MythWeather Grabber Script Format

MythWeather grabber scripts are small executable perl, python, or binary applications which query online sources of weather and return it in a format parseable by MythWeather. This page documents the current format required of the grabber scripts to function.

Data Types

MythWeather has six different types of pages. Grabbers are categorized into these types by the data they specify as capable of providing. Grabbers can seamlessly provide data for multiple pages by making sure to meet all the requirements for each.

Current Conditions

• cclocation
• relative_humidity
• pressure
• wind_spdgst
• wind_dir
• visibility
• appt
• temp
• weather
• weather_icon
• observation_time
• copyright

Three Day Forecast

• 3dlocation
• date-0 through date-2
• icon-0 through icon-2
• low-0 through low-2
• high-0 through high-2
• updatetime

Six Day Forecast

• 6dlocation
• date-0 through date-5
• icon-0 through icon-5
• high-0 through high-5
• low-0 through low-5

Static Map

• smdesc
• updatetime
• map

Animated Map

• amdesc
• updatetime
• animatedimage

Severe Weather Alerts

• swlocation
• alerts

18 Hour Forecast

• 18hrlocation
• time-0 through time-5
• 18icon-0 through 18icon-5
• temp-0 through temp-5
• pop-0 through pop-5
• updatetime

Commands

General

The grabber implements five commands. The basic flow is:

 - User invokes the page Screen Settings page in the weather setup. On entry 
   myth scans the script directories for executable files. To each of them 
   myth issues the -v command. The grabber replies with  a version  number. 
   If the version  is unchanged, myth uses already present data in the 
   database. Otherwise
 - myth issues -t command. The grabber lists what kind of data it 
   provides. If the list is enough to meet the requirements for one 
   or more pages, myth will use it for these.
 - myth issues -T command. Grabber replies with data timeout(min) and 
   http timeout(seconds) 
 - User sets up a page using the mythfrontend setup tool. Eventually, she has 
   to search for available data for a specific place. When doing so, myth 
   issues -l <search string > command. The grabber replies with a list of 
   places matching the user search string.
 - Myth presents all matches it has got from all grabbers, user selects one 
   of them.
 - From this point, myth issues -u <units> -d dir <location> commands to 
   fill the screen. Grabber replies with lines of data.

The Version Command (-v)

All grabber scripts must return an identifying string when run with the '-v' argument. The command returns a comma separated list of the script name, script version, author, and author's email, and output must end with a newline character.

#./bbccurrentxml.pl -v
BBC-Current-XML,0.2,Stuart Morgan,stuart@tase.co.uk

The Timeout Command (-T)

All grabber scripts must return two timeout values when run with the '-T' argument. The command returns a comma separated list of information lifetime, and web response timeout, in seconds.

#./bbccurrentxml.pl -T
7200,30

The Field List Command (-t)

All grabber scripts must return a list of available data fields, one per line, when run with the '-t' argument.

#./bbccurrentxml.pl -t
cclocation
station_id
copyright
observation_time
weather
temp
relative_humidity
wind_dir
pressure
visibility
weather_icon
appt
wind_spdgst

The Location Search Command (-l <location>)

All grabber scripts must return a list of possible location matches, one per line, when run with the '-l' argument. The matches are an identifying string to be used with the data string, and a description, separated by a double colon.

#./bbccurrentxml.pl -l Cincinnati
407::Cincinnati, Ohio
3231::Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International, Kentucky

The Data Command (-u <unit system> -d <folder> <location string>)

The data command includes a mandatory unit system, and provides a directory path with full read/write access. The location will be that provided by the '-l' command, and the unit system will be one of 'SI' or 'ENG'. The directory can be used to store temporary data or cache results, or can be silently ignored. Data is returned, one value per line, separated from the identifying string by a double colon.

#./bbccurentxml.pl -u ENG 407
appt::NA
copyright::From bbc.co.uk
station_id::407
cclocation::Cincinnati, United States of America
observation_time::Thursday at 13:00 EST
weather::Grey cloud
weather_icon::cloudy.png
temp::43
wind_dir::E
wind_spdgst::9 (NA)
relative_humidity::65
pressure::30.5321117
visibility::10-20

Valid Data Types

cclocation	Descriptive name of location	Text
relative_humidity	Percent humidity	Integer
pressure	Barometric pressure	Float
wind_spdgst	Wing speed (gust)	Integer
wind_dir	Wind direction	Cardinal
visibility		Integer/Range
appt
temp
weather
weather_icon
observation_time
copyright
3dlocation
6dlocation
date-<n>
icon-<n>
low-<n>
high-<n>
updatetime
18icon-<n>
temp-<n>
pop-<n>
swlocation
alerts	can have multiple lines
forecastdate
tempforecast
condforecast
todaypic
location		}