DesktopX Weather Widget Issues - Read This

Friday, July 10, 2009 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

As many of you know from reading the forums over the past couple of days, that weather feeds being pulled in from DesktopX created widgets/objects have stopped working.  To make a short story even shorter, TWC has shown a requirement put upon all widget creators and users, and anyone else accessing their data to abide by new and quite specific demands/rules.  This goes for anyone using the feeds, not just WinCustomize users.

If you want to continue to use TWC weather feeds you will need to abide by their new rules, which includes a requirement to place a logo and links back to them.  Several DX coders including sViz and Vad_M have been posting new feeds, and some code fixes to help others fix their weather objects. 

An ongoing thread from sViz can be found here:

Which ever new weather feeds creators decide to use, they need to make sure they also abide by any rules or guideline imposed by the originating feed provider.

Starting Monday, July 20th, we will start removing broken weather widgets from the WinCustomize galleries that have not been updated and/or violate any ToS/ToU in regards to weather feeds. The WC moderators are going to keep a close eye on the DesktopX queues so that updates will be pushed through as soon as possible.  When updating a current skin, please be sure to make a note in the description that it has been updated with a new weather feed.  If authors are do not have a copy of their widgets and are not able to retrieve them from Wincustomize, they are available by request to an admin.

We understand this has caused quite a stir, but this is nothing that can be easily fixed as it’s an issue that is not in Stardock’s nor WinCustomize’s hands.  Please keep an eye on the forums for updates from DX coders who are looking at alternative solutions.

Regards,

Spencer
WC Admin

248 Reply 77 Referrals
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RedneckDude
Reply #221 Wednesday, July 15, 2009 1:23 PM

By the way, I am not complaining.

Lol!! I was, but to no avail. Shit happens, we move on, right Gef? 


neophil78
Reply #222 Wednesday, July 15, 2009 2:49 PM

Sorry to bring it back on stage but i've read again the WTC terms of use and things seems simple to me

1°) it's Stardock which should be THE Affiliated WTC partner because of purposing their widgets done with DesktopX, and not to skinners which are just an intermediary between Stardock and end-user (end-user which has not to register in any case by definition)

2°) Registration is free (as nothing indicates the opposite )

3°) source: https://premium.parature.com/ics/survey/survey.asp?type=web&deptID=2552&surveyID=1524 

( ... If you are interested in distributing The Weather Channel's downloadable products or partnering with us to drive your distribution ... )

 

4°) though, it remain's just a question of logo and link back to TWC ... (should it be possible for skinners to recolor for example the logo to be fitted with the widget / desktpX theme ? )

5°) for now and for users, the easieast fix to make any widget or so to work is still to edit the widget and replace "xoap" by "xml"


karmat
Reply #223 Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:08 PM

No need , just have to change "xoap" by "xml"

But is this a legal solution?

I've been following these weather posts here and at Rainmeters Forum, and I've copied below some info that I found about using xml instead of xoap, to read the whole post, here's the link... http://www.rainmeter.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=622.

"Considering a lot of folks are flocking to this fix I am going to say, that Weather.com will snap to the bandwidth influx real fast and close this site down as well.

The XML is an old back-up to Weather.com's XML OAP (XOAP) site, so if one goes down the other is available. This was provided under an old contractual agreement. As of July 08, 2009 00:00 EST, those contracts became null and void as the new business agreement went into full effect. Weather.com has proven an inability to monitor traffic at this site (For whatever unknown reasons), so usage of this site can not be properly tracked at this time.

Due to there being no ability to sign a contract for this particular XML Information set: enforcing the copy righted material would be unlikely in a court of law. It could be argued that if weather.com and it's associates had taken proper steps (as they have with the new contracts) to secure and regulate their information, then the usage would not be freely had. The US Federal Government is very clear on this: if your information on the internet is not secure, do not come crying when it is stolen.

Since apparently weather.com has not secured this site, or shown any interest in regulating by encryption or proper monitoring, we can use the information as general internet usage privileges, so long as we do not advertise weather.com or utilize their logo in any way (we would not be authorized to advertise weather.com in our skins)! With there no longer being any binding contractual agreements bound to this web site, it can be considered abandoned internet flotsam.

For the new XML Feed that you are required to sign up for to get your codes and ID, you bet you are bound. You are bound collectively to a whole bunch of things that the average individual will not want to get entangled with. This code has been assigned to you for individual in hose business and development only. You are expected to follow a lot of strictures in order to maintain your Code and ID from being banned. Weather.com is finally making their move to secure their information. Unlike the XML over XOAP URL: which is open and available, not encrypted, apparently not regulated, and has no contractual binding.

