dockapps/wmweather+/wmweather+.1.in

.de Sh
.br
.if t .Sp
.ne 5
.PP
\fB\\$1\fR
.PP
..
.TH wmweather+ 1x "@DATE@"
.SH NAME
wmweather+ \- A dock app for displaying weather information
.P
.SH SYNOPSIS
.B wmweather+
.RB [\| options \|]
.SH DESCRIPTION
\fBwmweather+\fP downloads current conditions, forecast data, and optionally a
radar image. It will also watch for various warnings and display them using an
external command.
.SH OPTIONS
Note that later options override earlier ones, and command line options
override configuration file options. All multi-character options may be
specified with one or two leading dashes. The configuration file is simply one
option (with value if necessary) per line, leading dashes optional. Empty lines
and lines beginning with the '#' character are ignored.
.SS General Options
.TP
.BI "-display " <display\ name>
Name of display to use.
.TP
.BI "-c " <file>
Specify a configuration file instead of the default. This option is ignored in
the configuration file.
.TP
.BI "-display-mode " <string>
Specify the starting display mode. Valid values are "cur"/"current",
"fcst"/"forecast", and "map"/"radar".
.TP
.BI "-location " <latitude+longitude>
Specify a latitude and longitude, for example "41'59'00N 87'55'00W" or
"N41.9833333333333 W87.9166666666667". You may use either the decimal or DMS
notation, with either a prefixed sign or a prefixed or suffixed N/S/E/W. If
this option isn't given, the program will assume you live on the equator and
guess your longitude based on your system timezone offset.
.TP
.BR "-e\fR,\fP\ -email " <address>
Specify the anonymous FTP password.
.TP
.BR -v ", " -version
Display version number and exit.
.TP
.BI "-viewer " <program>
External program for viewing weather warnings. This command must take the text
to display from standard input. It will be executed as '/bin/sh -c
\fI<program>\fP' with stdout redirected to /dev/null. If not specified, it will
default to "xless".
.TP
.BR -animate ", " -noanimate
Turn animation on or off. Animation may still be toggled with the middle mouse
button as described below. The default is on.
.SS Station Options
.TP
.BI "-s\fR,\fP\ -station " <ID>
Station ID for all stations. Equivalent to
.RI "'-metar-station " <ID> " -avn-station " <ID>
.RI " -eta-station " <ID> " -mrf-station " <ID> '.
.TP
.BI "-metar-station " <ID>
Station ID for METAR observations. See \fBCurrent Conditions\fP for more
information. A value must be provided.
.TP
.BI "-avn-station " <ID>
Station ID for AVN forecasts. See \fBForecasts\fP for more information.
.TP
.BI "-eta-station " <ID>
Station ID for ETA forecasts. See \fBForecasts\fP for more information.
.TP
.BI "-mrf-station " <ID>
Station ID for MRF forecasts. See \fBForecasts\fP for more information.
.TP
.BI "-warning-zone " <zoneID>
Zone ID for weather warnings. See \fBWarnings\fP for more information. This
option may be repeated for multiple zones.
.TP
.BI "-forget-warning-zones"
Cause wmweather+ to forget all warning zones found to this point. Useful for
user configuration files to override the warning zones specified in the
system-wide configuration.
.P
.BI "-metar-uri " <URI>
.br
.BI "-avn-uri " <URI>
.br
.BI "-eta-uri " <URI>
.br
.BI "-mrf-uri " <URI>
.br
.BI "-warning-uri " <URI>
.RS
URI to download the specified data from. See \fBURIs\fP for more information.
.RE
.P
.BI "-metar-post " <DATA>
.br
.BI "-avn-post " <DATA>
.br
.BI "-eta-post " <DATA>
.br
.BI "-mrf-post " <DATA>
.br
.BI "-warning-post " <DATA>
.RS
Post data for downloading the specified data. See \fBURIs\fP for more
information. Note that the post option must follow the corresponding URI
option. Note that the post data will \fInot\fP be URL-encoded for you.
.RE
.TP
.B -noradar
Do not display a radar image. This is the default.
.P
.BI "-radar-uri " <URI>
.br
.BI "-radar-post " <DATA>
.RS
Retrieve an image from the specified URI. See \fBRadar Map\fP for more
information.
.RE
.TP
.BI "-radar-crop " <string>
How to crop the radar image.
.IR X x Y + W + H
format. See \fBRadar Map\fP for more information.
.TP
.BI "-radar-cross " <string>
Where to draw radar crosshairs.
.IR X x Y
format. See \fBRadar Map\fP for more
information.
.SS Measurement Options
.TP
.BR -m ", " -metric
Same as '-cm -hPa -kph -tempc'.
.TP
.B -in
Display precipitation amounts in inches. This is the default.
