Spb Weather Help

About This Help Material

Registration
How to Register

Today Plug-in View Modes
4 Days View
5 Days View
7 Days View
Multiline View

Concepts
Integration with Spb Pocket Plus
Customizable View
Customizable Data Sources
City Database
Skins

Options
Options. Cities
Options. View
Options. Units
Options. Synchronization
Options. Statistics

How to...
Add a City
Add a Custom City
Change a View Mode
Change a Skin
Change a Weather Source
Set Data Update Rules
Set Measurement Units
Add a New Skin
Create a New Skin

About This Help Material

This help material provides general information on Spb Weather program. However, it does not cover some things that need careful and illustrated description. Such advanced things as step-by-step procedure of weather source template creating, and custom skin creating are not described here. Much more information can be found in Spb Weather User Manual, which is located at Spb Software House website. Open this page in browser: http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/
And follow the User Manual [PDF] link in the left menu.

If you wish to create your own Spb Weather skins, please visit this page:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/skintutorial.html

If you want to create your custom weather source templates, you should contact Spb Support Team and you will be sent a user manual that describes the template language
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/support.html

See Also
Contents

How to Register

Registration of Spb Weather will eliminate pop-ups and remove time limitation.

To register, follow these steps:

- Start your web browser
- Open http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
  products/weather/
- Click on Spb Weather "Purchase" link
- Follow the payment process instructions

See Also
Contents

4 Days View

In this view you can see the weather forecast for 4 days (including today). Every day for a selected city contains a general weather icon and expected highest and lowest temperature limits.

To watch the more detailed weather forecast for a certain day, just tap on this day area and there will open a window containing all available weather information for that day, along with the information on the forecast source and update time.

To change a city to observe just tap on its name in the header and a corresponding tab sheet will open. If you see only one city name in the header, then maybe you have only one active city or you must have chosen to show only one active city in the header. To show another city, just tap-and-hold on the header, select Cities from the pop-up menu and select another active city.

Tap-and-hold elsewhere on the Today plug-in area (except ) and you will see a two-level menu, from which you can change the interface of the plug-in and perform other actions:

- Refresh _city_: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for the current city only.
- Refresh All: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for all active cities.
- Cities: Here's the list of all your active cities. Select one to observe.
- Views: Select one of possible weather forecast representaion modes from this list.
- Skins: Choose a skin that defines the appearance of the weather icons of the whole application.
- Header: Here you can customize the appearance of the plug-in header, which can include all active cities, just the selected one, or nothing at all (e.g. when you need to constantly observe only one single city, let's say the one you live).
- Options...: Open the options dialog by tapping this menu item.

Another way to open the options dialog is to tap . This icon is not available when Spb Weather is embedded in Spb Pocket Plus.

Contents
5 Days View
7 Days View
Multiline View

5 Days View

In this view you can see the weather forecast for 5 days (including today). Every day for a selected city contains a general weather icon and expected highest and lowest temperature limits.

To watch the more detailed weather forecast for a certain day, just tap on this day area and there will open a window containing all available weather information for that day, along with the information on the forecast source and update time.

To change a city to observe just tap on its name in the header and a corresponding tab sheet will open. If you see only one city name in the header, then maybe you have only one active city or you must have chosen to show only one active city in the header. To show another city, just tap-and-hold on the header, select Cities from the pop-up menu and select another active city.

Tap-and-hold elsewhere on the Today plug-in area (except ) and you will see a two-level menu, from which you can change the interface of the plug-in and perform other actions:

- Refresh _city_: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for the current city only.
- Refresh All: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for all active cities.
- Cities: Here's the list of all your active cities. Select one to observe.
- Views: Select one of possible weather forecast representaion modes from this list.
- Skins: Choose a skin that defines the appearance of the weather icons of the whole application.
- Header: Here you can customize the appearance of the plug-in header, which can include all active cities, just the selected one, or nothing at all (e.g. when you need to constantly observe only one single city, let's say the one you live).
- Options...: Open the options dialog by tapping this menu item.

Another way to open the options dialog is to tap . This icon is not available when Spb Weather is embedded in Spb Pocket Plus.

Contents
4 Days View
7 Days View
Multiline View

7 Days View

In this view you can see the weather forecast for 7 days (including today). Every day for a selected city contains a general weather icon and expected highest and lowest temperature limits.