On the other hand this site does belong to a company that is still maintaining the information on an updated timely manner, there for their request of none usage, except by authorized individuals should be honored, and the copyright respected.

Understand that any usage of this site may be considered piracy. Weather.com has requested that we respect their information."

 


neophil78
Reply #224 Wednesday, July 15, 2009 4:47 PM

No need , just have to change "xoap" by "xml"

That fix is just a temporary solution for end-user and has nothing to go with what i say in #222 1°) 2°) 3°) 4°)


Lantec
Reply #225 Thursday, July 16, 2009 1:17 PM

1°) it's Stardock which should be THE Affiliated WTC partner because of purposing their widgets done with DesktopX, and not to skinners which are just an intermediary between Stardock and end-user (end-user which has not to register in any case by definition)

actually....Al Gore should be the TWC affiliate.....he invented the internet and Stardock's just an intemediary between the internet (Al Gore) and the end user......


neophil78
Reply #226 Thursday, July 16, 2009 2:41 PM

actually....Al Gore should be the TWC affiliate.....he invented the internet and Stardock's just an intemediary between the internet (Al Gore) and the end user......

What i mean is that license is necessary / obligatory when :

1°)  you want to use the WTC service on a website

2°)  when you purpose "Drive downloads of your product through consumers installing The Weather Channel's downloadable products" 

As the products are weather widgets / DesktopX themes, it's not the skinner which has copyright on that, but Stardock which is the owner of DesktopX program  (am i wrong on this point ? ) Things should be different if skinners want to sell the widget / gadget / desktopX theme (this time he has to become THE WTC Partner)

3°) the end-user has not in any case to register as he just use it for it's personal use

Once more, that's what i understand in WTC using rules conditions (which would be probably the same with other weather feeds producers ...


Lantec
Reply #227 Thursday, July 16, 2009 2:49 PM

it's not the skinner which has copyright on that, but Stardock which is the owner of DesktopX program (am i wrong on this point ? )

yes you are wrong.......that would be like saying that Stardock has the copyright on every Windowblinds skin ever made......and I'm sure there are a few who would argue that.


ZubaZ
Reply #228 Thursday, July 16, 2009 3:07 PM

DesktopX is a development platform.  It's like a sheet of paper that someone writes on and someone else then reads.

The paper company is not involved with what is written, right?


neophil78
Reply #229 Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:00 PM

Though, Stardock has not to be the weather feeds producer partner, end-user has not to be, it keeps the skinner who has to ? That's what's you're meaning ?


ZubaZ
Reply #230 Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:23 PM

Though, Stardock has not to be the weather feeds producer partner, end-user has not to be, it keeps the skinner who has to ? That's what's you're meaning ?
No.  I believe that if the skinners wnat to form a partnership, fine.  If the user wants to form a parntership, fine.

Stardock is not going to be the middleman here.  Wincustomize will not be the one responsible if some feed fails.

  • Stardock created a program that runs the code (not associated with feeds)
  • Users wrote the code that tells a widget to call a feed
  • Users run a widget that uses the code to pull the feed data.
  • Wincustomize hosts the widgets (not associated with feeds)

 


Lantec
Reply #231 Thursday, July 16, 2009 5:33 PM

Though, Stardock has not to be the weather feeds producer partner, end-user has not to be, it keeps the skinner who has to ? That's what's you're meaning ?

No....Stardock will not be.......so the skinner has to make a decision.....IF he uses TWC.......he can decide to enter into a partneship with TWC or he can develop his widget to meet the TOS and let the end user register for the service and enter his information into the widget to receive data........

No one says he MUST use weather.com and frankly I'd rather use one of the other services considering the way the change requirements without any advanced warning.

I believe we are close to posting a moderation "requirements guideline" for DX Weather widgets/gadgets.......it stills needs a few more approvals....


MaxBlade
Reply #232 Sunday, July 19, 2009 5:01 PM
hmm lets see. Stardock came up with DestopX. Now I can make cute little gadgets.. wedgets.. blah blah. Some site now says .. we dont like so many pinging.. getting info without our LOGO or whatever. Stardock now fixes the cute little gadget they had. Tells .shows me what I.. ME.. ME need to do. And try there best to somehow let me know if I dont fix my cute little wedget, gadget.. blah blah .. they will have to delete it. Now if I .. me dont fix it its.. MY fault no more no less. Guys.. its STARDOCK.. like there sitting there. OOH this will really piss them off!. They will fix it.. show you what you need todo. You guys act like its ALL startdock's fault. I MADE the gadget.. ME. A site tells ME, startdock EVERYONE you need to fix your link. So you cry because YOU have to FIX something YOU made. LOL.

