once I've left the house in the morning, I'm pretty much stuck with whatever clothes I left the house with.

Tomorrow's weather is often more interesting than today's after I get to work...only if it's a fairly simply task though, I don't want to push my luck ;-)

Thanks very much
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I'll have to run a few tests to confirm nothings changed, but the default start-up behavior should be 1) check to see if there is a local cache file for the default location, 2) if there is not a default location cache file, check for the last known cache file, 3) if there are no cache files at all get the latest from Yahoo and build new cache files.

If you have the refresh set to 0, it shouldn't ever get a feed from Yahoo unless there isn't a local cache file and you don't press the refresh key.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Just checked again, set refresh time to 0, connected using Wi-Fi and updated all locations.

Closed the app, switched off Wi-Fi and restarted application and it tried to do refresh over GPRS straight away.

(version D.37)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Please try attached version .372 - I hope I got it right this time. Someone had added a refresh in one of their sub routines.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Version .38

Developer's version .38 has been uploaded to the main post

38

=====================================================================

- added S2U option to show either current or forecast

- fixed retrieving from web, even if refresh value set to zero

- trap retrieveweatherdate error

- lines now have same color properties as borders

- added check to see if form visible before doing screen timer refresh

- added HTC Diamond theme in theme post

Thanks to everyone for the testing and feedback.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Its looking great! I can't get rid of the shadow problem, despite all the great suggestions unless I turn off clear type. However, I am currently using a white font so it's not so bad as a black font. Some one else may have mentioned this but 255,255,255 doesn't show up as white, but blank. 249,249,249 works well.

Had a thought. Is it possible on the main page to add the descriptor words for current, today and tommorow? Maybe combine day and date into one line to make room for it? besides seeing the "sunny" icon, it also says "Sunny" (or ,clear, cloudy you get my point.)

-Wolf
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
One of the changes I made was to load the theme color in the forelayer instead of the default white. If you have the theme color and font colors different, you shouldn't be getting blank.

I also added an optional font value that you can add to the theme.ini if you have other fonts installed. Add "themeFontType=" and the font that you have. By default, only Tahoma is installed but some people add extra fonts.

If you want to upload your theme I would be glad to see how it is on my PDA.

Thanks for your suggestions, I'll look to see if I can find any room for the descriptions.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Pocket Forecast Release 1.0

Pocket Forecast Release 1.0 has been uploaded to the main post as a cab installer. The PC version + source code is in the zip file.

Release 1.0 contains all code and fixes up to developer's release .38

1.0 (12/3/08)

=====================================================================

- cab installer for PPC (includes up to developers release .38)

This version should be as stable as any version 1.0 release. :)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] zard:
First time trying version 1.0, it is great! Why? Because it is using Yahoo's weather data and I can set 5 out of the 6 locations over here in Singapore. It would be even better if you could increase the number of locations from 5 to 10.

Very nice! Keep it up. Thank you.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
Congratulations of your public release!

Here is another quick theme I knocked up that uses SPIL icons in png format so the edges are very smooth.

Also png details and buttons

Could do with a manual though, showing each part of the screen and a label saying what it's called in the theme.ini file! Having trouble with the colours (this one's fine though)

Just drop the unzipped files inside your THEMES folder
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
re 10 locations: I added this to the future feature list: http://campusbbs.freehostia.com
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Nice! I've been using this theme all day and have added to my theme list: http://campusbbs.freehostia.com
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Should I just zip up my entire theme directory, including my background images and weather icons?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Yes - whatever you named your theme directory just zip it up and post it or you can PM me. I'll be glad to take a look at it.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Attached is my Wolf Theme. Thanks for looking.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
I can't get the background image to show

Tried it with "Wolf" as well, just copied the folderinto themes and selected. No background.

I did see it flash a couple of times briefly but then it disappeared

Any ideas?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
One thing I need to improve is switching between themes. If you copy this theme and switch from another theme, depending on what your previous theme is, you may get the new theme image or some bland color (I got grey) Restarting the program should load the new theme correctly.

I loaded the theme and it shows leaves with a fox in the middle, with white fonts and borders. The fonts are not super-sharp (but are very readable) on my PC, and look correct on my PDA (AT&T Tilt, 240x320)

We are discussing this over at B4PPC forums to see what improvements we can make.

