Cumulus Wiki

Php webtags: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

Php webtags (view source)

Revision as of 18:27, 10 February 2015

4,042 bytes added ,  10 February 2015
m
Re-structuring
m (Re-structuring)
Cumulus automatically processes a number of template pages into HTML web pages. These template files contain [[webtags]] which Cumulus replaces with actual values from your weather station.
 
If you adopt PHP Hypertext Processing on your web site,; youthere couldare [[Customised_templates|customise]]two thosemain standard template pages by simply using PHP script to add extra content after the template has been processed by Cumulus.approaches:
#Either Simply [[Customised_templates|customise]] those standard template pages by adding some PHP script that will be obeyed after the template has been processed by Cumulus before the resulting HTML is sent to the browser.
#Or write a web page including PHP code that does not need to be processed by Cumulus. To get the information that Cumulus provides, all your new pages can "'''include'''" (if you want the page to fail without that cumulus information - use "''require''" instead) another single PHP file that Cumulus does process in which all the [[webtags]] values are assigned to PHP variables. This is more efficient for those using PHP on their website.
 
It is more efficient for those using PHP on their website to have Cumulus process one single file and place all the [[webtags]] values into a file of PHP variables. You can include this file in all your PHP web files and use the variables as you would in PHP.
=Options available=
*In early versions of Cumulus, its web tags did not take parameters and it was easy to assign each web tag to a variable that PHP could use;
*From version 1.9.3 various web tags (such as "Recent History") always take parameters, others (like those reporting times and/or dates) can take parameters. There are now a vast number of possible combinations and it would be in-efficient for all those combinations to be generated whether needed or not. Consequently anyone devising a sample file in any of the formats listed below can only guess which parameters are most useful.
*Note that Cumulus web tags can return either numerical or string information, and when returning string information Cumulus can include embedded quotes: e.g. <code>$LatestError = "Latest Error: 'Some filename was locked" recorded';</code> as the embedded ones are double quotes, single quotes are used in <code>$LatestError='<#LatestError>';</code> in the template file as delimiters for the whole string. Equally Longitude and Latitude web tags by default label the minutes and seconds part with the same symbols as used by quotes, so we have to choose the alternative decimal notaion <code>$longitude=<#longitude dp=5>;</code>
*Yet another complication (for Cumulus 1 users) is that the values for [[Webtags#Time.2FDate_.27format.27_Parameter|formatting parameters]] can include double and single quotes, but any assignment to a PHP variable requires the value to be quoted so it is treated as a string. There are two ways round this, one is to concatenate several uses of the same Cumulus web tag to build up the required layout without using both versions of quotation marks within any single formatting value e.g. <code>$LastDataReadTDM='<#LastDataReadT format=h:nn'.' on '.'<#LastDataReadT format="d mmm">';</code>, and the other is to use the PHP 'heredoc' approach - see PHP manual.
 
All the examples above are assigning to PHP variables, but similar arguments apply for XML or JSON approaches.
 
<br/>
'''The Four Main Approaches'''
# One approach is to create an array '''$WX'''
#*Within it have elements for all the Cumulus web tags, choosing which parameter combinations to implement;.
#*A file to do this is called ''CUtags.txt'' and can be downloaded from [http://saratoga-weather.org/wxtemplates/install.php Saratoga-Weather.org].
#*That approachdownload includes elements for the recent history tags at 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45, 60, 75, 90, 105 and 120 minutes. If you want older values or values at other times, then you will need to add these to the array yourself. #*Using this array your customised pages would replace any reference to a Cumulus web tag <code><#xxyyzz optional_parameter></code> by a PHP array element <code>$WX[xxyyzz] [optional_additional_selector]</code> (some elements include the m=10 type selector).<br/><br/>
# Another approach is to create a separate PHP variable (or in a few cases an array) for each Cumulus web tag.
#*In this case your customised pages would replace any reference to a Cumulus web tag <code><#xxyyzz optional_parameter></code> by a PHP variable or array - either <code>$xxyyzz[optional_index]</code> or <code>$xyyxwx</code>.
#*In your customised pages, use the instruction '''require cumuluswebtags.php'''.
#*To produce this PHP file, you need a template file (download [[File:Cumuluswebtags.txt]]) that is [[Customised_templates#What_is_meant_by_.27Cumulus_processes_templates.27|processed]] by Cumulus.
#*For morealternative informationfiles see [http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10424 cumulus web tags support forum link].
#*For a discussion about problems with delimiting strings see [http://sandaysoft.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1 another cumulus support forum thread link].
#*The download file contains all current [[webtags]] produced by Cumulus v 1.9.4.
#*Note that as supplied the recent history tags only occur with a single 3 hours ago parameter but if you use these tags it is likely you will want to include them for several other periods too so if you want to use them you need to put in the necessary time selectors yourself.<br/><br/>
# There was another project [[xml webtags|XML webtags]] but that is now obsolete.<br/><br/>
# An alternative approach is to use JSON for transferring the variables in a portable way.
#*Cumulus MX has one array per weather variable; each element being a sub-array containing a time-stamp and the value at that time. Again you may need to choose the interval between such sub-arrays that suits your use in your web pages.
 
