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[Foe-hammer]

QUOTE(Jezz_X @ May 6 2008, 02:44 AM)

indeed Foe-Hammer mine was just a general comment at anybody thinking of posting a bug report not just to you

Either way, no worries.  That is what i gathered after reading it again.

[mcklain]

QUOTE(jmarshall @ May 6 2008, 07:52 AM)

What exactly is the problem?  What resolution are you using for the GUI and video playback (they may differ)?  What skin?

Cheers,
Jonathan

PAL 16:9 on a standard CRT TV (same resolutions for gui and video playback, and the default PM3 skin).

I was using the Feb 25 T3CH build (wich works quite well) and tried this last one to see how it goes. I'm using the Feb one again.

This are screenshots taken inside XBMC

25th Feb build


4th May build

Using the included Arial.ttf font with size 30 and bold. I tried a different ttf font wich I uploaded via ftp and things got worse. The line height and the letter spacing went all wrong.

Hope that this helps.

[kurai-kaze]

Has something changed in the weather.com XOAP API or is it just temporarily broken/blocked/only happening to me ?

The normal

CODE

Get URL: http://xoap.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX1221?cc=*&unit=m&dayf=4&prod=xoap&par=1004124588&key=079f24145f208494

now returns only

CODE

-
  Bad or missing query parameters in request.
  

[N.B. : This is not a new bug with this build - old, previously working builds return the same error now]

I'll try scalping an ID/Key from somewhere else to see if it's that being blocked.



UPDATE: Ok - not an ID/key issue.  Same problem returned using ID/Keys from apps that use similar XML fetch methods but still test OK



FURTHER UPDATE: Hrmmm - looks like it might indeed be a change in the way weather.com parses the request URLs.

This works :-

CODE

http://xoap.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX1221?cc=*&;unit=m&;dayf=4&;prod=xoap&;par=1004124588&;key=079f24145f208494

Old way (no semi-colon after ampersands) doesn't :-

CODE

http://xoap.weather.com/weather/local/UKXX1221?cc=*&unit=m&dayf=4&prod=xoap&par=1004124588&key=079f24145f208494

I can't find any XML/scraper/config files to test/play with in the T3CH build - I'm assuming the GET request string is something `hardcoded` into the compile ?

[spiff]

yeah, weather fetches are hardcoded.

we were aware that issues would pop up soon, didnt realize it would be this soon though. it will be looked into when we get around to it. thanks for the research

[elitegamer360]

Cheers for this release  

[kurai-kaze]

Some more detail to add to the weather.com scrape oddness :-

Looks like it's a change in their T&Cs (or enforcement thereof) that have caused the issue.  

I'm starting to see more queries from other feed users having problems cropping up on web searches now as search engine spider updates get indexed.

[the red highlighting is mine]

QUOTE(from e-mail to service registrants from weather.com)

Dear XXXXXXXXX:
We are contacting you because you are a registrant for the weather.com XML Data Feed (the “Service”). We are providing you with IMPORTANT INFORMATION REGARDING THE CONTINUATION OF YOUR ACCESS TO THE SERVICE. Your registered application may or may not currently be in compliance with the terms of our agreement (please refer to the developer SDK containing the license agreement – see link below).
We are in the process of updating the Service to programmatically validate certain licensing conditions. Beginning May 6, 2008, if your application is not in compliance with these terms, the Service will no longer return data to your application.
The complete terms and conditions surrounding the use of the Service can be found in the developer SDK along with graphical icons that are necessary to represent the sky conditions associated with our current conditions and forecast data, and our logo. This SDK can be accessed by clicking on the link below.
http://download.weather.com/web/xoap/sdk.zip
You may update your user profile or change your product selections at any time by logging in to the weather.com registration system with the following information:
Sign-In Page: https://registration.weather.com/ursa/xmloap/step2
E-mail address: XXXXXXXXXX
The Service includes:
• city search capability for all locations covered by www.weather.com;
• location specific information necessary for data presentation;
• current condition information (Observations) for the selected location; and
• up to five (5) days of forecast information (the current day’s forecast plus four additional days of forecast information in consecutive order beginning with tomorrow’s forecast) for the selected location in ten (10), 12-hour day-parts.
VERY IMPORTANT
YOU MAY NOT USE THE SERVICE TO CREATE WEATHER AND WEATHER-RELATED PRODUCTS TO BE DISPLAYED ON HANDHELD OR OTHER WIRELESS DEVICES.
YOU MAY NOT USE THE SERVICE IN CONNECTION WITH AMONG OTHER THINGS, ANY BROADCAST TELEVISION, INTERACTIVE TELEVISION, CABLE TELEVISION, TELEPHONE OR DSL SERVICES, DIGITAL CABLE SERVICES, HEAD-END-IN-THE-SKY SATELLITE SYSTEMS, RADIO, PRINT PUBLICATIONS, DIGITAL BROADCAST SATELLITES, TELEMATICS, TELETEXT, VIDEO-ON-DEMAND, KIOSKI DISPLAY, OR OTHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE INFORMATION DISPLAY UNIT, WIRE-LINE TELEPHONE, OR AS ALL OR PART OF ANY STREAMING VIDEO OR AUDIO CONTENT OR FOR DELIVERY BY ANY MEANS OTHER THAN STATIC DISPLAY ON A TRADITIONAL WEB PAGE ON YOUR WEBSITE OR DESKTOP APPLICATION.
YOU MAY NOT USE ANY LATITUDE OR LONGITUDE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A LocID OR ZIP CODE EVEN IF SUCH INFORMATION IS RETURNED AS PART OF AN XML DOCUMENT FROM THE XML FEED.
USE OF THE SERVICE IN VIOLATION OF THE TERMS OF YOUR AGREEMENT WITH TWCi MAY RESULT IN YOUR IMMEDIATE TERMINATION AND PAYMENT OF MONETARY DAMAGES TO TWCi.
To comply with the terms of the Agreement, Your Website or Desktop Application must, among other things:
• display weather data for no more than three (3) locations at a time;
• adhere to the data request rules, usage rules, and refresh rates outlined in Exhibit B of the Agreement;
• clearly separate TWCi data from other data within a single visual element;
• identify that the weather data comes from TWCi by incorporating The Weather Channel logo containing an embedded link to the www.weather.com home page (one of 5 Required Links);
• provide four (4) promotional links, selected by TWCi and provided through the Service on each data call, back to www.weather.com for additional weather information in close proximity to the TWCi Content as set forth in Exhibit B of the Agreement; and
• be free of charge to your end-users.
If you cannot meet these requirements but would still like to use our weather data, please contact our business development department at 770-226-0000.
Thank you for your continued support!
Your friends at The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc. (a/k/a weather.com)
Check out other tools by The Weather Channel at http://www.weather.com/services.



