Status of VirtualVP?

I am considering playing around with VirtualVP this weekend on my system.

I have been looking though some of the posts below and see some potential issues that might crop up. I looked at the download site, and that seems to indicate that there has not been an update to the software since April 25, 2006.

Is that wrong or has there not been an update yet.

Issues of Concern…

o Startup of WD and VirtualVP (Delay needed before WD starts)
o Possible Memory Leaks

The box that I am going to run this on is an XPPro box which is headless, no monitor, keyboard or mouse. I access it via Remote Desktop so any instability could be an issue in that I won’t be able to see a problem if the box hangs.

It seems stable here. It’s been running about a month since the last (Windows required) reboot. WD is up to almost 2.3 million data reads via VVP now. The memory leaks aren’t significant. After a month’s running it’s only consuming 5MB on my system.

I am working on the next release of VirtualVP, but since there are several significant changes (such as replacing the low level communications library) it is taking a while. The work is progressing though.

The memory leaks are not normally a problem. They occur in the communications code, and only occur when there is a disruption of the communications to the console. When the leaks do occur, they are small, and not recurrent. After running VirtualVP for weeks, a look at the memory use will show it to be little changed from when it started.

Regarding the order of startup for automatic startups, this is an inconvenience, but it can be solved satisfactorily throught the use of a batch file. There was a thread earlier that talked about what commands to use in such a batch file.

Both of these issues will be dealt with in the next official release of VirtualVP. Before making the official release, I’ll be putting out a beta that just contains the new communications code so that can get a workout while I finish the other new features.

Steve

In that other thread you wrote:

“The best solution is adding the schedule feature to VirtualVP. When VVP starts, it updates its cache of archive data. That could take a couple seconds or a minute. Only VVP knows when that’s done and it’s ok to start running the weather programs. The batch file method or WD’s delay start are only temporary solutions until I get that feature into VVP.”

which I interpreted more as unsatisfactorily than satisfactorily.

Well… I did it.

[ul][li]Downloaded the N8VBvCom Drivers and installed them.[/li]
[li]Downloaded the current version of VirtualVP and set it up.[/li]
[li]Placed WD on Virtual Port COM6*[/li]
[li]Placed WeatherLink on Virtual Port COM6*[/li]
[li]Disabled the two unused virtual ports[/li]
[li]Logged in and paid for VirtualVP no point in continuing in Trial mode.[/li][/ul]

I looked at changing start up on WD, but ended up leaving it as a startup on Windows Start. Figure VirtualVP will kick in and WD will get data when it can.

Only real confusion was on the Virtual Ports. VirtualVP refers to the Virtual ports as Com16 Com17… etc. but the real ports that the application needs to connect to is Com6 Com7 … My first attempt was to get WD to connect to Com16 which is not an option.

Wasn’t hard to figure though…

Would be nice…

Would be nice if you could change the titles on VirtualVP to show what program is what. No biggie but would be nice. Referencing the com ports to use vs the com ports it looks at would also be nice.

Nice program though.

Another item that would be nice if possible, is to see what the reception rates are for each channel. ISS on 1, Anemometer on 2.

Only real confusion was on the Virtual Ports.
This is probably the area that causes the most problems for people first configuring VirtualVP (VVP). I will be trying to make it a little more intuitive in the future.
Would be nice if you could change the titles on VirtualVP to show what program is what.
Numerous people have asked for this, and I have it on my list for new features. I think it's a good idea.
Another item that would be nice if possible, is to see what the reception rates are for each channel. ISS on 1, Anemometer on 2.
I'll have to double check my info, but I'm pretty sure this data is not available from the console, although the console has the data internaly. The only reception value I think the console provides through the serial link is the single reception value that's based on the number of wind packets. It might be possible through an undocumented command, but I don't recall finding that info in the undocumented commands I've played around with. If it were possible, it would be nice.

I’ve tried to keep VVP focused on being a data conduit, not a data display program, although reception is an exception I’ve made since it is material to knowing if the console and sensors are functioning properly. VPLive, on the other hand is my playground program for displaying all the live data I can get out of the console. For instance, I recently added the display of battery status for all the connected sensor stations (this is a somewhat recent VP2 feature added in one of the firmware updates). If can get my hands on the extra reception data, I would probably add it first to VPLive.

Steve

Didn’t play with VPLive yet. One of the reasons is that I’m quite content with my CWOP transmissions via WD. Kinda figure that I don’t have to turn that on, but knowing the battery voltage of the units might help explain the issue I had last night.

Will set it up and take a peak.

Ops… already done…

Looks like the battery status is for all sensors rather than each one.

Will play some more…

Thanks Steve.


Perfect time to play weather… thunderstorm hit just as I was setting this up.

If they’re all ok, it just says OK. If any were low, it would list the id’s of the stations with low battery. I just realized that the transmitter battery display has been in VPLive a long time. It’s the repeater battery status that I recently added.

Steve

I assume… that info would end up in the log file??

BTW… Donation sent for VPLive. Great work!

I assume... that info would end up in the log file??

I’m pretty sure the console, station and repeater battery information is not logged to the datalogger by the console, and is not present in the WeatherLink archive files. Currently, VPLive does not maintain a general log of data. It does have an option of storing barometer and data related to calculating Altimeter, but that is more of a diagnostics tool I left in for anyone interested. I have thought about adding a more serious logging feature. It’s something I’ve wanted myself so I can track everything the console provides, as well as the data VPLive calculates.

BTW, I couldn’t help notice the nifty icons in your signature! :slight_smile:

And thanks for the donation. I really appreciate it.

Steve

Would make it a good diagnostics tool. That would be cool.

BTW, I couldn't help notice the nifty icons in your signature! :)

I’ll make a graphic out of anything…

I’m still playing around with them… .but they are almost stable.

I’ve now got one for VirtualVP and VPLive. Will eventually make a full set for each (buttons, banners etc).

Larger Versions:

And thanks for the donation. I really appreciate it.

Steve

I’ve always wanted a stripped down version of WD that just collected the data, did the calculations and spit out data without all the graphics, charting etc that WD does now. I know that VPLive doesn’t do that now, but… :lol:

As for the donation… Value begets Value…