.TP
.B -cm
Display precipitation amounts in centimeters.
.TP
.B -inHg
Display pressure in inches of mercury. This is the default.
.TP
.BR -hPa ", " -mbar
Display pressure in hectopascal (millibars)
.TP
.B -mmHg
Display pressure in millimeters of mercury.
.TP
.B -atm
Display pressure in atmospheres.
.TP
.B -mph
Display windspeed in miles/hour. This is the default.
.TP
.B -kph
Display windspeed in kilometers/hour.
.TP
.B -knots
Display windspeed in knots.
.TP
.B -mps
Display windspeed in meters/second.
.TP
.B -beaufort
Display windspeed on the Beaufort scale.
.TP
.B -tempf
Display temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. This is the default.
.TP
.B -tempc
Display temperature in degrees Celcius.
.SH DISPLAY
The dockapp has three display modes: Current Conditions, Forecasts, and Radar
Map. Modes are selected by the buttons across the top of the icon. Weather
Warning status is indicated by the font color. At any point
double-(left)clicking the main display will send SIGUSR1 to the process (see
\fBSIGNALS\fP).
.Sh "Current Conditions"
This mode displays the current conditions as given in the METAR report for the
selected station, as downloaded from
.UR http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/
.UE
.RI .
Downloads are attempted every 15 minutes. Find your station at
.UR http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tg/siteloc.shtml
.UE
.RI .
.P
The station ID is displayed at the top left of the display. The observation
date (local) is to the right, and the time (local and UTC) occupies the line
below. Under that, to the right is the temperature and relative humidity, the
wind direction and speed, the atmospheric pressure (indicated by "P"), the
heat index (indicated by "HI"), and the wind chill (indicated by "WC").
.P
To the left is a graphical display of the current weather. The sky condition is
indicated as clear (sun), partly cloudy (sun with small clouds), mostly cloudy
(sun behind a large cloud), or overcast (large cloud). This image may be
covered by fog (foggy overlay), dust/sand/haze (brownish particles), or blowing
snow/dust/sand (blue wind-lines), with the level of transparency indicating the
degree of visibility. If a funnel cloud or tornado was reported, a tornado
graphic will be displayed instead of the sky condition.
.P
Beneath this graphic, icons will depict rain (raindrop), snow (snowflake),
freezing precipitation (hailstones), and thunderstorms (lightning bolt). If
animation is enabled, the icons will appear and vanish on a ten second cycle
to indicate precipitation intensity. Animation may be enabled or disabled by
middle-clicking the display.
.Sh Forecasts
This mode displays the current conditions as given in the AVN, ETA, and MRF
data for the selected stations, as downloaded from
.UR http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mav.htm
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mav.htm
.UE
.RI ,
.UR http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/products/bullform.met.htm
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/mdl/synop/products/bullform.met.htm
.UE
and
.UR http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mex.htm
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/tdl/synop/products/bullform.mex.htm
.UE
.RI .
AVN and ETA reports are downloaded at startup, 0000Z, and 1200Z. MRF reports
are downloaded at startup and 0000Z. In the event of failure, downloads will be
retried every 15 minutes. See the URIs given to find your stations.
.P
The display is divided into two sections. A small window at the top indicates
the date and hour (local time) for which this forecast is valid. Left-clicking
this window or clicking the small arrow-button to the right will advance to
the next forecast; right-clicking or clicking the small arrow-button to the
left will move to the previous forecast. Middle-clicking will return to the
first forecast in the list.
.P
The larger display at the bottom shows the forecast for the selected date and
time. To the right from top to bottom are the station ID, the daily high and
low temperatures, the predicted temperature and relative humidity, and the
wind direction and speed. The final line may display the heat index (HI), the
wind chill (WC), the amount of snow to fall in that period (SN), the amount of
liquid-equivalent precipitation to fall in that period (P), or the forecast
type (e.g. "AVN" or "MRF").
.P
To the left is a weather display similar to that for the Current Conditions.
The animation here indicates the percent chance of rain, snow, freezing
precipitation, thunderstorms, and severe thunderstorms (large lightning bolt).
Animation may be turned on or off with the middle button. When animation is
off, the mouse wheel may be used to adjust the cutoff chance for the display
(hold Shift to adjust faster). The cutoff will be displayed briefly when first
turning off animation, when first displaying forecasts, whenever button 6
(typically, the 'side' button) is held down in the large display. Permanent
cutoff display may be toggled by double-middle-clicking the large display.
.Sh "Radar Map"
The radar image will be downloaded every 30 minutes from the URI specified.
Then, if -radar-crop was specified in the form
.IR X x Y + W + H ,
a subimage of witdh \fIW\fP and height \fIH\fP will be taken, with the
upper-left pixel taken from
.RI ( X ", " Y ).
