"wX" Android opensource/free weather app - new beta release 3.4

[Joshua Tee]

Josh, Lightning data is not functioning again, even with WiFi... Sorry!

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Thanks for reporting, I tried roughly around the same time and indeed for me it was 6-10 seconds for the image to appear but at least it appeared. I have uploaded a new BETA which is using some code I tried a few weeks ago but didn't deploy across the app. For just the lightning activity it's using some image download code that performs retries with increasing backoff as well to help combat poor network and/or back-end server performance.

Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The app is working great for me. Best weather app out there.

Steve,
That's quite a compliment and I greatly appreciate it. Don't hesitate if you want any new features to let me know.

thanks,
Josh

 

[Scott Bartholomew]

Josh, I downloaded the beta and the Lightning data is working perfectly.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[Joshua Tee]

Josh, I downloaded the beta and the Lightning data is working perfectly.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Great, hope it stays that way. If you notice problems with any other activities timing out please let me know.

thanks,
Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The latest version 3.5564 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

Changes:
- SPC Meso now has sub-menus on the bottom toolbar instead of individual items. The goal is to offer more then 4 items but to be much faster then using the pullout drawer on the left. Let me know if there are recommendations to be added. Additionally underlay/overlays for radar, SPC Day 1, and Watches/warnings are now available in the sub-menu at bottom right.
- Lightning activity now uses enhanced image download code with retries and back-offs in response to reported problem.
- Color settings now accessible from Radar settings which allows one to change colors from within the WXOGL radar activity without having to leave it.
- WXOGL initial view size is now configurable under radar settings. Current setting is 10 but I will make 15 the default going forward.
- In settings you can now "lock" the toolbars if you don't want to hide the toolbars at all in WXOGL and any activity that supports hiding toolbars by tapping on image or text.
- In location settings a submenu entry "Help" has been added to provide help text for this activity via a pop-up dialogue box
- Text to speach will no longer read off the "LAT..LON long string of numbers" at the end of SPC MCDs or WPC MPDs
- In NHC new functionality added recently was not testing on Atlantic storms. With the recent storm some bugs were found impacting accessibility of text products other then the default and the GOES imagery. This is now fixed.
- With the introduction of true toolbars in Material Design it's now possible to have "sub-titles" in the top toolbar along with the normal "title". WXOGL and some other activities already use this. Now SPC MCD, WPC MPD, SPC Mesoanalysis, and Lightning activities now show more information as well via these "sub-titles".

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.

thanks,
Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The latest version 3.5575 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

Changes:
- SPC convective outlook now has a subtitle added for the valid time of the chosen outlook.
- The observations activity from the main sub-menu now does not zoom in as far on double tap. If the hi-res US fronts image is chosen the zoom value is enlarged since the image is so big.
- In the images tab the sectors that don't have radar offered ( such as south pacific ) now use a default of vis instead of ir.
- In the images tab the dropdown menu at top has been removed for consistency across tabs ( of only tiled images ) and the COD images activities now save the last type ( vis,rad,ir,wv ) of image viewed and that is used on next start of that activity.
- On the MISC tab the Forecast maps and QPF dropdowns have been removed and replaced with a dedicated activity accessible from the bottom row, left-most icon. The state twitter search has been moved to the middle and weather underground twitter widget has been removed as it was no longer adding much content and in general I'm trying to stick with .gov or .edu content. Forecast map/QPF activity also saves last viewed image and shows the same on next start of the activity.
- In an effort to more closely match the next generation toast ( toast is the pop-up such as when activating help mode ) the toast style has changed. The background color now matches the toolbar color ( if on Android 5.0 or later ), text color is white, edges are no longer rounded, and they appear at the bottom instead of center of screen.
- New option "Translate abbreviations" which can be used in most text product activities to translate from the pool of stored abbreviations used in the text to speach functionality. Experimental for now.
- Decreased state border line width for canvas from 2 units to 1 used in activities such as NWS mosaic, IOWA/COD nexrad, and WX radar as shown on main screen if configured.
- Legacy nexrad radar products ( Iowa, COD, WX ) now have radar settings access in their submenu like WXOGL now has.
- Legacy nexrad radar products ( Iowa, WX ) are not zoomed in on start as double tap zooms out initially instead of expected zoom in.
- Bugfix: if warning data is configured to not show up in the tab heading MISC but it is configured to show up in nexrad radar data will not continuously update.

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.

FYI - I'll be on vacation next week so there will be no release on 7/3.

thanks,
Josh

 

[plreardon]

Enjoy your vacation Josh. I appreciate everything you're doing with the app....and bet a lot of others do too.

Pat

 

[Joshua Tee]

Enjoy your vacation Josh. I appreciate everything you're doing with the app....and bet a lot of others do too.

Pat

Thanks Pat, appreciate it.

Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The latest version 3.5585 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

Changes:
- The underlying code handling HTTP downloads for both text and images was simplified and modernized by switching to OkHttp with a singleton architecture. Please let me know if you experience any flaky behavior related to content download. In general I've noticed a nice performance improvement particularly for things like animations. The Lightning activity was also switched from the one-off retry code to this new architecture. This change does not impact the default nexrad radar interface WXOGL as unfortunately NWS still only provides Level 3 binary radar data via FTP. ( Level 2 within WXOGL is accessed via HTTP from Iowa Mesonet )
- SPC Day 1 convective outlook now includes a sub-menu with access to beta (not yet directly accessible via SPC products ) state level graphics by SPC's Patrick Marsh. By default the state of your currently selected location is shown but an image map and drop down selector make switching to a different state easy.
- The newly added content ( MISC tab bottom left ) for WPC images such as forecast/qpf maps has new additions from the National forecast database. If one is selected left and right arrows will appear to allow access to forecasted content in the future.
- Minor cosmetic change - GOES activity now sets the title to the abbreviated image type show.
- For new users the default WXOGL size has been changed to 13 ( was initially 10 but changed to 15 in last release ).
- bugfix - in the WFO text product viewer the webview used to access native web content for WFO website and WFO hazards map was changed to the same webviewer used for COD model soundings and allows for correct pan and initial zoom.
- In color settings the picker now shows RGB values currently selected in the subtitle.
- In color settings the initial color picker settings now match the currently select color values for any given color preference.
- For new users the default highway color and state border colors are now lighter.
- bugfix - if warning data was enabled but then later disabled an opportunity existed for stale data to showup in the severe dashboard and potentially other areas
- bugfix - fix bug in SPC Compmap exposed by switch to OkHttp
- NWS Mosiacs - bottom toolbar has been added and icons moved to bottom toolbar for consistency with other activities

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.


thanks,
Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The latest version 3.5606 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

UPDATE: Already we have seen 2 cases where having the radar enabled on main screen will cause crash on start on certain devices. If you want to test new version this feature under radar -> settings will need to be disabled before the upgrade ( or you can try and see if it works for you, I'd be interested to know which fail/succeed). If upgrade has already occurred you can downgrade and then disable and then upgrade again.

NOTE: This release contains significant enhancements in some of the most critical parts of the program, the main screen and the WXOGL radar activity. With the enhancements comes the potential for bugs but testing so far across 3 devices has gone well. Additionally more memory is used by the program but on modern and even older (2011) devices it does not appear to be a problem.

Changes:
- On the main screen ( if configured to show radar which is the default ) instead of displaying a rendered bitmap an embedded opengl component is now in place. The underlying components to support this are the most heavily optimized so performance improvements should be seen as well as functional improvements. Most of the touch gestures available in the main radar activity ( WXOGL ) are available including double tap to zoom in centered on the area touched, single tap to zoom out, and long press on an area to switch radar sites ( a pop-up at bottom will show when this is triggered ). The only thing not possible due to the fact it's embedded is drag for panning. The text area below current conditions continues to show timestamp/site for conditions but now also shows the radar site and timestamp for the radar scan currently shown. If this text is long pressed in addition th editing the location data for this location you can also toggle between base reflectivity and velocity.
- The main radar WXOGL was architecturally modified to use new code implemented for the feature above which promotes better code separation and re-use.
- Minor but noticeable performance improvements in WXOGL radar by not recomputing all geography if the radar site has not changed.
- Counties in WXOGL are now an option ( off by default ) and the color can also be configured. If configured they will not show after you zoom out past state level.
- US state lines data set has been changed to a higher resolution ( by a factor of 4 ) in order to better support the addition of counties. The old data set is a configurable option but no longer recommended. This data set shows the biggest improvement in depiction of coastal areas. Attached screen shots show before and after ( shown first ).
- In addition to WXOGL the enhanced state line data is used in NWS Mosaic radar and Iowa radar option.
- In addition to WXOGL counties are used in Iowa radar option.

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.


thanks,
Josh

 

[Scott Bartholomew]

This new update crashes app immediately... Android 4.3, Galaxy Note 2

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

 

[Steve Burtis]

Same here Motorola droid turbo 5.1

 

[Joshua Tee]

Guys,
Few questions/suggestions to help me debug this:
- Please confirm that the setting ( default is on ) to show radar on the main screen at app launch was enabled. I need to determine if it's the new embedded OpenGL view, the additional data structures for counties, or the underlying WXOGL code.
- If yes, can you reinstall the older version and then disable "radar on main screen" under settings->radar and then install the new version and launch again.

Sorry but there were quite a few changes and need to isolate. Surprised to see this

 

[Steve Burtis]

Disabled radar on main screen in last version. Then downloaded new version. I was able to open the updated app with the radar on main screen disabled.

