Email TLS (ssl) Support

Over the past couple of years, I have had a few users ask about using SSL (TLS) for emails. Since the cost of providing that capability is around $750.00, I have not included it in Weather Message.

I did write a document that described how to setup Weather Message to use Stunnel to provide the SSL capability. Stunnel is a freeware application that creates a secure tunnel for sending emails to a SSL server. This approach does work with Gmail, however, users have to follow the directions carefully.

I got 4 emails last week from users that need the SSL capability. I am investigating this capability again. Microsoft does have a built-in capability to send emails to a server that uses TLS. The only draw back is that the Microsoft method does not provide any debugging information. It either works or fails.

I am looking into adding support for this built-in smtp client. The challenge now is switching between the existing code (no ssl) and the new code. I prefer the existing solution for non-ssl emails because it provides good debugging information.

Web Server Access / Blocking Foreign Countries

For the past week I have been monitoring a number of attempts to break into the server that hosts the Weather Message website. The hackers tripped the account lock out mechanism in windows several times.

I have been adding a range of ip addresses to the router's firewall in order to completely block their access to the server. So far all of the ip addresses have originated in China.

If any one has trouble accessing the webserver, please let me know. I am trying not to block any US ip addresses.

emwin.net

I have been watching the emwin domain names for a long time. emwin.net finally expired and I was able to purchase it yesterday at normal web registration rates. Right now http://www.emwin.net will point to the Weather Message website.

I may construct an EMWIN information site that features Weather Message software. That will take some time. Right now there are changes to be made in Weather Message. I'll be coming back to this in the near future.

Weather Message Beta Status

I am still holding the next beta for a few final changes. I have the new Emwin ingest program ready. I am working on changes for the web legend for WxMap. I hope to drop something on the web this week.

MSN Messenger/Yahoo ???

Some time ago I downloaded a component that would allow Weather Message Server to send text products to your MSN contacts. I never did anything with the component. I just thought it was interesting.

I understand that the NWS office in Birmingham is now using "chat" to inform their media representatives about pending weather conditions. That has renewed my interest in sending information by MSN messenger.

If you have an interest, drop me an email.

WxEmwin - Status

I believe WxEmwin (the new Emwin ingest program) is ready for prime time. I and two other users have been running it now for several weeks. The other two users have been using the new software demodulator provided by the NWS. So far things have been stable.

The install program has been updated so I should be ready to release it along with a bunch of other changes/fixes this weekend.

Our Snow for 2009

This weekend was interesting to say the least. On Saturday we had thunderstorms and tornados. On Sunday we had snow. Here is a picture of the snow from my kitchen window.

I did get some work done on the software over the weekend. I think I am about ready to release a beta this week.

EMWIN 2 - NWS Software Demodulator

I have been distracted for the past week. I borrowed one of the new Werner EMWIN 2 satellite receive systems. This system uses a software based receiver to decode the 19.2 EMWIN data stream.

After working with the demodulator, I discovered that it did not give the end user any status information. After hours of research I discovered that the demodulator dll did have the ability, but it would be up to the software developer to enable such capability.

I spent this week writing a c++ windows service wrapper around the dll. This new program replaces the default software demodulator service. It now outputs status information on UDP port 18000. This status information can now be displayed an logged in WxEmwin.

I have two users testing the new WxEmwin program, along with the software demodulator. After getting their results, I will post a beta on the website.

WxMap - Upload Dynamic Map Legend

I am making changes to WxMap to support creating a dynamic map legend. This map legend would be uploaded to a website at the same time as the map image.


I have asked some users that have inquired about this feature to send me comments.

x64 - Registry Permissions

Just when I thought that I had all of the necessary changes for x64 operating system support addressed, a new one was discovered. It appears that the 3.4 Weather Message installer does not give the 'Weather Message Net' registry entry proper permissions. This registry key should be set to Everyone with full access.

The failure to assign the correct permissions was not my fault, but a fault in the installer. I have made changes for the next release that will use the Microsoft regini utility to change the permission on x64 systems. I reported the issue to the installer developer.

If someone is installing Weather Message on a x64 system, let me know and I'll get you a revised installer.

WxEmwin - New EMWIN ingest program

I have been working for the past week or so on a new EMWIN ingest program. WxEmwin is the name of this new program. It incorporates the functions of WxSerial and WxByte into one program. It also gets a third ingest option using the EMWIN Software based demodulator.

All three ingest engines can be operating at the same time. This was some major work, but should be worth the effort. It helps to clean up the system try as two programs have been combined into one. It also helps the EMWIN Software Demodulator users. They had been using WxByte and had no backup capability. The new program restores that functionality for Demod users.

The new program has some new things and some missing things. Right off the bat users will notice that the internet rotating icon is no longer present. If that is a must have option, I will look at adding it back. I will try to get this in a beta over the weekend. I still have to change all of the programs to use this new program. The installer must be configured to detail with it also.

WxLocal - 3.5 - Creates a web weather graphic

WxLocal version 3.5 can now create a weather graphic for publishing locally or on the web. Here is an example of the graphic.


Users can define the colors that are used for the graphic.

Weather Message 3.4 Released

Weather Message 3.4 has been released. This version contains a number of enhancements, along with bug fixes and optimizations. See the release notes for the changes.

Weather Message 3.4 Beta 9

I have posted Weather Message 3.4 Beta 9. This should be the last beta before 3.4 is released. If nothing comes up, 3.4 will be released before the end of the year.

Web based user alert sign-up

I have received several emails over the years asking about a user manager. Some users have also asked about adding the ability to allow users to sign up for alerts using a web based interface. These requests are almost ready.