Maybe this is related to VGA? I don't have a VGA to test with but I think that a possibility may be that the code is stretching the fonts for VGA.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
I've just been testing as well

and it only just dawned on me that there is resizing going on of all icons within the app.

I copied large icons into the Details folder and they still showed at the same size.

If good quality alpha blended icons are put into the app, it seems to do a rough job of resizing them and gives them all jagged edges.

Are these sizes fixed within the app? If so, what are the exact dimensions of each image type i.e. button, detail icons, condiion icons, + and - gfx files etc?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Dave, I hope this is what you're looking for:

The buttons are 50x60 pixels, the main page icons are 50x50, and the detail page icons are 40x40. Background images should match the screen size.

Images can be BMP, GIF, JPG, or PNG since they are specified by filename in the mapping files (details, conditions, buttons)

I don't know much about images and such - I'm sure one format is better than another - which is why I tried to make it as open as possible.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
It's a WOLF! Hence the name of the theme, and my user name! My phone is qvga, not vga and I do get the white fuzz around the white text.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Sorry about that...I didn't make the obvious connection.

I'm trying different colors for background and font to see if I can come up with a sharper contrast, as well as testing different fonts on the PC. I've also tried different background image types (BMP, JPG, PNG); So far I haven't had any luck but we are discussing this over on the B4PPC forums.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
in order to not have the white fuzz, just change the background color to black, so you'll have a small black fuzz non-noticable I suppose ;) ... on many themes I have to change those colors to avoid fuzzy fonts...

(the general rule is when you have white font then use black background, and when you have black font then use white background)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] chuma:
WOW/ Nice progress. Real powerful tool!

I mede rus LNG file

In attach. But work if i trying to change leng i have bug

"basic4ppc"
An error ccurred on sub
__main_loadlengugetext

etc

And pc version work too (maybe frwrk?)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
I've posted this question (along with the fuzzy fonts) over at the B4PPC forums. Since the language file doesn't work on either my pc or pda, I think the framework as you suggested may be the problem. Did you have to download a Russian version of the framework 2.0 for your PC?
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] chuma:
sorry fo my english - im try with dictionary =)))

then i renamed WeatherR.txt in WeatherE.txt or WeatherE.txt - all is OK.

But named as WeatherR.txt - i have error.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Version .39

I have posted version .39 Developer's release on the main post.

.39 (12/8/08)

====================================================================

- fix Russian language file

- fix fuzzy font? (eliminated setTransparency)

I'm hoping that this fixes everyone's fuzzy fonts, but no promises (though it seems to have improved on mine) as it is still being tested by several of us at B4PPC. Special thanks to Klaus for looking into this. :)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] t0k0m0k0:
fuzzy font fixed

fuzzy font fixed for me!

thanks :cool:

now there is always this strange thing that today is not today if you do not update the weather... :D

eg: today is monday and pocketforecast give me the "today weather" of sunday...

a real today info even without update would be more serious (even if you have N/A info in details...)
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Thanks for the font update!

Re the "real today info"; I'll have to think of how to implement this the best way. There are scenarios to consider such as what to do if the last rss feed is 5 days old (the current would be the last forecast in the rss) and what should happen on the 6th day.

At a minimum, I might add a check on startup and ask if a refresh is wanted if the day has rolled over.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] Wolfkmann:
Hooray!! The fuzzy font is fixed for me as well. I too would like to see the today automatically update from forecast after midnight. Any thoughts about adding the descriptor words to the main page?

Thanks again for fixing the font issue.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
My quick guide to settings

Comments please:

Here is a theme.ini file with comments about what is affected by each change. Hope it helps clear some thing up...it did for me!
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] digitaldon37:
Thanks Dave! I started documenting some of the theme settings at http://campusbbs.freehostia.com/doku.php?id=pocket_forecast

Themes now only need three settings defined: themeFormColor, themeFontColor, and themeBorderColor. Any other setting is optional and may be deprecated at some point (except for the font ones)

@all, please let me know if there are any other theme or font bugs. If not, I'll focus on some of the requested features.
[Windows Mobile Apps and Games] davehutch:
That's great, thanks

First thing I noticed though is your buttons are 48x48 and you stete they should be 50x50 (or 50x60)

I think that exactly sized images will work better and won't look so jagged.

Out of interest, what size should the tiny + and - buttons be when adding a location?