Alternative ATOM Feed Alert Program

The windows Task sceduler method that I spoke about can be found with good direction here:

http://www.642weather.com/weather/wxblog/php-scripts/scheduled-http-request-windows-task-scheduler/

from Mike Challis website.

I am awaiting the vbscript also Mentioned from a few post’s back from chrisinPa.

…chris

Attached is a copy of my VBS script as a .txt file.


Atom_Feed.txt (552 Bytes)

Thanks Mark…

I edited it to the URL path to my own AtomFeed.php file on my server and am heading down stairs to the Weather PC and see if I can get some more gray hairs in setting up the windows task scheduler thing. wish me luck…lol

…Chris

P.S. I you have some Popcorn and wanna watch a good movie, go to my live cam/ time lapse links.

The comma should make no difference to the array as you are not defining another array section.

An alternative would be to use Pseudo Cron or something like it which is done in PHP and basically runs off the hits to your own website to trigger it.

This is especially good for something like this where pinpoint timing really isn’t needed.

Pseudo Cron

If the comma is in there on the last line, it doesnt work. I made that mistake awhile ago.

You are correct… was thinking of something else… sorry.

Hello…

A few more questions…

when setting up the Atom-Feed vbs file…should it be named Atom-Feed.vbs or Atom_Feed.VBS? …Basically what I am asking is, should the vbs be lower caser or capitals? I used lower case.

next question…when setting up the windows task scheduler for the Atom-Feed.vbs file , I followed Mike challis directions, but noticed this.

if you go to task scheduler and right click on the “Atom-Feed.vbs” and then go to Properties…there are 3 tabs at top…1)Task… 2) Schedule… and… 3) settings

under the settings tab is a box than was already checked that reads this "Stop the task if it runs 72 hours 0 minutes…should this be checked or unchecked? or it doesnt matter?

next question…if my weather PC is shut down and restarted…do I need to restart the task manually again somehow, or does it autostart?

thanks

Mine is named Atom-Feed

I dont know the other answerers cause I don’t use that scheduler.

hi mark…

your file must have an extension at the end and you said it was a vbs file…named Atom-Feed.vbs

my questions was…do rename the file you put up a few post back as Atom-Feed.txt to Atom-Feed.vbs? or capitals VBS?

Also…if you dont use the Mike challis task scheduler method, what do you use?

Thanks again…Chris

Oh… I misread that. Yes, it should be Atom-Feed.vbs… lowercase. It has to be a .vbs file or the file wont work in the scheduler program.

I use System Scheduler, the free version here… http://www.splinterware.com/products/wincron.htm

hello kevin…

This looks like a great idea but after reading about it and downloading it’s 2 files and reading again… I am stumped on how to set it up.

any help configurng the 2 pseudo-cron_13 files I downloaded and also with creating the txt file needed…would be greatly appreciated.

This can be implemented a number of different ways. The key is that the trigger needs to included in one of your most common files (like assuming you have one Settings.php for example since every page uses it). Could be in a header, footer etc…

As for setup, everthing is relative to where you put the files.

I setup a simple test suite below with links to show some of the source.

http://www.tnet.com/test/crontest

In the test config, the trigger is actually the index.php file… you can see (on that page when you look at the source) the include of the actual script that does the work. The rest of the page is just displaying what is in the output.txt file which is updated once a minute based on hits to the page, and a few lines of the log file (with most recent on top).

Note, that if there is not hit once every 5 minutes, the cron will trigger as soon after the 5 minute mark that a hit does happen.

If you are really stuck, send me a pm and I will see if I can help based on what your site config is.

hello…

well after thinking it over past few days, I decided to just stick with my original atom-advisories and Atom top warning script that comes with the PHP Carterlake templates. I really have no reason to show any other zones/counties than the one I live in and that the site is based out of.

so for now I have eliminated all the atom alert files off my server and revert back to original atom feed files.

…Chris

Anyone have the latest code for the Alternative ATOM Feed Alert Program provided by curly? I have tried the links and they all seem to be broken.

Thanks
Mike

The NWS has divided the Coastal Counties of NC and SC into Coastal Zones and Inland Zones and “finally” put them into an ATOM/CAP Feed Format. I using Curly’s latest Version of the Atom Feed Program (4.13…I believe) and one of my settings in atom-config file is not correct. I am getting a list of Advisories/Warnings instead of the Counties/Zones being separated by a “-” when listed they are being shown as the image below illustrates.

I have some clean-up of the new Zones to do but wondered if someone could please point out the settings I should have to correct this issue. I know it has to be something simple but I am not getting it correct.

Thanks!!

www.carolinastormwatch.com/


Check this Tom. Think that’s what you’ll need to change.

$group_alerts = true; // true= group locations to alert title
// false=each location has its own alert title

Thanks Tony T for the info. I appreciate your assistance. Actually, I already had that setting to be true. After looking thoroughly at each statement the one I had incorrect was:
$line_break = false; // true=one alert per line if aBox_Width is used false=fit multiple alerts on each line

I had it set to true; changed to false and it looks like I wanted now.

Thanks for the assistance Tony!

Tom

Never seen a dense smoke advisory like you have Friday am. Glad you got it fixed Tom!

We are in a terrible drought along Coastal NC which is severe and probably will go exceptional when updated next week. I had only 0.75" of rain in June and the Average is 6.51". Only 15.53" for the year and in an average year we should get 60-70". That is contributing to very large Forest Fires from lightning strikes in the thunderstorms that do fire. The smoke is going all the way down into SC on a NW/N/NE wind. It is in the Holly Shelter Game Land in Pender Co. just north of Wilmington; 30,000+ acres as well as several other smaller fires.

Yesterday and Thursday it was so smokey during the day you had to drive with your headlights on and during the hours right before Dawn it was so smokey visibility was basically zero. Like driving in the worst fog you have ever seen. Unfortunately people with breathing problems are really having a tough time with all the particles in the air; I personally know of several deaths here locally from people with asthma dying. The worst fire (Holly Shelter) is probably 60+ miles NE of me. Today is still very hazy with a South wind blowing but it is better than the last several days.

Hi,

I am testing out this Alert Program (excellent by the way) on my site and discovered an issue.

In the Atom-config.php file I have, for the alert box $always_show = false; I had a crapload of severe weather today (Severe T’Storm Watches, Warnings, Flood Advisories) and the alert box did not show up. I went to the advisory summary page and all the alerts were there for my default location and other locations I had set up. I went and changed the $always_show to true and there they were in the alert box.

The background was gray and text was black (the no alert color) and I believe this was used:

if($cr_code >= 13 ) { // none background
$bckgrnd = ‘#E6E6E3’;
$text_color = ‘black’;

where I think it should have been red with the warnings because I have it set up to take the high severe alert color.

After the warning expired, only the watch was active as still got he same result.

Any ideas as to what may be causing this?

Thanks,
Chris