March 19, 2024, 05:46:18 AM

Author Topic: Planned updates for December  (Read 1974 times)

Offline cc17926

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *
  • Posts: 546
  • TWC Today Curator
    • View Profile
  • WxStar Version: XL
Planned updates for December
« on: November 25, 2008, 07:21:48 PM »
Please know that I am still diligently working on this project.. I have on and off for the last 5 years, the latest and greatest updates are.....

-Extended Radar Loops
 -Local, Regional, Satellite/Radar
  .Initally downloads begining 6 frames from past half hour, will build up to play a total of 24 frames.
  .Instead of downloading every 15 minutes all 6 frames, 1 frame is downloaded every 5 minutes and added to the loop.
  .The loop is played 7 times before advancing to the next frame instead of using the traditional frame timer to advance the page. this is because the loop can be a different length at any given time.

-Improved "No Data" (Local Data Temporarly Unavailable) frame
 -The frame was originally made with the incorrect font and with a burnt in logo
  .The logo is now dynamically created for this frame.

-UpNext Package Selection
 -Frame was originally a Visual Basic frame (picture box) with text on it. This frame is now dynamically created.
  .Noted changes are drop shadow on text and your logo will appear.
  .Independent reordering of packages.
   .-Will allow for only packages used to be configured, instead of all.

-Package Elements Update on Time Schedule
 -Instead of re-downloading all components on the title screen every 15-20 minutes, The following will happen:
  -On Up Next Frame (choosen because of frequency):
   .-Every 5 minutes, Local, Regional, Satellite/Radar Map each downloads 1 frame and added to loop.
  -On Title Frame:
   .-Every 15 minutes, Traffic data and map frame are updated
   .-Every 30 minutes, NWS data update
   .-Every 60 minutes, every product with a graphical map is updated (not doppler).
   ..-Includes Satellite loop (because this is an hourly product).

A few internal restructuring methods were setup to shave off some start up time and also minimize the amount of time needed at title screen on an update.
There are other things planned that still need to be worked on and considered, the above is noted as completed.
There is not an announced date yet when this update will be available, however some changes are signficant to require the emulator to be reinstalled because of added compoents.
A deadline is Dec 20th, that is when all the current keys issued will expire. I hope to have a new method to distribute keys by then too.

View my online stream to see the above changes in action: http://copper.yi.org/wsl/stream.html