To watch the more detailed weather forecast for a certain day, just tap on this day area and there will open a window containing all available weather information for that day, along with the information on the forecast source and update time.

To change a city to observe just tap on its name in the header and a corresponding tab sheet will open. If you see only one city name in the header, then maybe you have only one active city or you must have chosen to show only one active city in the header. To show another city, just tap-and-hold on the header, select Cities from the pop-up menu and select another active city.

Tap-and-hold elsewhere on the Today plug-in area (except ) and you will see a two-level menu, from which you can change the interface of the plug-in and perform other actions:

- Refresh _city_: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for the current city only.
- Refresh All: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for all active cities.
- Cities: Here's the list of all your active cities. Select one to observe.
- Views: Select one of possible weather forecast representaion modes from this list.
- Skins: Choose a skin that defines the appearance of the weather icons of the whole application.
- Header: Here you can customize the appearance of the plug-in header, which can include all active cities, just the selected one, or nothing at all (e.g. when you need to constantly observe only one single city, let's say the one you live).
- Options...: Open the options dialog by tapping this menu item.

Another way to open the options dialog is to tap . This icon is not available when Spb Weather is embedded in Spb Pocket Plus.

Contents
4 Days View
5 Days View
Multiline View

Multiline View

In this view you can see the weather forecast for 5 days (including today). You will find this mode very useful because it contains information for all your active cities. Your cities in thic mode are represented with lines, each to contain a general weather icon and expected highest and lowest temperature limits.

To watch the more detailed weather forecast for a certain city and certain day, just tap on this day area and there will open a window containing all available weather information for that city and for day, along with the information on the forecast source and update time.

Tap-and-hold elsewhere on the Today plug-in area (except ) and you will see a two-level menu, from which you can change the interface of the plug-in and perform other actions:

- Refresh _city_: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for the city you tapped on.
- Refresh All: Select to initiate connecting and istant weather forecast downloading. The forecast will be downloaded for all active cities.
- Cities: Here's the list of all your active cities. Select one to observe.
- Views: Select one of possible weather forecast representaion modes from this list.
- Skins: Choose a skin that defines the appearance of the weather icons of the whole application.
- Header: Here you can customize the appearance of the plug-in header, which can include all active cities, just the selected one, or nothing at all (e.g. when you need to constantly observe only one single city, let's say the one you live).
- Options...: Open the options dialog by tapping this menu item.

Another way to open the options dialog is to tap . This icon is not available when Spb Weather is embedded in Spb Pocket Plus.

Contents
4 Days View
5 Days View
7 Days View

Options. Cities

In this dialog you can customize the list of your favorite cities. This list can contain a lot of entries, but only the checked ones will be placed on the Today screen and Spb Weather will show their weather forecasts.

To add a city to this list, tap on Add... and select a country and a city in a dialog that will appear.

To delete a city from the list tap on its name and tap Delete.

Select a city and tap on Edit... There will open a dialog, in which you can provide a custom city name and assign a weather source to it.

Use Move Up and Move Down buttons to customize the city order in the list.

Tap on Options to customize the individual forecast options for a selected city.

Contents
Options. Views
Options. Units
Options. Statistics
Options. Synchronization
How to Add a City
How to Add a Custom City
How to Change a Weather Source

Options. Views

In this dialog you can customize the appearance of the Spb Weather Today plug-in. The sample is shown at the bottom of the dialog.

- Choose view: select one of four possible ways to represent the city forecasts.
- Choose skin: Choose one of the installed skins that will define the appearance of the weather icons of the whole application.
- Number of cities: Applicable only for multiline view. In this view there will be shown only the specified number of cities (from the top of the list). Specify this number here.
- Choose header: Here you can customize the appearance of the Spb Weather Today plug-in header, which can include: all active cities represented with tabs, just the selected one, or nothing at all (e.g. when you need to constantly observe only one single city, let's say the one you live).

Contents
Options. Cities
Options. Units
Options. Statistics
Options. Synchronization

Options. Units

Set the measurement units here.

- Temperature: Some like centigrade degrees, some prefer Fahrenheit. Choose your degrees here.
- Speed: That's how strong the wind is. Select the speed unit here.
- Pressure: Atmospheric pressure unit (hectopascals or millimeters of mercury).

Contents
Options. Cities
Options. Views
Options. Statistics
Options. Synchronization

Options. Statistics

Here you can find out how much forecast data you downloaded in a certain period of time.

