Welcome to the Cumulus Support forum.

Latest Cumulus MX V3 release 3.28.6 (build 3283) - 21 March 2024

Cumulus MX V4 beta test release 4.0.0 (build 4017) - 17 March 2024

Legacy Cumulus 1 release v1.9.4 (build 1099) - 28 November 2014 (a patch is available for 1.9.4 build 1099 that extends the date range of drop-down menus to 2030)

Download the Software (Cumulus MX / Cumulus 1 and other related items) from the Wiki

Help needed installing SteelSeries

Discussion of Mark Crossley's HTML5/Javascript gauges

Moderator: mcrossley

Post Reply
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

I've been running a Cumulus (currently running v1.9.2) web page for a few years now, but since my (new) Android phone won't display the realtime wind gauges, I decided (on Steve's recommendation) to try the SteelSeries gauges. But I can't get them working...

Here's the web page: http://www.users.on.net/~idmills/gerroa-weather/
In the Configuration/Internet Sites/Options screen, the Hostname is 'ftp.users.on.net', the Directory is 'gerroa-weather' and the username is 'idmills' (without the quotes, in all cases). It seems the ftp.users.on.net site forms the 'root' directory using the user's username prepended with a tilde (it's not my web page, but a friend's, so I'm not sure how it all works).

So in the Files screen I've entered, Local 'C:\Program Files\Cumulus\web\gauges-ssT.htm' and Remote '~idmills/gerroa-weather/gauges-ss.htm' (without the quotes in both cases), and similarly for the text file. I've also tried 'gerroa-weather/gauges-ss.htm' and 'gauges-ss.htm', with the same result.

The result being (as you'll see if you click on Gauges on my weather page) a 404 error, because the gauges-ss.htm file is not being uploaded to 'http://www.users.on.net/~idmills/gerroa ... ges-ss.htm'.

So where am I going wrong?? Cumulus is not reporting any errors. Do I need double-quotes around C:\Program Files\Cumulus\web\gauges-ssT.htm because it contains a space? (If so, why hasn't Cumulus complained??)

Do I need to untick 'Include Standard Files' on the Files configuration page? Or what??

Heeeeelp pleeeeeease!
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

According to this page: http://www.internode.on.net/support/gui ... ing_files/ for 'personal' users, when you log on you're in the root of your web space. So gerroa-weather/gauges-ss.htm should be the correct remote path to get a page to appear at http://www.users.on.net/~idmills/gerroa ... ges-ss.htm

If you've tried that and it doesn't work, you need to turn on ftp logging, look at the ftplog.txt file, and see what the server says when Cumulus tries to upload the file to that location.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

You're a champion, Steve! Prompt and accurate responses, as always.

Being a DOS boy, I started with backslashes in the web destination path as I tried the mentioned three paths. Then I noticed that the 404 error reported forward slashes in the error path (is that a Linux default?), so I changed my backslashes to forward slashes. BUT I failed to then repeat the whole process trying all three paths again!

With your sage advice, I just shortened the path AND kept the forward slash, and lo-and-behold, the gauges-ss file now appears. Which then brings me to the next problem...

You may not recall, but the whole purpose of taking your advice to try the SteelSeries gauges was because I couldn't see the flash version of the realtime wind gauges on my Android phone. But now the SteelSeries gauges are working, I see there are NO realtime gauges at all! So my original problem is not solved.

Is there a line I need to edit to enable realtime wind gauges in the SteelSeries?
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

DanielF wrote:Is there a line I need to edit to enable realtime wind gauges in the SteelSeries?
I don't understand the question. The gauges update at whatever interval you configure them to update, there's no concept of 'realtime' or not. The default is 60 seconds; look for the g_count variable in gauges.js. And of course you also need to make sure that you're uploading realtimegauges.txt at a suitable interval.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

steve wrote:The gauges update at whatever interval you configure them to update, there's no concept of 'realtime' or not.
This where I'm totally confused – where do I configure this if not in the Cumulus Internet Configuration screen? And can the different measurements have different update times? If there's no concept of 'realtime' then why is there a 'realtimegauges.txt'? :?

