C coding help for finding the weather... NOOB

philmagrill · 02-25-2009, 02:52 PM

For a uni project im am trying to write a program in c that will connect to the internet and find out what the weather is. if this goes to plan i will then make it so the desktop background changes depending on the weather. ambitious i know for some1 thats picking up the basics atm.

can someone send me in the right direction about how id go about doing this, would i have to connect to rss feeds to check the weather?

lolguy · 02-25-2009, 03:17 PM

u have to find the right website then you have to use either winsock or winnet to access it

QuantumPete · 02-26-2009, 04:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by philmagrill

For a uni project im am trying to write a program in c that will connect to the internet and find out what the weather is. if this goes to plan i will then make it so the desktop background changes depending on the weather. ambitious i know for some1 thats picking up the basics atm.

can someone send me in the right direction about how id go about doing this, would i have to connect to rss feeds to check the weather?

Why do something like that in C? It would probably be easier to program in Java or C#, which have library classes for connecting to websites, parsing html/xml content and interfacing with the WindowsAPI.
C on the other hand has none of that.

QuantumPete

matsp · 02-26-2009, 04:07 AM

Doesn't libcurl do a lot of that.

--
Mats

philmagrill · 02-26-2009, 06:53 AM

Yeh C# makes sense but annoyingly I have to write it in C for the module. Libcurl looks interesting, will investigate cheers.

philmagrill

philmagrill · 04-18-2009, 06:26 AM

Update: so far i have managed to connect to the internet and DL the bbc rss feed to the file, which i can then open up. I have almost managed to get it to edit the registry to change the desktop background.

Atm i am try to parse the file to extract the word sunny form the XML line

Code:

int main(void)
{
char word[128];
char *p, prefix;
int i;
char string[] = "<title>Saturday: sunny, Max Temp: 16&#xB0;C (61&#xB0;F), Min Temp: 4&#xB0;C (39&#xB0;F)</title>";

prefix = ',';

p = strchr(string, prefix);

if(p == NULL) {
printf("No %c found.\n", prefix);
}
else {
i = p-string;
//printf("Found %c at position: %d\n", prefix, i+1);
strncpy(word, &string[0], i);
word[i] = '\0';
printf("Weather is: [%s]\n", word);
}
return 0;

}

I have managed to get it to extract everything before the comma

insert [code]
eg Weather is: <title>Saturday: sunny
[\code]
How do i get it to parse the ":" and just leave the word sunny

(also i have just manually written in the string, how would i get it to find that line in a big XML file, would i have to parse the whole file? or can i somehow select that line no. or something?)

Thank you

Phil

Adak · 04-18-2009, 07:59 AM

What about having the strings you want, in a 2D char array:

rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc.
[0], [1] [2], etc.

Then take your feed into a very large char array and in a loop, strstr() through the page (in the very large char array, until they find the position of the first letter of the first target word that they find.

That would eliminate the need to parse, anything.

cyberfish · 04-18-2009, 12:42 PM

[offtopic]
How about point a webcam out the window and get images from that?
[/offtopic]

blkhockeypro19 · 04-18-2009, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cyberfish

[offtopic]
How about point a webcam out the window and get images from that?
[/offtopic]

hahahah XD

02-25-2009, 02:52 PM	#1
philmagrill Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 3	C coding help for finding the weather... NOOB For a uni project im am trying to write a program in c that will connect to the internet and find out what the weather is. if this goes to plan i will then make it so the desktop background changes depending on the weather. ambitious i know for some1 thats picking up the basics atm. can someone send me in the right direction about how id go about doing this, would i have to connect to rss feeds to check the weather?
philmagrill is offline

02-25-2009, 03:17 PM	#2
lolguy Registered User Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 183	u have to find the right website then you have to use either winsock or winnet to access it
lolguy is offline

02-26-2009, 04:07 AM	#4
matsp Kernel hacker Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Farncombe, Surrey, England Posts: 15,686	Doesn't libcurl do a lot of that. -- Mats __________________ Compilers can produce warnings - make the compiler programmers happy: Use them! Please don't PM me for help - and no, I don't do help over instant messengers.
matsp is offline

02-26-2009, 06:53 AM	#5
philmagrill Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 3	Yeh C# makes sense but annoyingly I have to write it in C for the module. Libcurl looks interesting, will investigate cheers. philmagrill
philmagrill is offline

04-18-2009, 06:26 AM	#6
philmagrill Registered User Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 3	Help parsing Update: so far i have managed to connect to the internet and DL the bbc rss feed to the file, which i can then open up. I have almost managed to get it to edit the registry to change the desktop background. Atm i am try to parse the file to extract the word sunny form the XML line Code: int main(void) { char word[128]; char *p, prefix; int i; char string[] = "<title>Saturday: sunny, Max Temp: 16°C (61°F), Min Temp: 4°C (39°F)</title>"; prefix = ','; p = strchr(string, prefix); if(p == NULL) { printf("No %c found.\n", prefix); } else { i = p-string; //printf("Found %c at position: %d\n", prefix, i+1); strncpy(word, &string[0], i); word[i] = '\0'; printf("Weather is: [%s]\n", word); } return 0; } I have managed to get it to extract everything before the comma insert [code] eg Weather is: <title>Saturday: sunny [\code] How do i get it to parse the ":" and just leave the word sunny (also i have just manually written in the string, how would i get it to find that line in a big XML file, would i have to parse the whole file? or can i somehow select that line no. or something?) Thank you Phil
philmagrill is offline

04-18-2009, 07:59 AM	#7
Adak Registered User Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 2,512	What about having the strings you want, in a 2D char array: rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc. [0], [1] [2], etc. Then take your feed into a very large char array and in a loop, strstr() through the page (in the very large char array, until they find the position of the first letter of the first target word that they find. That would eliminate the need to parse, anything.
Adak is offline

04-18-2009, 12:42 PM	#8
cyberfish Registered User Join Date: Dec 2006 Posts: 1,780	[offtopic] How about point a webcam out the window and get images from that? [/offtopic]
cyberfish is offline

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