How to make Weather Gadget work

[Guest]

I can manage to get it work only if my region and language settigs are set to
English and United States. I don't know if it works in other languages and
countries. I am from Bulgaria and I need to set my System Locale to Bulgaria
because this is how I am able to see subtitles in movies. As I said the
Weather Gadget works only of I set the Sysytem Locale to United States. Is
there a way to make my Vista think my Locale is US /so my Weather Gadget will
work/ but to see subtitles in movies.

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I just had a play with weather and for Bulgaria I was able to get 2 locals.
1. Is Sofia
2. Bulgaria,Flori,Emilia-Romaagna, Italy

 

[KristleBawl]

Some gadgets that are Vista compatible are US-only. This is because the
author of the gadget didn't know any better.

At the bottom of the list of gadgets there is a link that says, "get more
gadgets online" (US version) that takes you to Microsoft Live Gallery for
more gadgets.

The Weather Channel Gadget
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=8e134119-7320-4d3b-a5b0-60b025db3956&bt=1&pl=1

The Weatherbug Gadget
http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=be391b66-3d65-461c-a86b-0b4e9b42deba&bt=1&pl=1

You can try others, too.

KB

"ByNaK" wrote in message
news:[email protected]...

 

[Guest]

So Microsoft has made a very nice and handy gadget which work only for LATIN
spoken languages I guess. This is very disrespectful.
I know about the gadget gallery. The reason I want to make the default one
working is because I like it better than the others.

 

[Jon]

I vaguely recall a thread where someone just renamed the 'en-US' locale
subfolder in 'C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\' to
the name for their particular locale, though I may be wrong on that.

ie from 'en-US' to the name for your particular location

There should be subfolder in C:\Windows with the name you'd need.

 

[Jon]

Possibly 'bg-BG'

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.globalization.cultureinfo(VS.71).aspx

 

[Guest]

Thanks Jon but it didn't work. Whenever I rename this folder the gadget stops
even displaying on the sidebar. Even if I try to add it - it dissapers from
the list of gadgets. Any other suggestions?

 

[Jon]

Ok, well here's something else you could try (or some variation of it).

This creates a new copy of the gadget, which you could play with, and gets
rid of the 'en-US' folder altogether.


Start > shell:Gadgets

Create a folder called 'Weather.Gadget'

Copy all the files inside the 'en-US' into that folder (but NOT the folder
en-US itself)
Into the SAME folder put the 'Images' folder + drag.png / logo.png /
icon.png


Open up 'gadget.xml' in notepad in the new ''Weather.Gadget' folder and
change this section, and resave

<name>Weather</name>

to

<name>Weather2</name>

Then run sidebar and try adding the gadget 'Weather2' to your sidebar

 

[Guest]

Thanks again Jon! It didn't work again. If I understood wright you said to
create a new folder called 'weather.gadget' and copy all the content from the
original gadget without the folder en-US. I also copied the content of the
en-US folder into the new gadget folder. After that I edited the gadget.xml
file as told. The problem is that without en-US folder the gadget is not
displayed correctly on the sidebar. I can't even see if it displays weather
info. So I guess it is not possible to make it work without this folder
/en-US/.

 

[Jon]

Yes, that's correct you should have ended up with a folder...

C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget

containing

"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\drag.png"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\css"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\images"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\js"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\gadget.xml"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\icon.png"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\settings.html"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\weather.html"

+ all subfiles / folders


It works here, and I'm surprised that that didn't work for you - but if it
didn't work then I'm sorry I'll just have to say I don't know the answer.


There may be some problem with the code in the .js files (eg weather.js)
that stops it working properly with different locales. Without ploughing
through the code, I don't know.

The good news is that you can open up the .html and .js files in notepad
too, to see what they contain. The bad news is that they are quite lengthy
files.


But if I think of, or spot something else at a later time, then I'll let
you know.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Jon! I realy appreciate your help.

Yes, that's correct you should have ended up with a folder...

C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget

containing

"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\drag.png"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\css"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\images"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\js"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\gadget.xml"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\icon.png"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\settings.html"
"C:\Users\yourusername\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows
Sidebar\Gadgets\Weather.Gadget\weather.html"

+ all subfiles / folders


It works here, and I'm surprised that that didn't work for you - but if it
didn't work then I'm sorry I'll just have to say I don't know the answer.


There may be some problem with the code in the .js files (eg weather.js)
that stops it working properly with different locales. Without ploughing
through the code, I don't know.

The good news is that you can open up the .html and .js files in notepad
too, to see what they contain. The bad news is that they are quite lengthy
files.


But if I think of, or spot something else at a later time, then I'll let
you know.

 

[Guest]

Hi Jon,
I just managed to run the new weather gadget as you told me. It was my fault
for not being able to run it. That's with the good news. The new gadget still
displays 'service not available in your language or region'. I just looked at
the two lengthly files you told me but I could't figure out what to do. It
seems like the gadget must be made to think it is not ouside US without
changing 'system locale'. Just my oppinion.

 

[Jon]

Just a quick one. I have a feeling that you may have tried this already, but
I'll ask anyway.

Does the advice given on this page help at all ie having the SAME setting on
the Formats tab as the Location tab, after you've chosen the Bulgarian
system locale ?

Message that you may receive when you try to view the Weather gadget on the
Windows Sidebar in Windows Vista: “Service not available in your language or
regionâ€
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931272

 

[Guest]

Hi Jon,
yes I have tried various of combianations. My current settins are all set to
Bulgaria. The only one that realy affects the gadget is the 'system locale'.
I have tried the others to be set to US or UK but nothing happens. The gadget
starts working only if the 'system local' is set to US or UK /only tried
these coutries/. This is very sad. I realy can't understand what is the
'system locale' has to do with weather forecats. It doesn't make much sense.
Thanks again for sticking with me Jon.

 

[Jon]

yw... an Englishman will always try to help someone who wants to know the
weather.

Don't have a solution here, though, sorry, other than actually changing the
locale. There's an LCID property for the Weather Service dll ( wlsrvc.dll )
, but it appears to be read only.

You might be able to 'wrap' the running of sidebar or your DVD playing
system to either trick the system or change the locale for the duration of
its running. Or you could modify another weather gadget that uses another
service that works in Bulgaria to use the images etc from this gadget,l or
create your own. Those are more advanced techniques.- and you'd have to be
extremely keen on that gadget for it to warrant the extra effort - given
that other weather gadgets are also available.

Alternatively lobby the Bulgarian goverenment to ask Microsoft why the
service doesn't work in your country.