Thanks for your perseverance, Steve, but I'm a complete novice when it comes to web programming, and Cumulus for that matter. Please bear with me.

I've attached a screen-dump of my Internet configuration page. With the old gauges I had the main ones updating every 5 minutes, and the realtime wind gauges updating every 5 seconds. I haven't changed that, and I expected the SteelSeries gauges to be the same. In particular I was expecting a 5-second realtime wind update, but I don't see it.

If SteelSeries doesn't provide that 'realtime' response for wind, then why have I bothered to change from the original gauges, which did (except on my Android phone)? :x OK, they look cool, but I'm more interested in users being able to track wind changes in (almost) 'realtime'.
NetConfig.JPG
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

Edit gauges.js and change g_count to 5. Make sure you have ticked the 'realtime' box for the realtimegauges.txt file - on the files tab.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

OK, I changed g_count to 5 (and yes, 'realtime' is ticked for realtimegauges.txt), but that didn't really work. The page countdown timer counted down from 5 each cycle, but the wind readings didn't update each time (even though the Vantage Vue readings were varying wildly each 2.5 seconds). Typically I didn't see any gauge movement for around 30 seconds.

So I've slowed it down to every 30 seconds for the time being, until I get a better understanding of how this new system works...

I haven't changed the 5-minute and 5-second settings in the Cumulus Internet Configuration screen, so I presume Cumulus is still uploading realtime data every 5 seconds (or at least trying to). I get the impression that the g_count value simply tells the website code how often to look at the realtime data and move the gauge pointers, regardless of how often the realtime file is actually uploaded. What happens if that code tries to read the file while it is being rewritten by the FTP update? Is that going to block the reading? Could this be why the 5-second upload and 5-second update scheme doesn't really work?

Looking at the realtimegauges.txt file, it seems to include all the data being collected/calculated by Cumulus. I'm assuming that all the information required to create the gauges (the graphics) is contained in the various files stored on the website, so what is Cumulus sending when it spends 60 seconds 'uploading' every 5 minutes? Is it still necessary?

I'm very concious of my bandwidth usage, as I have a very small monthly quota, not to mention a relatively slow connection speed (1Mbps). I suspect the realtimegauges.txt file sends more bytes than the old realtime.txt file, which worries me if I want to use 5-second uploads and remain within my monthly data quota.

Can you offer any suggestions about why the 5-second updates didn't work well, and clarification about the two types of uploads that Cumulus performs?
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

DanielF wrote:What happens if that code tries to read the file while it is being rewritten by the FTP update? Is that going to block the reading? Could this be why the 5-second upload and 5-second update scheme doesn't really work?
Quite possibly. Note that you have both 'ftp rename' and 'delete before upload' set, which won't be helping. The Cumulus help explicitly warns against doing this. In bold typeface, even.
so what is Cumulus sending when it spends 60 seconds 'uploading' every 5 minutes? Is it still necessary?
It's uploading all of the other pages and images (e.g. graphs) that make up your web site. If you don't want those, by all means turn them off.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

My friend, who owns the web pages I'm using, forwards my 'realtime' wind data to a more public site where it's accessed by wind- and kite-surfers to help them decide whether to come to Seven Mile Beach for a surf. In the intial stages of setting up my Cumulus web pages he had problems getting regularly-updated wind readings (the realtime file wasn't being updated when it should have been), so we played around with various Cumulus Internet settings until it worked. That was when we ended up with both 'ftp rename' and 'delete before upload' set.

Perhaps it was a situation like my failed attempt to get the web server path correct - once we got something working we didn't go back and see which (previously unsuccessful on their own) settings could be un-set and still work!

But I've now turned off 'delete before upload' (which seemed to be failing anyway, looking at my brief run of FTP logging), and I'll check with him if his data extraction is still working at the realtime interval. Which brings me to the real reason for this reply...

