sViz sViz

DesktopX Weather Widget Fixes

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DesktopX Weather Widget Fixes

from WinCustomize Forums

The purpose of this thread is to compile and post fixes for the recent weather widget problem for anyone who has the patience to implement them. I'll try to edit this post to keep it up-to-date.

 Edit 7/10: Important information for DX authors.

 Edit 7/12: Added clarification to 2a for DX users - ZubaZ

 Edit 7/13 : Removed fixes due to legal ambiguity

 

Contents

1. The Problem

2. The Fixes

e. Disable the Weather

3. For Authors

a. Using The Weather Channel Feeds

b. Using Another Source

c. Weather & DX Themes

 

1. The Problem

If your weather widget has suddenly stopped working properly, it is likely because the source, Weather.com, has changed their site to prohibit unlicensed usage. The majority of weather widgets on this site were built with the same code which is now outdated.

Symptoms of this particular problem are:

-You get a message saying the location is invalid
-When you try to clear this message it keeps popping up

 

2. The Fixes (as far as we know)

 

*** UPDATE 7/13/09 ***

I have tried to find more information and understand the legalities of the TWC XOAP data feed services and due to ambiguity I have removed these fixes so as not to put anyone else at risk of violating known or unknown weather.com license agreements.

A very good read on the situation with weather.com and their feeds can be found here: http://www.rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=615

At the present time the only remaining option for end-users is to disable and/or discontinue using the weather widgets.

 

 


E.  DISABLE THE WEATHER:

If you are using a combo widget or theme and would just like to disable the weather parts read below.

There are a few objects that need to be "turned off". To do this you will open the widget/theme in DX Builder (be sure to turn off internet connection first,) find the object, right-click and uncheck Script Enabled.

These objects may be several of the following. (You can ctrl + click to select more than one object in the object list, then r-click and uncheck Script Enabled.)


Version 1:

"weather_image"
"weather_temp"
"weather_location"


Version 2:

"kdockweatherimage" (and/or "kdockweatherimage2")
"Kdockweatherlocation" (and/or "kdockweatherlocation2")
"kdockweathertemp" (and/or "kdockweathertemp2")
"kdockforecastimage1" (through "kdockforecastimage5")


Version 3:

"Weather_Output"
"Weather_Script"
"WeatherFunction_ToggleUnits"
"CUI_SCripts"
"WeatherFunction_SetLocation"

 

 

 3. For Authors

A Notice From the WC Staff:

Starting Monday, July 20th, we will start exiling weather widgets from the WinCustomize galleries that have not been updated and/or violate any ToS/ToU in regards to weather feeds.
End of quote

See here for more details.

 

Q: Can't I fix and reupload my widgets?

It's fairly certain that our widgets are not in compliance with The Weather Channel's license agreements. Among other things, a widget using TWC's feed now needs to include their logo and 5 advertisement links (to see the full details get registered and download the SDK file included in your confirmation email.)

This is aside from the fact that most of these fixes hard code YOUR license ID and KEY, and you CAN NOT allow others to use these; uploading a fixed widget with your ID and KEY is in violation of the license agreement.

The short answer is no. We can't use these fixes and then reupload our widgets.


Q: What CAN I do?

Right now you need to archive your skins before they are deleted from the galleries.


Q: So that's it? No more weather widgets?

Not necessarily. We have two options:  A. Re-build our widgets in compliance with TWC's license agreement or  B. find another data source.

 

 

A. USING THE WEATHER CHANNEL FEEDS

If you are looking to rebuild your widget in compliance with TWC's agreement you'll need to do the following:

- Register, download and thoroughly read the SDK file included in your confirmation email
- Comply
- Add a function to allow the user to input their license key and partner ID.
- Add a link to the registration page so users know where to get the key and ID.
- Be mindful of the fact that TWC could change their site again and consider putting contingencies in place to prevent further headaches. (i.e., Use and external script that can be copied onto the user's computer, and have as little code in the actual objects.)

 To be clear, anyone looking to make a weather widget using weather.com services MUST be in compliance with their terms of service and license agreements.

