1. Essential Configuration

When building this kind of sign it is important to try and remove any dependency on the zip code in order to make the sign portable, this will allow us to use the same digital sign file for any location and have the sign file read the zip code from a configuration file on the local player.

The DC Media Player Configuration utility already has a zip code entry field specifically for this purpose. When you run the Player Configuration utility you will see a zip code entry field displayed at the top of the window:



This setting is stored in the file dcmediaplayer.ini under the section 'settings':

zipcode=10168

2. Preparation

A default set of weather icons is included in the DC Media player install image. You can customize these images if you wish, they are located in the follow folder:

Windows 7/8/8.1/10: c:\users\public\documents\dcmedia\content\weather\
Windows XP 32 bit: c:\program files\dcmedia\content\weather\
Windows XP 64 bit: c:\program files (x86)\dcmedia\content\weather\


3. Creating the Digital Sign

  1. Open the Digital Sign creator and create new blank slide with the dimensions 200 x 400.
  2. Insert a text object that will be used to display the name of the day of the week in a 3 letter format. Set the font size to 30 and enter the following macro text in the text content field: [DAYNAME3]
  3. Insert an image object, browse to your weather image folder and select any one of the weather images, e.g. sun.png. Click OK to see the image appear in your sign. 
  4. Double click on the image and change the word sun to [weather_icon1]. Click OK to store your changes.
  5. Insert a new text object and set the font size to 60, we will this text object to display the maximum temperature for the day. Enter the macro text [weather_max1]. The macro will be passed to the DLL and the maximum temperature for the current zip code will be displayed.
  6. Create another text object and enter the following macro text in the text field: [weather_min1]. The minimum temperature for the current zip code will be displayed.
  7. Create another text object and enter the following macro text in the text field: [weather_summary1]. A brief description of the weather condition will be displayed.

Displaying more than today's weather

As you can see in the steps above, the name of the day of the week is displayed using a macro, this macro can be used to display tomorrows name or the next day or the next. Simply append a plus and the number of days to add to the macro. For example

[DAYNAME3+1]

would produce WED if today is Tuesday.

DC Media supports a full 7 day forecast and the following macro's can be used to extract the corresponding values:

[DAYNAME3] will produce the 3 letter day of the week in upper case
[dayname3] will produce the 3 letter day in lower case and
[dayName3] will produce the 3 letter day with the first letter capitalized.

[weather_min1] Weather minimum temperature for the current day
[weather_min2]
 Weather minimum temperature for the next day
[weather_min3]
 Weather minimum temperature for two days ahead (up to 7 days i.e. min7)
[weather_max1]
 Weather maximum temperature for the current day
[weather_max2]
 Weather maximum temperature for the next day
[weather_max3]
 Weather maximum temperature for two days ahead (up to 7 days i.e. max7)
[weather_summary1] Weather summary for the current day
[weather_summary2] Weather summary for the next day
[weather_summary3] Weather summary for two days ahead (up to 7 days i.e. summary7)
[weather_icon1] Weather icon for the current day
[weather_icon2]
 Weather icon for the next day
[weather_icon3]
 Weather icon for two days ahead (up to 7 days i.e. icon7)


How often does the weather data get updated?

The weather data is downloaded once an hour for the zip code specified in the DC Media Player configuration file and store the data in a local cache file.