I have completed most of the work for web based user initiated alert sign-up and maintenance. This web application runs under Window's using IIS (internet information services). It allows a user to sign up for an account and then subscribe to alerts.
It has an advanced and simple mode. In the advanced mode, the user can enter the product and WFO identifiers. In the simple mode, you select which products can be selected. It is fully configurable.

An interface program is provided to retrieve the user settings and update Weather Message automatically. This web application can be located on a remote computer with weather message operating on a local machine. They are not required to be on the same computer.

I have setup a sample website at http://www.wxmesg.com/wxmesguser You can sign up for an account and play with the application. You will not receive any weather alerts. This is only a demonstration link.

If you are interested in this application, let me know and I can set you up as an administrator. There are additional setup options that are not visible to the standard user.

This web based application will have the ability to generate a message for processing by Weather Message. This will allow agencies to easily create a local message for processing by Weather Message.

The work on this application will allow me to build a windows client user manager. I will be working on that addition over the holiday.

Text to Speech options in 3.4 Beta 8

I have completed a round of changes for Weather Message 3.4 beta 8 that will allow the clients to use the text-to-speech processor in XP and Vista. The alarm settings in the clients will now allow you to select Read Short or Read Text.

The Read Short message will read brief information about the received product. The Read Text will read the entire message.

You need a good quality voice to use these options.

Weather Message 3.4 Beta 7 Changes

Weather Message 3.4 Beta 7 will fully support Microsoft 64 bit operating systems. I thought all of this worked in the past, but that was not the case. Just looking back at the blog will reveal the kind of issues involved.

I believe I have addressed all of the issues. I have compiled the programs to run as 32 bit applications on 32 bit operating system and 64 bit applications on 64 bit operating systems. There are only two programs that will run as 32 bit applications on 64 bit computer due to dependencies. I don't think that will cause anyone a problem.

I had to make quite a few changes in the installer to address the differences in the 64 bit and 32 bit registry. There were also some changes to the native image generation routines to use the 64 bit Microsoft.Net framework.

While I was testing it appears that I found a bug in the installer. It did not appear to be testing for the .Net framework and installing it properly. I had two users report a problem - that should now be corrected.

Existing 64 bit user Warning
I will be uploading these betas on Sunday. If you are presently using Weather Message on a 64 bit computer, you may have to enter your registration code and some settings after this update. I recommend that you export your registry settings using Weather Message Server Setup's File, Export Registry option before installing the beta. If you run into a problem, drop me an email and I will restore your settings.

One Other Thought
During all of my research on 64 bit systems, I discovered several things that had not occurred to me. One was that 64 bit programs will use more memory than 32 bit programs. That occurs naturally because memory pointers in 64 bit systems are twice the size of 32 bit pointers. The advantage of 64 bit systems is the ability to address a large amount of memory. If you have a 64 bit system, make sure you have plenty of memory installed.

x64 to x86 Symbolic Registry Link

After 16 hours of research and testing, I discovered that a symbolic link can be created between two registry keys. This helps to solve the issue with having some x64 and x32 bit programs that need to share the same registry keys.

A symbolic link can be created between HKLM\Software\Weather Message Net and HKLM\Software\WOW6432Node\Weather Message Net

This symbolic link means that x64 programs will see the settings in "WOW6432Node" and x86 programs will see the settings in the regular key.

This is a great find is was not too difficult to implement. I now need to update the installers with the code necessary to create the link. (The code is now written and tested. I just need to update the installers.)

Once the installer is working, I can go back and recompile the programs as x64 or x86 as appropriate and they will work properly on a x64 system. This will allow the x64 programs to run as native x64 applications.

Running as a 64 bit application

This year I have worked with three different users that have 64 bit windows operating systems. In the end, I have had to change most of the programs back to 32 bit applications to make everything work properly.

64 bit Windows operating system maintains two independent registry locations for 32 bit and 64 bit applications. Because of that, the programs that ran in 64 bit mode wrote to one location, while the 32 bit wrote to another area. Neither could see what the other one wrote. That makes it difficult when the setup program is 64 bit and the server is 32 bit.

The last beta on the website sets most of the programs back to 32 bit (x86) mode. This was necessary to get everything working for these users and allow me time to investigate further.

Some of the programs could not run in 64 bit mode because they needed to use some dlls or ocx files that are 32 bit. I worked for the past several days removing some of these dependencies. This work also made some of the programs run faster, as the new code used is .Net code and runs faster.

There are only three programs now that must run in 32 bit mode; WxMcli (message client), WxMap (WxMapNet runs in 64 bit mode), and WxRadar. The other 21 programs could run in 64 bit mode. Notice that I said could. WxRadar does use some of the common registry settings, so it remains a hold out.

I am working now to see what I can do to make WxRadar access the 64 bit registry. The 32 bit dependency cannot be removed at this time. The image viewer used in WxMcli and WxRadar uses one 32 bit dll that has not been updated by my viewer vendor.

I have a 64 bit windows server 2008 available now for testing, so I hope to have a beta available soon that will allow the core programs to run as native 64 bit applications.

64-bit Registry Issue

I have been working with a user that has a 64-bit operating system. Weather Message Server will not register properly due to the way that the registry is handled for 32-bit and 64-bit applications. Some of the Weather Message programs will run as 64-bit applications, while others need to run as 32-bit applications.

I am currently working with the user to resolve this problem. I now have a local 64-bit Windows Server 2008 that I can use for testing. I hope to have this issue resolved soon.

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Update:

Weather Message 3.4 Beta 6 has been posted with changes to address this issue.