 

B. USING ANOTHER SOURCE suggestions by Zubaz

If you decide to part ways with TWC, here are some alternative weather feed sources to consider (You will need to abide by their Terms of Service as well):

-  Wunderground.com  -- LINK

- Yahoo! -- LINK 

- rssweather.com -- LINK

 

Again, I strongly advise using an external script to save yourself (and by extension your end-users) from any headaches in future.

 

C. WEATHER & DX THEMES

If you are a DesktopX theme author, the best advice for now is to exclude the weather widget from your theme and consider uploading weather as a separate widget in future.

 

 

 

 

 

That's all for now...

Leave questions, comments, and your experience reports below.

desktopx
605,887 views 209 replies +7 Loading…
Reply #126 from WinCustomize Forums Top

And that's what I see all this dancing around TOS is about -- not looking at the issue of "what CAN we do" but more of "let's not do what might cause us any risk."
End of quote
I would rather people not look at this as "what can we do" or "what can we get waya with without threat of legal action" but rather "what is the right thing to do".

What if I had a book. 

Every day I posted one sentence of it in my front garden. (Call it a "feed".)

And you wanted it on a sign on your garden.

But I wanted a dollar for you to copy it.

Or I told you that you had to wear an advert on your back to use it.

But you copied it down anyway when I wasn't looking.

And showed it on your garden.

And didn't tell anyone that I was the source.

And didn't give me the money

And didn't wear the advert.

Wouldn't that be the wrong thing to do?

Is that something you would want done to you?

Reply #127 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Sticking with the analogy, Zubaz, you are wrong to claim ownership and demand money for the words you place in front of your garden because you didn't write the book.  You, in this instance, would be a greedy opportunist, profiting off of the labor of the author of the book, and we have enough of those running around these days.

The people claiming rights to their weather feeds didn't MAKE the weather.  The universe made the weather, free for all of us to use and interpret as we see fit.  To stamp capitalist, consumerist, Bourgeoisie logos all over something GIVEN to us by the universe is nauseating.  

Screw it.  I'm done with weather widgets.  This entire topic has me sick to my stomach.  When I want to know the weather, I'll just freakin' look out the window, or get up off my fat @ss and walk outside to check.  I'm totally sick to my stomach seeing price tags on everything, which is the mentality that has brought us to the financial mess the world is in today.  Time for a new frame of mind for me and mine:

 

Live simply, so that others may simply live.....Mahatma Gandhi 

P.S. If all the inventions that we depend on every day were created with the caveat "what is the right thing to do" - we'd still be living in caves, living off of nuts and berries.

Siege of Centauri
Reply #128 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I'm totally sick to my stomach seeing price tags on everything
End of quote

I just gotta ask.

Not to make any statement against you, Karen, but just to trying to make a point, your statement is just an example. No offense intended.

That said,If you make Master, will you sell Master skins, or will all your skins be free?

If you make master, and you do sell master skins, and I use your graphics without getting your permission, or even linking to your skin and giving you credit for your work, you gonna be pissed and turn me in to the mods? Or will you just let it pass?

If I use graphics made by anyone here, or at DA, etc. I must give them credit for their work, and link back, just as asked.

I guess the above applies even if they're not master skins.  Ripping is ripping. If we are going to use TWC's feed, we should do the right thing and comply with their terms.

My 2 cents, and we're ok, right Karen?  :grin:

Reply #129 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The people claiming rights to their weather feeds didn't MAKE the weather. The universe made the weather, free for all of us to use and interpret as we see fit.
End of quote

That is parallel to saying we shouldn't get a water bill, because the universe made the water.

Reply #130 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Sticking with the analogy, Zubaz, you are wrong to claim ownership and demand money for the words you place in front of your garden because you didn't write the book. You, in this instance, would be a greedy opportunist, profiting off of the labor of the author of the book, and we have enough of those running around these days.
End of quote
Sorry . . I meant to indicate that I wrote the book . . or collected data into the book.

Still . . I think you made your point.

Reply #131 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 3

That said,If you make Master, will you sell Master skins, or will all your skins be free?

