WeatherNow

[monkeydog]

Perhaps you work in a windowless like me, or perhaps you're a weather geek who always wants to know what the current temperature is, or maybe you're looking out the window saying "I wonder how cold it is out there?". This app fills a niche in the weather category by giving you current temperature and weather conditions for your location. It does so subtly, in the background, using webOS notifications and dashboards to keep you informed. It updates periodically as your location and conditions change, displaying the current conditions and a brief report of temperature, wind and humidity.

The app is now available in the repository.

I am considering adding this app to the App Catalog, but want to make it available via homebrew first because I have enjoyed the homebrew community so much. The current version is 0.0.6. It is currently set to expire on January 31, 2010.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

(9000 downloads and not a single donation?)

Known Bugs:

• Google API occasionally returns invalid results -- may need to consider a new data source

Note: This is a location aware application. This seems to be causing a lot of people difficulty, so if you get errors, be sure to turn on Google Location Services. To do so, run the "Location Services" application, pull down the menu, select "Locate Me Using..." and make sure both options are checked. If you are prompted to accept terms of use, do so.

If you have problems, please do not post a message saying "it doesn't work for me" or "I'm getting an error." Those are not helpful. If you want your problems fixed, please take the time to write down exactly what is happening, the full text of any errors, etc. Beginning in v0.0.6, you can select Help from the menu and email me a diagnostics page that will be very helpful. I have spent many, many hours on this project, please do me the favor of spending a few minutes if you want my assistance.

[rawspot]

Nice job! I like that I can get a quick look at the current conditions without fully opening an app. Thanks!

[billybennett]

I can't wait to try this out. This seems like a great implementation of the notification system.

[teej51685]

I just downloaded it and on first glance this is a solid app. I like the quick access to the current conditions without having to open the weather channel's mobile site or another app. I'll be keeping an eye on battery drain, though. I'd imagine this is going to be using processor time and therefore battery. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

[Typo Lad]

I've downloaded, but it keeps "refreshing" and gives no information just yet.

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by teej51685

I just downloaded it and on first glance this is a solid app. I like the quick access to the current conditions without having to open the weather channel's mobile site or another app. I'll be keeping an eye on battery drain, though. I'd imagine this is going to be using processor time and therefore battery. Hopefully it won't be too bad.

Right now it's polling for updates every 5-15 minutes, so you're getting up-to-date information at the expense of battery performance. The next version will allow you to specify how often you want to do the polling so you can ratchet it down if you feel the battery impact isn't worth it.

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by Typo Lad

I've downloaded, but it keeps "refreshing" and gives no information just yet.

By "refreshing" do you mean it is stuck on "Getting location and weather... please wait"? The app uses an undocumented/unsupported API from Google to get the weather and occasionally it returns null for unknown reasons. In that case, the app sets a retry timer for 5 minutes and tries again. It's possible you'll get the data in the next couple minutes. If you'd rather not wait, you can relaunch it from the App Launcher or tap the dashboard to open a card and click the "Refresh Now" button.

[ttkk1]

Originally Posted by Typo Lad

I've downloaded, but it keeps "refreshing" and gives no information just yet.

+1 same thing.

[skitzi]

The notification tray looks different on my pre, it only shows a gray circle icon, none of the weather info. If I tap on it it pops up and shows the weather.

So Screen shot 1 of op I can NOT get, screenshot 2 of op I can get.

[Sammyc53]

I'm really hoping to get the current temp next to the clock. I miss that feature of Windows Mobile.

Weatherman can at least put it as the wallpaper, but only updates every hour.

[tarirene]

Cool, thanks for the preview!

Once you swipe away the notification, does it ever come back or do you need to reopen the program? I don't like icons just sitting in my dashboard, so once I read the current conditions info I just swiped it away, which seems to have closed the program. Is it possible to run totally in the background?

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by Sammyc53

I'm really hoping to get the current temp next to the clock. I miss that feature of Windows Mobile.

Weatherman can at least put it as the wallpaper, but only updates every hour.

WebOS doesn't provide an API to modify the top row, so what you're describing would require a patch. I'd be happy to work with someone to make the data available if they'd like to write the patch, but I don't see myself doing that very soon.

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by tarirene

Cool, thanks for the preview!

Once you swipe away the notification, does it ever come back or do you need to reopen the program? I don't like icons just sitting in my dashboard, so once I read the current conditions info I just swiped it away, which seems to have closed the program. Is it possible to run totally in the background?

Currently when you close the application it cancels all future updates. This makes it very simple to enable and disable the application. If it were to continue running in the background, I'd have to build a way for users to open the app, go to a settings page, and click an enable/disable toggle button. I thought it was much simpler this way, but I could change it. What's the general consensus? Should it keep reappearing after you've closed it or would that pester you to death?

[tarirene]

It shouldn't be that hard to turn it into a patch ... you'd need to stick the code you've already written into the bar-assistant.js and then just replace this.carrierText with your variable(s)... I think. I'd like to play around with this if you'd be on board?

[tarirene]

Originally Posted by monkeydog

Currently when you close the application it cancels all future updates. This makes it very simple to enable and disable the application. If it were to continue running in the background, I'd have to build a way for users to open the app, go to a settings page, and click an enable/disable toggle button. I thought it was much simpler this way, but I could change it. What's the general consensus? Should it keep reappearing after you've closed it or would that pester you to death?

I think my vote would be to keep it hidden but come back at a user-defined time. Unless you could do something like popping it up only when there's a change in the current conditions?

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by skitzi

The notification tray looks different on my pre, it only shows a gray circle icon, none of the weather info. If I tap on it it pops up and shows the weather.

So Screen shot 1 of op I can NOT get, screenshot 2 of op I can get.

Screenshot 1 shows a banner notification. Screenshot 2 shows a dashboard notification. I think what you're seeing is the minimized dashboard icon after the banner notification has gone away. The first screenshot will only appear for 3 seconds, then be replaced by the gray circle icon. Maybe you missed it? Also, when it refreshes, either manually or after the timer fires, the banner notification will only display if the temperature or conditions have changed, so you don't always get a banner notification.

[monkeydog]

Originally Posted by tarirene

I think my vote would be to keep it hidden but come back at a user-defined time. Unless you could do something like popping it up only when there's a change in the current conditions?

The current behavior is as you describe. It only pops up when the conditions change. The question is whether it should continue to do that after you've closed the app. In other words, to disable it you'd have to open it up and disable it manually, as opposed to just swiping it away. I sort of modeled that behavior after Nodoze, which I used extensively while testing my app. I liked the way you could kill it with a simple swipe.

[tarirene]

Oh. By "hidden" I mean without the icon in the dashboard.

[d.moss]

yeah. i think it would be cool to have a setting to run in the backgroung with options for predetermined notification times as well as the option to have it run as is

[MarkY]

My vote would be for running in the background (no card open) with the dashboard receiving notification a predetermined intervals. If WeatherNow needs to be turned off, it's not troublesome to go into the app to toggle it off.