- Traffic statistics: Select a time period to see the stats for. In the table below you will see how much data you've downloaded from every forecast source.

Contents
Options. Cities
Options. Views
Options. Units
Options. Synchronization

Options. Synchronization

- Update when docked: It's clear enough - the forecasts will be updated every time the Pocket PC is inserted into the cradle.
- Update after city added: If selected, then the forecast will be updated when you add a new active city.
- Manual Update: If you make this choice, you will have to refresh weather forecasts every time you want manually. No auto-update will be performed.
- Auto Update: In this case Spb Weather will automatically connect and download weather information with the specified periodicity.

Contents
Options. Cities
Options. Views
Options. Units
Options. Statistics

Add City Dialog

In this dialog you can add a city to your favorite city list.

- Country: Select a desired country
- For the US you can select a city in two ways:

- Select by ZIP: Select a US city by its ZIP code and tap on Search
- Select by City: Select a state and a city.

- For other countries you should only select a city from the City drop-down list. .
- Name: This is how the city will be shown in Spb Weather. Some people would say "Frisco" rather than "San Francisco", or "Peter" rather than "St. Petersburg". Provide a custom city name or a nick if you wish.
- Forecasts: Select a desired weather source for this city from this drop-down list.

Tap ok when finished. Contents
How to Add a Custom City

Custom City Dialog

In this dialog you can provide a custom city, if it is not found in Spb Weather city database.

- Name: Provide the city name.
- Forecasts: Provide the weather source for that city
- City code: Provide the code by which this city is handled by the specified weather source.

Tap ok when finished. Contents

Weather Sources Dialog

In this dialog you can manage your available skins.

- To remove a weather source, highlight it in the list and tap on Remove.
- To add a new weather source, tap on Add. You will be proposed to specify its name and provide a template file.

Tap ok when finished. Contents

New Weather Source Dialog

In this dialog you can provide a new weather source

- Name: Provide the source name as you wold like to see it in Spb Weather program.
- City code type: Provide the system of city codes handled by the new weather source, which can be selected from the drop-down menu. Different weather sources handle different codes for cities. Please make sure you selected the right system. Otherwise the template won't work correctly.
- File name: Tap on Browse to select a weather source template file (.tpl) and it will be inserted into this text box.

Tap ok when finished. Contents

Skins Dialog

In this dialog you can manage your available skins.

- To remove a skin, highlight it in the list and tap on Remove. The default skin cannot be removed.
- To add a new skin, tap on Add. You will be proposed to locate a file (.bmp) on your Pocket PC that contains a skin template.

Tap ok when finished. Contents

Integration with Spb Pocket Plus

Spb Weather can be integrated into Spb Pocket Plus. Spb Pocket Plus is the most powerful Today plug-in with tabs, one of the most popular Pocket PC applications. If you have Pocket Plus installed on your Pocket PC you can configure Spb Weather to appear as a separate tab of the Pocket Plus Today plug-in, which will provide best screen configuration.

To add Spb Weather into Spb Pocket Plus Today plug-in:

- Open Spb Pocket Plus options by tapping on
- Select the Today Plug-In feature and tap on the Feature Options button.
- You will see the list of Pocket Plus Today plug-in tab names. Tap on Add and select Spb Weather from the item list.

The integration is available for Spb Pocket Plus version 2.5 and higher.

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Customizable View

Spb Weather supports skins and provides four possible view modes. Each mode provides different layouts and different number of days. The multiline mode may show up to 10 different cities simultaneously. Number of lines for the multiline mode may be changed via Options -> View.

Moreover, you can customize the Today plug-in interface by selecting different skins, which contain weather icons.

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Customizable Data Sources

Spb Weather can download weather forecasts from several Internet sources. You can select, which sources should provide forecasts for every of your active cities and add more sources, even your own ones. We suppose that in most cases sources initially included into Spb Weather will provide good and excellent weather forecasts for any city from the database. However, if you want to add your own weather source, you should contact Spb support team (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
product/weather/support.html) and we will send you the Spb Weather Source Template Development Manual.

To add a weather source:

- Open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Spb Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu.
- Select Tools -> Weather Sources... from the menu.
- You will see the list of all your sources. Tap on Add.
- On the next page you are proposed to provide a name for the new source and tap on Browse.
- At the final step you are prompted to find and select a .tpl file, in which a template for the Spb Weather source is stored.