If you make master, and you do sell master skins, and I use your graphics without getting your permission, or even linking to your skin and giving you credit for your work, you gonna be pissed and turn me in to the mods? Or will you just let it pass?
End of RedneckDude's quote


IF I make master, and I don't plan on that ever happening because....I don't know, I just don't plan on it, but IF I do, NO, I won't sell them, even though I should because I've been riding just a hair above the poverty line for as long as I can remember.  No, I wouldn't get upset if somebody used my graphics without my permission (unless they were making a profit on them), and I have checked the boxes on my uploads to DA that allows creative license with my uploads.

I have lived too long in the heads of the have-nots to NOT make things free if I were in a position to make it that way.  It's just my deeply held philosophy that there aren't enough GIFTS in the world, and every chance I have to change that, I take.

What's really ironic, is that I'm a self-confirmed atheist, and MY attitude is the one that would give the "YES" answer to the Christian question, "What would Jesus do?"

Reply #132 from WinCustomize Forums Top

SJN, you can either fix them for personal use following the instructions in the original post or discontinue using them. Deleting them forever is up to you.

I will keep them, as I have tons of space. I am however, not a skinner and have no idea what to do to fix these on my own.
End of quote

I'll ask again.

Reply #133 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting sViz, reply 25


 I don't know how many ways I can say this, but when it comes right down to it, each person will have to implement or not implement whatever solution they have as they see fit. There's no group vote; action or inaction comes down to the individual.

 
End of sViz's quote

I don't think that's quite right. It's up to the moderator's what is OK or not OK. There are a number of solutions available, and in the end, they decide what is acceptable and what isn't.  They will set the criteria, not the individual. This is all about what you can and can't upload.

I like Vad_M's solution the best because there are no links and no logo. There aren't many fans for the logo-link solution, however viable it may be. What's the sticking point in this? Something insignificant. A slight technical change in the means that it is accessed. Other than that, it fulfills the terms of service. It's amazing to see the pickiness and splitting of hairs occurring now, when you think back about a week or so ago, UNTIL THE FEED WAS CUT OFF, NOBODY CARED. Martin was the only person to express reservations about something that has always been a clear violation of the service. I'm not opposed to caution, but there isn't anything that daring in what he proposes.

Reply #134 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The accepted solution will be one that complies with TWC's terms. This will be what the mods say.

Reply #135 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 9
The accepted solution will be one that complies with TWC's terms. This will be what the mods say.
End of RedneckDude's quote

Aahhh! A prediction.

Reply #136 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I've been reading the posts for days and as in any situation, there can never be a solution that makes everyone happy. I respect all opinions and understand that there are some who will not be creating any more widgets. There are also those, like myself, that are just waiting for the final solution to start creating again. I know so little about scripting, or the legal part of using weather.com or others so the only thing I thought of to do was contact some weather sites to ask if we can use them to make our widgets. If I had a weather site I would gladly let you have it for free because there is so little left on this planet that is free. I do alot of photo restoration and found Flickr.com where I gladly help people with their old family photographs. So you see, there will always be people who will want to make money but there will also always be those who are there to help just out of kindness. I just wish or hope we can all work together here to find a way to keep the weather widgets alive for those of us that are here now and the future users of wincustomize.

Note, this is just my opinion, and I respect those who think differently.

Thanks to all that are trying hard to find a solution. Don't give up.:)

Reply #137 from WinCustomize Forums Top

If I had a weather site I would gladly let you have it for free because there is so little left on this planet that is free.
End of quote
Would you pay for all teh bandwidth that the free users are using?  Without asking for anything in return (like an link to your site so you could at least recoup the bandwidth cost through your adverts)?  How long could you do that if your feed was availalbe everywhere without bringing any money in?

Why would anyone go to your revenue-generating site if they could get your data elsewhere?  How long could you stay in business?

Reply #138 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting RedneckDude, reply 9
The accepted solution will be one that complies with TWC's terms. This will be what the mods say.
End of RedneckDude's quote

It will be hard to quibble with sViz's solution. Zubaz might think that she should display links on the widget instead of hiding them because "it's the right thing" and the "social contract" even though the terms of service don't specifically dictate it. She's meeting the requirements with precision. The agreement does seem to be geared towards a website or application author, rather than an individual, registering with TWC though, so it isn't quite dead on. I think the workaround of the individual registering would probably satisfy them anyway.