 

[Joshua Tee]

Steve,
Are you able to tap the lightning icon and open the WXOGL radar activity without crash. If that works can you go back into settings->radar and enable counties and then go back into WXOGL activity? If all of that works fine then it sounds like it might be the embedded opengl in main screen causing issue.

thanks!

Josh

 

[Steve Burtis]

Enabled radar in main screen in updated app and it crashes on opening.

 

[Joshua Tee]

Enabled radar in main screen in updated app and it crashes on opening.

thanks Steve,
For now in the newer version we just need to leave that feature disabled. What I am most interested at this point is if you can open the radar interface from the lightning icon in the newest version! Unfortunately you'll need to repeat the downgrade, disable option process.

thanks,
Josh

 

[Steve Burtis]

Yes I can open the radar (lightning) in the new app. I added counties and still it functions corrrctly

 

[Joshua Tee]

Great, thanks again Steve - I'll focus on the embedded opengl component which seems to be causing issue.

 

[Joshua Tee]

Great, thanks again Steve - I'll focus on the embedded opengl component which seems to be causing issue.

The latest version 3.5609 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

Changes:
- bugfix attempt the the issues discussed after today's noon release ( app crashes on startup when radar is shown on main screen ). Not 100% confident this will fix it.
- while doing code review and testing for issue above found another bug related to embedded opengl functionality
- backdoor into settings in case bugfix does not work. The hourly ( widget shows as tear drop icon ) activity now has a submeu added with settings as the only option.
If radar on main screen is still now working you don't have to downgrade but instead just have to add the main wX widget and then tap the teardrop icon to access hourly from which settings is availble.
- alpha feature - in radar->settings there is now a feature that will prevent the screen from turning off and will download radar content every 3 minutes. Will further enhance in the future.

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.


thanks,
Josh

 

[Steve Burtis]

With the previous version. Activated "radar on main screen". Closed the app and downloaded the most recent update. Open the app and it functioned normally with radar on main screen. Thanks for the quick fix. Still testing but seems to be functioning normally. .

 

[Joshua Tee]

With the previous version. Activated "radar on main screen". Closed the app and downloaded the most recent update. Open the app and it functioned normally with radar on main screen. Thanks for the quick fix. Still testing but seems to be functioning normally. .

Steve,
Great - thanks for all your help narrowing this down and validating the fix.

Josh

 

[Joshua Tee]

The latest version 3.5623 has been uploaded to the URL below as "wX.apk". The next oldest version has been renamed to include the version number and place in the "OLD" folder:

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B9OogdTO1kXqYzktaHZzdGdQSEk&usp=sharing

Android 4.2 or later is required.

Changes:
- Level 3 radar data no longer uses the NWS FTP server but instead uses an NWS HTTP server. Performance (and reliability over slow networks ) for both single frame and animations is remarkably better. Changes were introduced just yesterday but testing has been fine so far. Over LTE I'm seeing less then 2 seconds from touch of lightning icon to getting a full render.
- SPC State level graphics are now available for Day 2 and Day 3.
- When saving a new location 2 pop-up messages are generated. One at the start and then one after all the location data is downloaded and save which may take some time. Previosuly a user was allowed to navigate back to the main screen and once the location is saved it's not in the dropdown list until one navigates away and back to the main screen. Now a broadcast mechanism is in place so the main screen "listens" for any completion of saved locations and then updates the dropdown list so user can see changes immediately after 2nd pop-up.
- Recent changes in WXOGL in support of OGL on the main screen caused a bug related to the favorite menu - fixed.
- WXOGL, hide highways after zooming out a certain level ( similar to counties )
- main screen - add long press item to reset zoom and center radar ( long press on status area )
- remove icons in US warnings interface which were not working correctly in Android 5.0 and not adding much value.
- In settings radar trigger an immediate "background data" run if options needed data collected in the background are selected ( warnings,wat/mcd/mpd, etc )
- Lock toolbars and show counties are now defaults for new users.

Please let me know if you have any issues or suggestions on this new functionality.


thanks,
Josh

 

[plreardon]

Hi Josh,

Been traveling the past week so didn't mention this sooner. The past two updates....last week's and today's update....crash on my Galaxy S5 (running 5.0). In fact today's update won't even open. Maybe I'm missing something with the replies you've received but couldn't detect a fix for the crashes. So still stuck on version 3.5585.

Is there a tweak I missed.

Thx,
Pat

 

[Joshua Tee]

Hi Josh,

Been traveling the past week so didn't mention this sooner. The past two updates....last week's and today's update....crash on my Galaxy S5 (running 5.0). In fact today's update won't even open. Maybe I'm missing something with the replies you've received but couldn't detect a fix for the crashes. So still stuck on version 3.5585.

Is there a tweak I missed.

Thx,
Pat

Pat,
No missed tweak. In setting - > radar is your radar choice WXOGL or something else? Please try WXOGL if not set to this.

Thanks, Josh