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City Database

The program can show weather forecasts for a big number of cities in the world. For your convenience you can first select a desired country and then a city. For US locations you can speed up the city search by entering a ZIP code or specifying a state. From this database you can select a desired number of cities to observe. Theoretically this number is not limited, but we wouldn't advise you to overload it because it will take too much time to download forecasts for a big number of cities.

The city database in Spb Weather is not as big as those of some web weather sources. Naturally, we couldn't insert a huge city database into a Pocket PC because it would require too much storage and slow down the program. That's why Spb Weather allows you to choose from quite a large amount of cities and provides you with extra functionality to add your custom cities and assign custom weather sources for handling these cities.

Contents
How to Add a Custom City

Skins

By means of skins you can configure the Spb Weather Today plug-in appearance. All the weather condition icons, such as sunny, cloudy, partly cloudy, showers, etc are stored in such a skin. The whole icon set is made in one style. Spb Weather comes with a set of professionally designed skins, however you can create your own ones.

The simplest way to add a new skin to Spb Weather is to download and run a corresponding installer. Such installers are already available or will appear at the Spb Software House website (http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/skins.html).

If you want to create your own skin please visit this page:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/skintutorial.html

To add such a custom skin to Spb Weather (not with a skin installation program)

- Open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu.
- Select Tools -> Skins... from the menu.
- You will see the list of all your skins. Tap on Add.
- At the final step you are prompted to find and select a .bmp file, in which a skin is stored.

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City Options Dialog

In this dialog you can customize some options of an observed city.

- Name: Here you can provide a different name for the city (like Frisco for San Francisco)
- Forecasts: Here you can select a weather forecast source. Select an available source from the drop-down list.

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How to Add a City

Open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu. select the Cities tab and tap on the Add button. Then select a country (for US locations, also a ZIP code or a state) and a desired city. The selected city will appear in the list of your favorite cities. Make sure to have this city checked in this list, because only checked favorite cities become your active cities, the weather forecasts for which are downloaded on your Pocket PC.

Contents
How to Add a Custom City

How to Add a Custom City

You can add your own custom cities not found in the database. For such a custom city you should know a weather source that provides forecasts for that city and a special code used by that weather source for handling that city. If you don't know this information please contact the weather source support and ask them to provide you with the code they use to handle your city.

To add a custom city, open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu. select the Cities tab and tap on the Add button. Select Custom from the menu at the bootom of the screen. You will see an Add Custom City dialog, where you will be proposed to enter the following data:

- Name: Provide the city name.
- Forecasts: Provide the weather source for that city.
- City code: Provide the code by which this city is handled by the specified weather source.

Tap ok when finished. Contents

How to Change a View Mode

Open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu. Select the Views tab and select a desired view from the corresponding drop-down menu. Look at the sample view at the bottom of the page.

A faster way to do the same is to tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select a desired view mode from the Views item of the pop-up menu.

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How to Change a Skin

Open Spb Weather options by tapping on . If in Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu. Select the View tab and select a desired skin from the corresponding drop-down menu. Look at the sample view at the bottom of the page.

A faster way to do the same is to tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select a desired skin from the Skins item of the pop-up menu.

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How to Change a Weather Source

You can assign a separate weather source for every favorite city you want. To do so, go to the Options dialog, select the Cities tab and highlight a desired favorite city by tapping on its name. Then tap the Edit... button and in the city options dialog that appears select a desired weather source.

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How to Set Data Update Rules

Go to the Options dialog, select the Sync tab and select desired update rules. You can select Manual Update, so that you will have to refresh the weather information every time you wan manually. Or, you can select the Auto Update option and specify the desired update schedule from the drop-down list below. This option is clear enough. If you select, let's say, 'every two hours', then the current weather conditions and forecasts for the nearest days will be downloaded for your active cities every two hours.

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How to Set Measurement Units

Go to the Options dialog, select the Units tab and select your habitual measurement units.

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How to Add a New Skin

You can install more skins for Spb Weather. To add a new skin, go to Spb Weather skins page:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
weather/skins.html and download a desired skin installer. Run this installer on your desktop Windows PC. Follow the instructions on installing the skin on your Pocket PC.

After tinstallation the new skin will automaticall appear in the list of skins. You don't need to quit and re-enter the program.

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How to Create Your Custom Skin

If you wish to learn how to create your own custom skin for Spb Weather, please visit this page:
http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/
products/weather/skintutorial.html

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