=Option 2 - implementation details=
The installation, usage, and example sections below apply to option 2 "cumuluswebtags.php", but are similar for the other options.
==Installation ==
#For the file you have downloaded at option 2 above, open it in any text editor and(preferably lookone atthat works in "UTF-8 without BOM") and edit first line. In this findFind the following sequence of 4 characters "'''&''' '''l''' '''t''' ''';'''" and replace all of those with just one "''<''" (so the first line becomes "''<php''") andNOTE then- savethe Wiki cannot have a PHP script uploaded to it, so changing the resultingfirst fileline instops the directoryWiki wherefrom youtreating wantit as PHP script, but after Cumulus tohas readprocessed it (Cumulus does not care what it processes, but will copy anything it does not recognise across unchanged) we do want the generated file to be treated as a PHP script.
#Next add any parameter combinations that you need for your own implementation. For example, for my site I replaced '''thismonthT.htm''' with '''thismonth.php''' and found that my customisation of the template version had used many more Cumulus web tags with parameters than I realised, consequently my cumuluswebtag file has the following extras
[[File:ScreenShot-PHPWebtags-ConfigSetup.png|right|'Screenshot top and bottom extracts Cumulus v1.9.4']]
#*$LastDataReadTDM='<#LastDataReadT format=h:nn'.' on '.'<#LastDataReadT format="d mmm">';
# Choose a local directory (that Cumulus can read) where you store your customised templates as the destination for this download after you have done the little edit to first and last line that turns it from a text file that the '''Wiki''' will accept into a PHP Hypertext Pre-processor template that is ready to work with Cumulus;
#*$LastDataReadTDMY='<#LastDataReadT format="h:nn am/pm"> on calendar day <#LastDataReadT format="dddd d mmmm yyyy">';
# On the 'Cumulus main screen', in the '''Configuration''' menu, select the ''Internet'' option;
#*$LastTimeStamp='<#LastDataReadT format="h:nn 'on' d mmm">';
# On the 'Internet Settings' screen, select the ''Files'' tab;<br><br>▼
#*$metdateM='<#metdate format="mmm">';
# Edit the screen columns as indicated by red in the figure:▼
#*$metdateMM='<#metdate format="mmmm">';
#* in one of the local side boxes (under the 'Local filenames' header), enter the path (directory\file) to where you have stored the template:<br>e.g. '''your_customised_template_location\cumuluswebtags.txt'''<br> (you can use the 'Browse' button to find and select the exact location of the file);<br><br>▼
#*$monthYear='<#metdate format="mmmm yyyy">';
#* in one of the remote side boxes (under the 'Remote filenames' header), enter the name '''cumuluswebtags.php''':▼
#*$monthStart='<#metdate format="yyyy-mm-01">';
#** -- if you are uploading the Cumulus files to a different server directory (to that specified on the ''Sites/Options'' tab), add the relative server path (from either the FTP default or the directory specified on ''Sites/Options'') before the file name;
#you can also delete any rows with web tags that are not relevant to your weather station model for greater efficiency;
#** (-- if you are using a local server, and want Cumulus to do a 'copy' instead of using 'FTP' then specify the full path to the file here);▼
#then save the resulting file in the local directory (that Cumulus can read) where you store your customised templates (rather than use the "cumuluswebtagsT.php" type convention, the suggestion is to retain the name as "cumuluswebtags.txt".[[File:ScreenShot-PHPWebtags-ConfigSetup.png|right|'Screenshot top and bottom extracts Cumulus v1.9.4']]
#** -- notice that the file extension has been changed from '''txt''' (on the left side) to '''php''' (on the right side) as the remote file needs to be recognised by the PHP processor on the web server;▼
#*On placethe a'Cumulus checkmain markscreen', in the box'''Configuration''' undermenu, select the 'Process?'Internet'' header:option;
▲# On the 'Internet Settings' screen, select the ''Files'' tab;<br><br>
▲# Edit the screen columns as indicated by red in the figure:
▲#* in one of the local side boxes (under the 'Local filenames' header), enter the path (directory\file) to where you have stored the template:<br>e.g. '''your_customised_template_location\cumuluswebtags.txt'''<br> (you can use the 'Browse' button to find and select the exact location of the file);<br><br>
▲#* in one of the remote side boxes (under the 'Remote filenames' header), enter the name '''cumuluswebtags.php''':
#** -- if needed add the relative server path (see Cumulus Help for explanation) before the file name;
▲#** (-- if you are using a local server, and want Cumulus to do a 'copy' instead of using 'FTP' then specify the full path tofor the destination file here);
▲#** -- ''notice that the file extension has been changed from'' '''txt''' (on the left side) to '''php''' (on the right side) ''as the remote file needs to be recognised by the PHP processor on the web server;''
#* place a check mark in the box under the 'FTPProcess?' header:;▼
#** -- this tells Cumulus that the file '''cumuluswebtags.txt''' contains tags which need to be replaced by actual values when it processes the template into a web page;
#*(there is no red arrow under the 'Realtime' header as it is normally not appropriate, but if any of your PHP pages are using this file because they require any web tags not in the realtime file, then you might need to select this option);
▲#* place a check mark in the box under the 'FTP?' header:
#*place a check mark in the box under the 'UTF-8' header;
#* place a check mark in the box under the 'FTP?' header;
#** -- this tells Cumulus that the processed file must be uploaded by file transfer to the remote Web server with all the other files;
#** (if you use a local web server, you can leave this un-checked and Cumulus will copy across the processed file to the location specified in the right hand box, but for this you need to specify the full path there);
Sfws
5,838

edits

Retrieved from "https://www.cumuluswiki.org/a/Special:MobileDiff/3656"