Standalone MML v1.02 released

The following changes have been made to MML since v1.01 was released. Some server based changes have been available for some time, but are reported for completeness. There have also been other server based improvements which aren’t visible to MML users and therefore are not listed here.

  1. METAR URL now passed to MML by the server as a configuration paramater. This reduces the amount of traffic and allows the URL to be changed if the NWS site structure changes.
  2. Added code to allow selection of the initial map to be displayed using config file parameter
  3. Added code to allow selection of an initial station to be displayed in the side panel using config file parameter
  4. Added information to the visible stations list selection screen to show how old the most recent data is for a station.
  5. Wind direction isn’t sent if the wind speed is zero or undefined. No wind arrows will be drawn.
  6. Added a check to make sure that the clientraw.txt location entered into the Management Centre points at a clientraw.txt file.
  7. Added extra validation in the clientraw parser to give more confidence that it is processing real data
  8. Added a check that the URL entered for the MML web page doesn’t end in JPG (this was a common mistake).
  9. Fixed bug whereby if there was only one station on a map it wouldn’t be displayed.
  10. Modified the Mambo index management script to delete entries that are no longer valid.
  11. Added a Management Centre option to list stations near a specified latitude/longitude (to check which stations could appear on a map of the area)
  12. Added page displaying stations on a selected map in reverse creation date order (to allow easier indetification of new stations in the area)
  13. Added a map generation facility
  14. Fixed bug which generated server errors which weren’t logged when invalid or no dates were found in clientraw files
  15. Fixed issue where the clientraw parser updated the record each hour even when the clientraw file wasn’t being updated.
  16. Changed clientraw and METAR database processing to update existing records rather than storing a new record each time.
  17. Implemented code to process clientraw files less frequently if they don’t change or give errors for long periods.
  18. Implemented code to mail clientraw owners if no new data is seen from their station for 7 days. Requires manual intervention to restart data collection
  19. Added map entry screen validation to ensure that the bottom latitude is further south than top edge and left hand longitude is further west than the right hand edge.
  20. If the coordinates are changed for a map which has previously been generated, the map image is now automatically re-generated.
  21. Added code to remove any stations that would not be visible on the map when the map coordinates aare changed
  22. Started to implemented a new help system on the Management Centre pages
  23. Resolved server performance issues when large maps were created.
  24. Implemented a new METAR parser which can extract more data from METARs that include extra data
  25. Removed code which calculates cloud heights for METAR stations. Now uses cloud height information coded into the METAR.
  26. Changed map screens to stop stations displaying that haven’t been seen for more than a month.
  27. Fixed a bug which was ignoring data on the second lines of split METARs
  28. Added validation to check that the MML URL (and others) starts with http://. The Mambo index breaks if they don’t
  29. Added validation to check that a clientraw.txt file was being selected rather than a clientrawextra or clientrawdaily file
  30. Fixed some language problems in the Flash code
  31. Changed icon priority order to reflect severity of weather conditions
  32. Amended compass abbreviations for some languages
  33. Added more error checking to windchill and heat index values for wind arrow colour calculation
  34. Added some code to possibly help with intermittent animation stopping when map is changed bug
  35. Fixed problem with individually scaled map icons losing scale settings on zoom.
  36. Screen title now stays in the corner correctly when map is zoomed.
  37. Increased size of station marker dots
  38. Added Estonian language option

There are also two other changes which will only work with standalone MML v1.02 (or later). These will become available shortly after the v1.02 Flash upgrade is made available and they will be seperately documented when they’re available for use.

You can download the MML v1.02 package from http://www.weather-display.com/files.php