The wdlconfig.xml file allows many options to be set for Weather Display Live. It is an xml file which allows for great flexibility but care when altering it is required. The slightest typo can stop the software working. It is recommended you make a backup before amending any details. In addition the file is case sensitive!
It is recommended that you use the WDL Configurator to modify your configuration.
However the configuration file can be modified 'by hand' quite easily, especially for minor changes. The main thing to remember is to make a backup before you start manually editing it!
Open the wdlconfig.xml files in a text editor, such as Notepad, and have a look at the contents within it. Each configuration option is specified on a new line. For a comprehensive guide to customising Weather Display Live see the configuring_wdl.pdf file. Here are a few of the most useful tags to get you started.
If you wish to place index.html, wdlconfig.xml and wdlv6_02.swf files in a different location than the clientraw.txt, clientrawextra.txt, clientrawhour.txt and clientrawdaily.txt files then you can specify their location by amending the lines -
<clientraw></clientraw>
<clientrawextra></clientrawextra>
<clientrawdaily></clientrawdaily>
<clientrawhour></clientrawhour>
Enter the full path to the files ie http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientraw.txt and http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawextra.txt as appropriate -
<clientraw>http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientraw.txt</clientraw>
<clientrawextra>http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawextra.txt</clientrawextra>
<clientrawdaily>http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawdaily.txt</clientrawdaily>
<clientrawhour>http://www.mywebsite.com/weather/data/clientrawhour.txt</clientrawhour>
To change an option such as the temperature units that Weather Display Live starts with find the line -
<initTempUnits>C</initTempUnits>
Change it so that it now reads -
<initTempUnits>F</initTempUnits>
Be careful when changing settings in this file as you can easily stop Weather Display Live from working with the smallest of typing mistakes. The xml file is case sensitive! Refresh your web page to reload Weather Display Live and see the new temperature units.
In the same way you can change the barometric pressure, rainfall, altitude and wind units at start up.
It is recommended that you set the frequency with which Weather Display Live attempts to update data to be the same as the clientraw.txt file gets updated from Weather Display. Therefore if Weather Display sends a new clientraw.txt file every 10 seconds change the line that says -
<refresh>4</refresh>
to say -
<refresh>10</refresh>
If after changing this setting or any other in the wdlconfig.xml file your browser does not reflect the change see the troubleshooting section.
The full set of configuration tags in the wdlconfig.xml file and comprehensive instructions for customising Weather Display Live to look exactly the way you want are described in the configuring_wdl.pdf guide included in the installation folder. There are also a number of sample files available for you to use or modify in the Weather Display Live installation folder.
You can change the size of Weather Display Live by amending the width and height tags in the index.html file. For example if you wish to make the display a fixed size enter the values 550 and 400 for width and height respectively. Alternatively you can make Weather Display Live automatically fill the screen by setting the values to a percentage. Enter 100% for both the width and height tags. It's best to keep the values relative to each other or the display will appear distorted due to the incorrect aspect ratio.
You can change the background colour of the display or place a background image by changing the <body style="background:#ffffff"> tag. For example to give Weather Display Live a yellow background you would change the tag to <body style="background:#ffff00">. For more information on any of this visit the Flash pages on the Adobe website or any decent html book.
© Julian Best 2008