Customization Services

HWimage has been created so that it is easy to create and customize your own graphics, but for those that do not have the time or would rather have sopme oe else create custom graphics/templates for use with HWImage, HAMweather LLC can perform this service for you.  If you are interested in any form of customization simply complete the Customization request form on the HAMweather site, after which you will be contacted by HAMweather, LLC.

Usage Overview:

HWimage works by outputting weather information as 'gif' images.  This makes the adding of weather information to your web pages and usage of HWimage fairly simple.  To add weather information to your web pages all you need to do is add a simple image tag (<img>), where the URL to the image is actually the URL to the HWimage script on your server.  With the appropriate parameters to define what weather information to use.   An example of such an image tag may look like:

<img src="http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=hourly&place=roanoke&state=va">

That's how simple it is to use the HWimage add-on.  Notice how you set the image src to the URL of the HWimage cgi and follow this with the parameters to use to specify what weather info to fetch and turn into a graphic.

When using the HWIMAGE add-on, there are two basic modes that can be determined.  One being a 'basic' mode and the second being an 'advanced' mode.

Basic Mode:

In basic mode, you can use HWimage to output various 'stock' images.  These include the US forecast, summary, radar and warning maps, as well as, forecasts and current conditions.  The reason why you may want to use HWimage to obtain this info is because you can insert the weather information into any web page with just a simple image tag (<img>) and the information is updated before being displayed.

If you wanted to add the National Forecast Map to a web page you currently have three different options:

  1. You can add an <img> tag to a web page that links directly to the map graphic, such as:

        <img src='http://www.hamweather.com/images/fcmaps/usfcmap.gif'>

    The problem with using this method is that the map will never be updated.  Just linking to an image does not cause the image to be updated with the latest weather information.
  2. You can link to HAMweather and let it update the map and then output a web page with the image: Such a link may look similar to:

        http://www.hamweather.com/cgi-bin/hamweather.cgi?forecast=nf&state=us&map=1

    The drawback with this method is that HAMweather will update the map and then output a web page.   This web page usually will contain a link to the map.  this works great, but is not easily portable.  What if you want the map on your web sites first page?
  3. Server Side Includes (SSI). You could use SSI to have HAMweather update the map and insert insert code to display it into a web page.  The drawback to using this method is that now we have to wait for HAMweather to update the map before we can actually view the web page.  Also not all servers allow for SSI.

Well HWimage adds a new, easier solution.  You can simply add an <img> tag to your web page that points to the HWimage cgi script and tells it update and output the map image you need.  The following is an example of what a link to HWimage in a web page to insert the national forecast map may look like:

<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=nf&state=us&map=1'>

    Note: Notice that the sample parameters are used that you would normally use with HAMweather to display the map.

The following are example of image tags (<img>) to add to your pages to insert the various maps. When in actual use you would change the URL to the URL of HWimage on your server.

National Forecast Map:
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=nf&state=us&map=1'>

National Summary Map
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=ns&state=us&map=1'>

National Warning Map
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=warnings&state=us&map=1'>

National Radar
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=radar&state=us&map=1'>

Regional Radar *
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=radar&state=XX&map=1'>

*Where XX is the two letter state abbreviation.

Along with the national maps you can have HWimage output the current conditions or forecast as an image as well.  To do this you simply include an image tag in your web page that points to the HWimage script and passes the parameters for the place the forecast or current conditions are needed for.  These parameters are the exact same as those used with HAMweather normally. A couple examples:

Display Forecast for Roanoke, VA
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=zone&place=roanoke&state=va'>

Display Current Conditions for Roanoke, VA
<img src='http://www.yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/hamweather/hwimage.cgi?forecast=hourly&place=roanoke&state=va'>

Using this method you can add weather information quickly and easily to any web page, even your front page without using SSI.

REMEMBER: HWimage can only display the same information that is available with HAMweather.  So, if a places current conditions are unavailable from HAMweather they will be unavailable from HWimage as well.