This is a transactional/relationship message that you are receiving because you registered for XML Data Feed by The Weather Channel. Click here to access your profile and products you are registered for at weather.com.
If you have any questions or concerns about how we use your personal information, please read our privacy policy. We welcome your feedback.
Copyright © 1995-2008, The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc.

The Weather Channel Interactive, Inc.
P.O. Box 724554
Atlanta, GA 31139

At a guess I would say the XBMC implementation is blocked because it can't/doesn't display the required promotional marketing links mentioned in the latest Data Feed Licence Agreement :-

QUOTE(from latest TWCi XML Data Feed License Agreement.pdf)

Required Links:
TWCi will provide you with dynamically served Required Links through the XML Feed’s Weather Function. These Required Links are accessed by including the “&link=xoap” parameter within each Weather Function call.
An illustrative example of the Required Links returned is shown below:

CODE

+
-
http://www.weather.com/allergies/?par=xoap&site=textlink&cm_ven=bd_oap&cm_cat=xoap&cm_pla=Allergies&cm_ite=TextLink
Local Pollen Reports

-
http://www.weather.com/flights/?par=xoap&site=textlink&cm_ven=bd_oap&cm_cat=xoap&cm_pla=BusinessTraveler&cm_ite=TextLink
Airport Conditions

-
http://www.weather.com/garden/?par=xoap&site=textlink&cm_ven=bd_oap&cm_cat=xoap&cm_pla=Garden&cm_ite=TextLink
Lawn and Garden Weather

-
http://www.weather.com/traffic/?par=xoap&site=textlink&cm_ven=bd_oap&cm_cat=xoap&cm_pla=Traffic&cm_ite=TextLink
Rush Hour Traffic

The descriptive text for each Required Link shall be limited to 35 characters.

I couldn't find a proper version history/changelog for the agreement anywhere to see exactly what changed and when - only that the versions I looked at from last year had no mention of the links thing.


The `workaround` I mentioned earlier about appending semi-colons to ampersands would appear to be a red herring.
All it actually achieved was to return a `minimal` result (i.e. current weather conditions only, minus the rest of the full forecast data) instead of a simple refusal error message.

The true issue would therefore seem to be the requirement for the new element in the query URL : &link=xoap, which then returns the links for the promotional BusinessTravel/Traffic/Gardening/Allergies/etc. crap as part of the XML  



If the above issues are a complete deal-breaker for having http://www.weather.com/ data in XBMC, all is not lost.  
A very good alternative looks like the feeds and API from http://weather.weatherbug.com.  Looks like they have even more data source locations in the US than weather.com and internationally they use exactly the same set of sources from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/METAR (aviation weather reports from data stations at airports etc.)

They explicitly state in their T&Cs [http://weather.weatherbug.com/desktop-weather/api-terms-of-use.html] that for non-commercial use "you may use the WeatherBug Web API in any manner which is compliant with its full design specifications."  
The only proviso being that "all uses must be accompanied by appropriate attribution on the form of a “Powered by WeatherBug” notation."


Hopefully all the above may be of some help to whoever is enthusiastic enough to take on the coding.  

[jmarshall]

mcklain: Thanks for that.

It should now be fixed for real (previous fix wasn't quite right in some resolution combinations).

Cheers,
Jonathan

[6StringKng]

seems the weather is broken, was fine yesterday, hmmm oO

[Jezz_X]

QUOTE(6StringKng @ May 7 2008, 04:02 PM)

seems the weather is broken, was fine yesterday, hmmm oO

OMG are you serious     read up 2 posts and then some more

[R111]

people dont read anymore.

[6StringKng]

QUOTE(Jezz_X @ May 7 2008, 01:53 AM)

OMG are you serious     read up 2 posts and then some more

yeah after revisting the forum I' seen all that..but when I originally posted I just hit addreply without reading any new posts.

[turqmr2]

Here is a small bug that I've found concerning the stacking feature being disabled for sources marked as containing TV content.

Reproduce:
Set the content of a folder as containing TV shows
Set the folder as the default source for Videos
Click videos

The stacking button is not grayed out, but if you go up a level and back to the folder, stacking is then grayed out as intended.

Oh, and thank you for the incredible program.  

[jmarshall]

turqmr2:

If I understand you correctly, it occurs only on first entry to the Videos screen in the case where the default path has content set to TV shows?

Cheers,
Jonathan

[spiff]

fixed in svn. thanks for the report

[turqmr2]

QUOTE(spiff @ May 7 2008, 07:01 PM)

fixed in svn. thanks for the report

Thanks, spiff, that was fast.

jmarshall:
I couldn't reply fast enough, but that was exactly what I was saying.