kksou Google Weather Module - AJAX version
Written by kksou   
Sunday, 04 October 2009
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This module makes use of the Google Weather API to display the current temperature, weather condition and a four-day weather forecast, as you can see on the left of the page.

Unique Features

This is the first, and currently the only weather module with the following features:

  • Uses the Google Weather API that provides 4-day weather forecast with images.
  • Allows user to interactively enter zip codes (for US, UK and Canada) and city names.
  • Displays the weather information in many different languages, as provided by Google.
  • Allows you to display two or more weather modules in the same page.
  • Supports both Joomla 1.0 and Joomla 1.5!
  • You can turn on or off the input field.
  • You can specify the default unit for the temperature (in °C or °F)
  • You can switch between °C or °F interactively with no reloading of pages.
Latest Version

v1.0.5 (for Joomla 1.0) and v1.5.5 (for Joomla 1.5)
Released May 16, 2010

The module is now W3C XHTML 1.0 Transitional compliant.

Very Important

  • I've implemented the Google Weather Mashup with the use of PHP's cURL library. So please make sure your PHP has the cURL library installed in order to use this module.
  • Note that this module works only with PHP5 and above because of the use of the PHP function simplexml_load_string which is only available starting with PHP5.

Live Demo

You can see some live demos below:

Download

Remove the "Powered by" links

You may not edit or remove any copyright or Powered by statements in the kksou Google Weather Module.

However, if you find the module useful and would like to use the module without the "Powered-by" links, you may do so by purchasing a "Powered-by" removal license for only USD $10 per site.

Secured payment is processed by 2checkout.com. All major credit cards are accepted, including Visa, Mastercard and American Express, etc. You can also pay by PayPal. Once the transaction is completed, you will be given a link to download the registered version with the "Powered by" links removed.

How to install

  1. First, make sure you're using PHP5 and above.
  2. Then, make sure your PHP has the cURL library installed. You can do a quick check by doing a simple
  3. <?php
    phpinfo();
    ?>
    

    If your PHP has the cURL library installed, you should see something similar to the following:

    phpinfo.gif

    If you don't have the cURL library, there are numerous resources on the Internet that gives you very clear instructions on how to install cURL on various platform such as windows, linux, etc.

  4. Download and install the "kksou Google Weather Module".
  5. Make sure the module is published / enabled.
  6. Select a module position where you want to place the module.

That's it! You should now see the kksou Google Weather module displayed in the module position you've specified.

Parameters

You can set the following in the Parameters page:

  1. Default City: This is the city that will be displayed when the module is first loaded. For large cities, you can just enter the city name e.g. San Francisco, London, Tokyo, Moscow, without the need to enter the country name.
  2. For some countries (e.g. US, UK and Canada), you can just enter the zip code. E.g. '94305', 'W1A 1AZ'.

  3. Language: Google supported language code in ISO 639-1 format
    e.g. English is en, French is fr, Italian is it, Japanese is ja, Chinese simplified is zh-cn, Chinese Traditional is zh-tw.
  4. Unit for temperature: Choose between displaying the temperature in °F or °C.
  5. Hide Input Field: If all you want is to display the weather forecast of a particular city, and DO NOT want the user to change that, you can select 'Yes' to hide the input field.
  6. Hide Humidity: Select 'Yes' if you wish to hide the humidity information.
  7. Hide Wind: Select 'Yes' if you wish to hide the wind information.
  8. Hide Forecast: Select 'Yes' if you wish to hide the 4-day weather forecast.
  9. Label for 'City': This is the label that is displayed just before the input field. The default label is 'City'. You can change the label into your own language and label.
  10. Size of Input Field: Size of the input field. Default size is 12.
  11. Request Interval: If you do some research on google, you will see that there arer cases where Google will "ban" your site from accessing the Google Weather API if the request is made too often (e.g. some sites try to get the weather forecast of all cities in US through a robot). By default, I set a interval 3 seconds between each request to Google. This will prevent your users from making too frequent weather forecast requests via your website. If you are not concerned about this, you can reduce this to 1 second.
  12. Set Focus on Input Field: Set the focus (i.e. put the prompt) on the input field for city. Default is Yes.

Styling the Module using CSS

The entire formatting of the stock quotes is done using CSS. If you do not like the default look and feel of the stock data, you can edit the following CSS file:

<your joomla root folder>/modules/mod_kksouGoogleWeather/mod_googleWeather.css

  1. Input Field (for entering city name)
  2. div.googleWeather input {
    	margin-bottom: 6px;
    }
    
  3. Input Label (the label 'City')
  4. div.googleWeather .input_label {
    	font-weight:bold;
    }
    
  5. The current temepature
  6. div.googleWeather .deg {
        font-size: 100%;
    	color: #3366FF;
    	font-weight:bold;
    }
    
  7. The image of the current weather condition
  8. div.googleWeather .img2 {
    	float: right;
    }
    
  9. The current weather condition
  10. div.googleWeather .cond {
    	font-size: 100%;
    }
    
  11. The current wind condition
  12. div.googleWeather .wind {
        font-size: 100%;
    }
    

History

  1. v1.0.1 (for Joomla 1.0) and v1.5.1 (for Joomla 1.5)
    Released October 6, 2009
  2. Streamlined the javascript codes.

