Pilot Weather 2.1 Help

This program was written as a learning exercise for several features in Microsoft Visual C++ / MFC (Microsoft Foundation Classes). Therefore, it is free for all to use! Although Pilot Weather gathers information mainly of interest to pilots, it can be decyphered by non-pilots as well by using the METAR decoding page. (can be viewed by clicking the Options button, then selected the Other tab, View Chart button) Pilot Weather © will retrieve the forecast and sequence weather reports from the ftp server maintained by NOAA. This information is stored on the ftp site as text files.

WARNING: This information is NOT to be used for flight planning! The accuracy and timeliness of the data displayed in this program cannot be quaranteed to be the same as the most recent information available through normal pilot weather briefing services.

• Main screen display
• Options dialog
• New in this release
• Other Information

Main screen

The Tree Control displays the stations that you have chosen to track, and up to 3 FT (Forecasts) and 3 SA (Sequence hourly) reports for each station. The program will save the last 3 reports that it retrieved.

Refresh

Retrieves the lastest reports for each station. The source text files are not updated as frequently as the data they contain. This means that there might be some delay before the latest report can be downloaded. You might notice this effect when one station's reports are updated, but another's is not updated.

Options

Displays dialog that allows you to choose the stations to track. You can also change / reset the ftp settings, as well as configure the automatic refresh feature.

Save

Displays a dialog that allows you to select which stations to save to a .TXT file. The name of the text file is the current date YYYYMMDD.TXT (19981229.TXT). If you check the "View File after Save" checkbox, the saved file will be opened in the default program for opening .TXT files (usually NOTEPAD.EXE). Additional saves will be appended to the file for that day. Only one file is created for each day that you save data.

Exit

Closes the program.

Options Dialog

Add Stations

Select stations (airports) for tracking

FTP

Adjust the ftp settings. If NOAA changes the location of the reports on their site, you might need to change the location so that the program can find them again. The Reset buttons will restore the original settings. The reset buttons will only become enabled if the setting does not match the default.

Other

View the METAR symbols, enable / configure the automatic update feature, purge the current data.

New in 2.1 release

• Removed Apply button on Options dialog
• FTP connection is now run in passive mode. This should fix problems some users were having being able to connect to the FTP server.
• Fixed defect: Altered FTP settings were not being saved.
• Corrected "About" text on context menu. Now refers to "Pilot Weather"

New in 2.0 release

• Main program window can now be re-sized
• Main program window now saves position and size and restores the next time started
• Program does not appear in the taskbar when minimized
• Status bar
• Downloaded data can be deleted (purged)
• Downloaded data can be saved to file and then formatted and/or printed

Other Information

Tray icon - Double-clicking will alternately minimize / restore the program. Right-clicking will display a menu from which you have several options. Clicking the Minimize or X box on the window title bar will hide the program. In this case, the tray icon will still be available to display the program.

Tech Support - Since this is a freeware program, basically, you're on your own. I would appreciate your e-mail with any comments or defects you find, as well as any suggestions for improvements. I will probably get back to anyone who writes, but cannot guarantee that your defect or suggestions will be fixed / added.

E-mail - JimJanelle@bigfoot.com

Web Site - http://www.geocities.com/athens/troy/4888/software.html

Acknowlegements:

Thank you to everyone who e-mailed suggestions and comments for improvements.

I would like to acknowledge and thank all those who contribute to the super MFC web site www.codeguru.com. It's a gold mine of useful samples on all areas of MFC programming!

I would like to give special thanks to Hans Bühler of Codex Design http://www-pool.mathematik.hu-berlin.de/~codex. Hans' sample code for re-sizing dialogs and saving restoring startup position was used in this release. Vielen Dank, Hans!