The moderators have made it clear that they will accept ANY solution that satisfies someone's terms of service. It doesn't have to be TWC. MSN's looks very promising. There is no requirement to put ads and icons on your application.

 

Reply #139 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Zubaz, reply 12

Would you pay for all teh bandwidth that the free users are using?  Without asking for anything in return (like an link to your site so you could at least recoup the bandwidth cost through your adverts)?  How long could you do that if your feed was availalbe everywhere without bringing any money in?


Why would anyone go to your revenue-generating site if they could get your data elsewhere?  How long could you stay in business?
End of Zubaz's quote

Yeah, and where are you going to get the money to give it away for free without charging somebody for something in the first place? TWC isn't selling the weather, they are selling their information package. The price is modest, money-wise: put an ugly logo and some advertising links on your application.

Reply #140 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Zubaz, reply 12

If I had a weather site I would gladly let you have it for free because there is so little left on this planet that is free.Would you pay for all teh bandwidth that the free users are using?  Without asking for anything in return (like an link to your site so you could at least recoup the bandwidth cost through your adverts)?  How long could you do that if your feed was availalbe everywhere without bringing any money in?


Why would anyone go to your revenue-generating site if they could get your data elsewhere?  How long could you stay in business?
End of Zubaz's quote
I was just saying something nice... that if I had a weather site, I would be the kind of person that would let you use it for free. I did state that most people do things for profit but there will always be people that are willing to help out of kindness. Gee, I was just thanking people for their help and kindness.:pout:

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Reply #141 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I was just saying something nice... that if I had a weather site, I would be the kind of person that would let you use it for free. I did state that most people do things for profit but there will always be people that are willing to help out of kindness. Gee, I was just thanking people for their help and kindness.
End of quote
It's nice that you say you would.  I would too if I had an unlimited amount of money. . . but the fact is that most of us don't and most of us wouldn't because we couldn't.  :(

It will be hard to quibble with sViz's solution. Zubaz might think that she should display links on the widget instead of hiding them because "it's the right thing" and the "social contract" even though the terms of service don't specifically dictate it. She's meeting the requirements with precision. The agreement does seem to be geared towards a website or application author, rather than an individual, registering with TWC though, so it isn't quite dead on. I think the workaround of the individual registering would probably satisfy them anyway.
End of quote
sViz and I (along with the other moderators and skinners/coders have been in close contact as she develops her widget).

The WinCustomize mods have a number of goals to get through this debacle.  We want to:

  1. Host stuff that users want
  2. Respect intelectual property rights of skinners/developers
  3. Provide guidence to prevent something like this from happening again
  4. Keep Wincustomize out of legal trouble
  5. Keep skinners from getting into legal trouble
  6. Stay out of the way

It has not been a good time for us.  :)

Reply #142 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Stay out of the way
End of quote

A good strategy for the vast majority of us all, me thinks.

Reply #143 from WinCustomize Forums Top

The WinCustomize mods have a number of goals to get through this debacle. We want to:

1. Host stuff that users want
2. Respect intelectual property rights of skinners/developers
3. Provide guidence to prevent something like this from happening again
4. Keep Wincustomize out of legal trouble
5. Keep skinners from getting into legal trouble
6. Stay out of the way
End of quote

7. Display current Weather for a given location! ;)

...........and did anyone else hear that TWC was thinking of changing thier name to TWONC..........

The Weather or Not Channel  o_O :grin:

Reply #144 from WinCustomize Forums Top

7. Display current Weather for a given location!
End of quote
Falls into #1  :)

Reply #145 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Falls into #1
End of quote

:thumbsup:

Reply #146 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Zubaz, reply 16

It has not been a good time for us. 
End of Zubaz's quote

I know what you mean, but it's turning into one. I don't agree with everything (who does), but I can tell that adults are in charge. Good luck.

Reply #147 from WinCustomize Forums Top

lmao.. what a way to read something thats not there. Why not just have Stardock ASK? Tell them what you are going to be doing..  lol ask.. I get.. I dont see why not...

Reply #148 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Can someone tell me what the latest news is about the weather widgets? Last I heard was that all the weather widgets would be taken off the gallery on the 20th of July.

Reply #149 from WinCustomize Forums Top

I think latest news is something like "wait & see" :X