Jafo
Reply #233 Sunday, July 19, 2009 11:39 PM

MaxBlade has the situation pretty right....though punctuation seems to have deserted him...


RedneckDude
Reply #234 Monday, July 20, 2009 1:21 AM

I, for one, have gotten past this.....why can't everyone else?  This may be one of those threads I wish I could "Unsubscribe" from....lol. (remember that thread?)

I am secure in knowing that the coders will let us know when it's fixed, and Stardock/Mods will lets us know what our options are.  


gef
Reply #235 Saturday, August 1, 2009 2:21 AM

I thought all the weather objects were to be removed yet they are all still available for download - has the removal process not started yet?


Howserneitor
Reply #236 Sunday, September 27, 2009 3:05 PM

...........ANSWER TO "This doesn´t appear a valid zip code"-.....................

By Howserneitor Posted September 27, 2009 15:02:40

I think I got an answer, you need to Disabled the MessageBox editing the script

 

1.-Sorry about my english.

2.-Switch DesktopX Client to DesktopX Builder, right click on Desktop Icon on bottom pf the screen to switch it.

3.-When the DesktopX Builder is already loaded, right click on upper-left corner of the Weather Widget (where a Sun or Cloudy Image appears) and select "EditScrip" option.

4.-The DesktopX Script Editor will be pop up with the 'code' of the weather widget, then search the code line with the sentence:

   Widget.Preference("location").defaultvalue = "MXSP0079" (usually at line 11) 

   We need to change the default location ID.

5.-To get our location ID, go to this page  http://www.weather.com/ and search your city on search browser, this is only to ensure that our city is included on data base. (In my case San Luis Potosi,Mexico)

6.-Once we have our "exactly location name" we go to this page

    http://xoap.weather.com/search/search?where=San Luis Potosi,Mexico

    and replace San Luis Potosi,Mexico with your "exactly location name", if your city is included on data base it will show you a id-locations list

    of your city and near cities to, with this template:

    <loc id="MXSP0079" type="1">San Luis Potosi, Mexico</loc> (My city San Luis Potosi , location id = "MXSP0079")

7.-When you have your location id (with the quotation marks "") replace in this code line, after = symbol.

    Widget.Preference("location").defaultvalue = "MXSP0079" (usually at line 11) 

 

8.-The instructions above are for setup our location name, now we have to disable the Message Box with the alarm

    "This doesn´t appear a valid zip code"

9.-After relocated you id, on the same scritp file, search for any Msgbox instruction (I found it at line 48) and comment it

10.-When we comment a code line, the main code doens´t included.

11.-To comment a line in the Script, type an apostrophe (  '  ) before the linelike this

      'Msgbox "This doesn't appear to be a valid zip code." & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "Please try again.", vbExclamation + vbOKOnly, "Zip error
                '

12.-I only find this Msgbox in my script, maybe you have a few of them, remember only disabled the MsgBox with the message:

     "This doesn't appear to be a valid zip code." & vbNewLine & vbNewLine & "Please try again."

13.-I hope this will help you, My computer have 5 hours without the message

14.-Sorry about the writting, if you have any question this is my email "howserlx@hotmail.com"


RedneckDude
Reply #237 Sunday, September 27, 2009 4:38 PM

As I stated in the other thread, IMO, the above action amounts to nothing more than cracking an app.   Tsk-Tsk.


nitromt
Reply #238 Sunday, January 24, 2010 1:23 PM

no I would take back to wal-martvand get a new TV.

if I bought a theme from stardock and it dinot work then the chould have a update for it not going to the person that made it the work for stardock anyway now if somebody made a theme then you sould go to that person to get the update if the now how to fit git

that what I thing

nitromt


RedneckDude
Reply #239 Sunday, January 24, 2010 3:10 PM

nitromt
reply 238
no I would take back to wal-martvand get a new TV.

if I bought a theme from stardock and it dinot work then the chould have a update for it not going to the person that made it the work for stardock anyway now if somebody made a theme then you sould go to that person to get the update if the now how to fit git

that what I thing

nitromt

 

Just FYI.....There are a crap load of working weather widgets to be found here:

http://redneckdude.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?libid=34


udderjuice
Reply #240 Monday, August 16, 2010 6:26 PM

I see this thread is nearly a year old.  Well I just bought the Object Desktop suite and I am currently downloading DesktopX widgets and themes that contain broken weather widgets.  Its VERY annoying to a newbie to encounter these issues especially since this particular issue results in an infinite loop of error message click-throughs that you can't cancel out of.  In some cases the theme removes your taskbar so you can't even shut down DesktopX.

Broken widgets should be completely removed from the site...


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