He has been using the realtime.txt file to get the wind data. I still have that box ticked in the Configuration screen, so I assume both realtime.txt and realtimegauges.txt are being sent every 5 seconds? If this is the case, I should get him to shift to realtimegauges.txt and then I can turn off realtime.txt to save some bandwidth.
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

DanielF wrote:I still have that box ticked in the Configuration screen, so I assume both realtime.txt and realtimegauges.txt are being sent every 5 seconds?
If you have 'Realtime.txt ftp' ticked, then yes, it will be uploading the realtime.txt file.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

Thanks again Steve. I turned 'Realtime.txt ftp' off, and changed my realtime upload interval to 9 seconds, with the g_count interval set to 10 seconds (to reduce the read/write-lock clashes), and it seems to be updating OK most 10-sec intervals.

Hope you're enjoying better weather than we are this Sunday (I couldn't check, since your station is off-line!).
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

DanielF wrote:Thanks again Steve. I turned 'Realtime.txt ftp' off, and changed my realtime upload interval to 9 seconds, with the g_count interval set to 10 seconds (to reduce the read/write-lock clashes), and it seems to be updating OK most 10-sec intervals.
If you turn on ftp logging for a couple of minutes you'll be able to see when each upload occurs and how long it takes, in the realtimeftplog.txt file. That may help you determine optimum settings.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

steve wrote:If you turn on ftp logging for a couple of minutes you'll be able to see when each upload occurs and how long it takes, in the realtimeftplog.txt file.
Steve,
I tried that, and it was informative. This is one 'realtime' transmission:

18:55:07:319 032A77E0 TriggerDataSent 936
18:55:07:397 >|200 Switching to ASCII mode.|

18:55:08:304 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:08:304 032A77E0 TriggerDataSent 936
18:55:08:366 >|227 Entering Passive Mode (*IP address removed*)|

18:55:08:366 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:08:366 TWSocket will connect to *IP address removed*
18:55:08:444 ! Data Session opened (Put)
18:55:08:460 032A7EF0 TriggerDataSent 928
18:55:08:460 032A77E0 TriggerDataSent 936
18:55:08:538 >|150 Ok to send data.|

18:55:08:538 ! Send first block
18:55:08:538 DataSocketPutDataSent 1333
18:55:08:538 032A7EF0 TriggerDataSent 928
18:55:08:538 DataSocketPutDataSent 0
18:55:08:538 032A7EF0 TCustomWSocket.Shutdown 1 928
18:55:08:600 ! Data Session closed
18:55:08:600 ! Next3PutAsync
18:55:08:600 032A7EF0 TCustomWSocket.Shutdown 1 928
18:55:08:772 >|226 File receive OK.|

18:55:08:772 ! Next3PutAsync
18:55:08:772 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:08:772 ! HighLevelAsync done
18:55:09:304 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:09:304 032A77E0 TriggerDataSent 936
18:55:09:382 >|350 Ready for RNTO.|

18:55:09:382 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:09:382 032A77E0 TriggerDataSent 936
18:55:09:460 >|250 Rename successful.|

18:55:09:460 ! HighLevelAsync 0
18:55:09:460 ! HighLevelAsync done

(I presume the last three digits of the time are milliseconds.)
I'm guessing that DataSocketPutDataSent is where the actual realtimegauges file is sent, which takes 156ms from 'session opened' to 'session closed'. Interesting then that the whole process takes a touch over two seconds for such a short burst of useful data!
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
User avatar
steve
Cumulus Author
Posts: 26702
Joined: Mon 02 Jun 2008 6:49 pm
Weather Station: None
Operating System: None
Location: Vienne, France
Contact:

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by steve »

The length of time taken overall is due to the number of protocol exchanges that take place. This is the benefit of using 'rename'; the file will only be unavailable for the short period that it takes the server to do the renaming.
Steve
User avatar
DanielF
Posts: 184
Joined: Tue 30 Dec 2008 12:53 pm
Weather Station: Davis Vantage Vue, serial logger
Operating System: Win10Pro64
Location: Gerroa, NSW, Australia

Re: Help needed installing SteelSeries

Post by DanielF »

Thanks Steve. I'm reasonably happy with the 10-second updates I'm now achieving on Gerroa-weather. All I have to fix now is the wind direction colours!
https://cumulus.hosiene.co.uk/viewtopic.p ... 01&p=68052
Daniel
Gerroa ('paradise'), Australia
Gerroa weather
Post Reply