If \fIX\fP or \fIY\fP is negative, it will be measured from the right/bottom of
the image instead of the top/left. The image is then resized to fit within the
52x40 rectangle available. A border around the image indicates the current font
color. If -radar-cross was specified in the form
.IR X x Y ,
crosshairs will then be
drawn over the pixel
.RI ( X ", " Y )
when the middle button is held on the radar map.
.P
If -noradar was specified or no radar data is available, an image to that
effect will be displayed instead.
.P
Some nice images are available from
.UR http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/mosaic/DS.p19r0/ar.us.conus.shtml
http://weather.noaa.gov/radar/mosaic/DS.p19r0/ar.us.conus.shtml
.UE
and
.UR http://www.weather.com/common/home/maps.html
http://www.weather.com/common/home/maps.html
.UE
.RI .
Be kind, since the display is so small pick the smallest version of the image
to download.
.Sh "Weather Warnings"
Various weather warnings, watches, and statements for the specified zone are
downloaded from
.UR http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/watches_warnings/
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/watches_warnings/
.UE
.RI .
Downloads are attempted at the same time METAR observations are retrieved. Find
your zone at
.UR http://weather.noaa.gov/
http://weather.noaa.gov/
.UE
or
.UR http://weather.gov/
http://weather.gov/
.UE
.RI .
Note that some areas issue weather warnings by multiple geopolitical units
(e.g. "zones" and "counties"). The -warning-zone option may be specified
multiple times, so all appropriate files may be inspected.
.P
If any new warnings are downloaded, all text will be displayed in an
orange/red scheme instead of the normal blue/orange. The new warnings may then
be viewed by left-clicking the large display window in any mode. At any point,
all current warnings may be displayed by right-clicking the large display.
.SH "URIs"
The URIs from which the various observations, forecasts, and images are
downloaded can be easily customized by supplying values for the various
.I -*-uri
options. The following substitution variables are available:
.TP
.B %s
The station ID for the specified data type (note that warnings have no station
ID).
.TP
.B %z
The zone ID, for warnings.
.TP
.B %f
The warning type, for warnings (e.g. "tornado", "special_weather_stmt").
.P
The substitutions can be manipulated with the standard
.BR printf (3)
modifiers for strings, in particular the
.BR # ", " 0 ", " - ", "
.BR "' '" ", " + ", and " '
flags, the
.BR "field width" ,
and the
.B precision
fields are accepted. Also, an additional flag
.B !
is recognized to use the capitalized versions of various numeric flags (e.g.
\fBX\fP versus \fBx\fP) and to capitalize character or string values, and an
additional syntax
.BI ">" "<offset>"
after the precision is recognized to start at an offset into the string value
(negative values indicate offset from the end of the string).
.P
The current defaults are:
.TP
metar-uri
.nf
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/observations/metar/stations/%s.TXT
.fi
.TP
avn-uri
.nf
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmav.pl?sta=%s
.fi
.TP
eta-uri
.nf
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmet.pl?sta=%s
.fi
.TP
mrf-uri
.nf
http://www.nws.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/mos/getmex.pl?sta=%s
.fi
.TP
warning-uri
.nf
http://weather.noaa.gov/pub/data/watches_warnings/%f/%.2z/%z.txt
.fi
.SH FILES
.TP
.I $HOME/.wmweather+/
Directory used to store downloaded data files. These files may be deleted at
any time.
.TP
.I $HOME/.wmweather+/conf
User configuration.
.TP
.I /etc/wmweather+.conf
System configuration.
.TP
.I $HOME/.wmweather+/.dir-test
Created and deleted to test write access to \fI$HOME/.wmweather+/\fP
.SH SIGNALS
.TP
.I SIGUSR1
Forces downloads for the current mode to be attempted immediately.
.TP
.I SIGUSR2
Forces all downloads to be attempted immediately.
.SH BUGS
Before reporting a bug, please check the HINTS file (in particular,
proxy instructions are in that file). Also, please verify that you have
the latest version of wmweather+, and that your bug has not already been
reported. Bugs may be filed at
.UR http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=60336&atid=493854
http://sourceforge.net/tracker/?group_id=60336&atid=493854
.UE
.RI .
.SH AUTHORS
\fBwmweather+\fP was written by \fIBrad Jorsch
<anomie@users.sourceforge.net>\fP, using the wmgeneral code by \fIMartijn
Pieterse <pieterse@xs4all.nl>\fP.
.P
Email regarding wmweather+ should be sent to
\fIanomie@users.sourceforge.net\fP.
.SH INSPIRATION
wmWeather was a good idea, but it didn't give me enough information. However,
no code from wmWeather was used in writing wmweather+.