  3. v1.0.2 (for Joomla 1.0) and v1.5.2 (for Joomla 1.5)
    Released January 20, 2010
  4. v1.0.3 (for Joomla 1.0) and v1.5.3 (for Joomla 1.5)
    Released February 14, 2010
  5. This is in response to the request by Mazgonar.

    Added one more parameter in the config page to allow user to choose whether to set focus on the input field for the city.

  6. v1.0.4 (for Joomla 1.0) and v1.5.4 (for Joomla 1.5)
    Released May 06, 2010
  7. Conform to joomla.org guidelines.



User reviews   Average user ratings:    4.5   (from 18 users)
  1. Testa
    December 09, 2009 11:56pm

  2. Doug
    January 20, 2010 12:37am
    Perfect

    This mod is so simple, so perfect. Once request, on a future update(unless I'm blind and it's here already), the ability to change the place holder pop-up. I'm building a website in the polish language and it used the google language code pl to change everything but the place holder.(I think that's what it is) It says 'change your city...yada yada yada in English but everything else is in Polish.

    Thanks again
    Malaczarna

  3. kksou
    January 20, 2010 8:16am

    Hi Doug,

    Please download the latest version: v1.5.2.

    Go to module manager, edit the Google Weather module, and you can now change the popup string to your language in the last 3 fields.

    Regards,
    /kksou

  4. Doug
    January 20, 2010 10:36am
    Amazing

    I haven't even d/l'd the new version and I can comment on this...Great!! You also fixed the other concern I was going to mention...The showing of the default city. Nice work again. Thanks

  5. Doug
    January 20, 2010 11:01am
    And for ease of use...

    I've uninstalled, downloaded, installed and set up the new vision since writing my last comment...That will tell you just how smooth it is.

    Doug

    Well..it only took 4 minutes but I had to wait 6 more minutes before I could post this...lol

  6. davide
    January 23, 2010 8:49am
    not work on my site

    Excuse me but does not work on my site, is the circle of research but does not load.
    PHP Version 5.2.12

  7. kksou
    January 23, 2010 8:12pm

    Hi,

    You need to give more details to allow other people to help you.

    Is the cURL library installed in your PHP?

    Regards,
    /kksou

  8. vtpages
    January 31, 2010 7:21pm
    Also getting the endless spinning circle

    cUrl is enabled, information is libcurl/7.19.4 OpenSSL/0.9.8b zlib/1.2.3 libidn/0.6.5 - site is nemowaterproofing.com. Would really like to be able to use this module, if anyone can help. Thanks.

  9. Terry Hickey
    February 20, 2010 12:11pm

    very nice works perfectly

  10. Andrea Infinito
    April 20, 2010 1:18pm
    Problem on Altervista

    Hi kksou,
    this is a great module! Thank you so much!
    Unfortunately it doesn't work on altervista.org site.
    I enabled fsock to connect with external sites and curl is enabled as you required.

    Php version: 5.2.9
    Curl enabled - Curl information: libcurl/7.18.0 OpenSSL/0.9.8b zlib/1.2.3 libidn/0.6.5

    I hope this is enough.

    Thanks again,
    infinito1971

  11. infinito1971
    April 21, 2010 12:55pm
    Problem solved

    The problem was the italian language.

    Bye,
    infinito1971

  12. bluesky24
    April 27, 2010 8:02am
    Postal zip code

    cince a few weeks the city name is in english, before it was in german and i made no changes.
    When i entered the zip code, the city was found, now i must enter D-zip code so the german city is found. Without D- the modul found citys in US.

    What´s wrong?

  13. Feerico Iglesias
    May 05, 2010 12:30pm
    City / Country

    I would like to use this module for a newspaper site, but the city does not come up. Instead if I type the city name it comes a smaller one with the same name located in another country. Case in point: Villahermosa, Tabasco Mexico. If you type the "Villahermosa" name it comes Villahermosa Spain.

    Question: Is there a way to make sure a specific city would come up? ... and if possible, pre-set some cities within a country?

  14. ed
    June 10, 2010 8:29pm
    Date and Time

    Love it, but :) How could I also add the current date and time of city?

  15. Tigs
    July 28, 2010 12:31pm
    Wind speed UOM

    Thank you, for a beginner this was so easy to install. Got it right first time. One question, can one change the wind speed from mph to km/h and if so, how? Request answer in absolute begiiners lingo please.

  16. Kurt
    August 02, 2010 6:45pm
    Saint-Barth Island

    Please how to add ST BARTHELEMY Island in FRENCH WEST INDIES?
    Thx

  17. yt
    August 10, 2010 12:50pm
    italian language problem

    Even if I define "Label for City" like "City"(in english) or "Città"(in italian), make me show "Citt("à" doesn't show me correct italian alphabet with accent).
    But I can correctly see "Città" on my local host. Why?

  18. DigitalBlacksmith
    August 31, 2010 1:11pm
    Great Module

    One really great feature that would set this apart would be an event planner. I use this on a website where we have a weekly bike ride. It would be nice if the module would show the weather then on the day of the event, switch to an hour by hour. I would think this would be useful to lots of people, how hard would it be to develop?

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