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Alltime.ini: Difference between revisions
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The file now known as alltime.ini was originally in a different format as alltime.rec.
== Introduction ==
Cumulus maintains a number of 'all time records' for the station -- highs and lows and their timestamps for many of the readings. For ''more information'' on this file see in the '''Cumulus help''' file, in the section “The Data log files”.
===
The highs and lows were stored in a database file (alltime.rec), this was efficient for Cumulus 1 to read and update, but being in binary code made it hard for any corrections to be made outside Cumulus.
Build 920 (28 Feb 2010) initiated the use of a log of changes to the "alltime.rec" records, called [[alltimelog.txt]], which can be found in the '''data''' folder. An entry is added to this file every time an all-time record changes, with details of the old and new records. This log can then be used to 'backtrack' if spurious data causes an all-time record to be broken incorrectly. It is also a useful log of when records were actually broken.
== Build 924 (version 1.8.9) ==▼
Starting with Build 924 (version 1.8.9) of Cumulus highs and lows and their timestamps are stored in a text file which can be easily edited if needed. The first time you run Build 924, or later, of Cumulus it will convert any alltime.rec file into an alltime.ini file and use the ini file going forward. ▼
Builds 921, 922, and 923 were never released.
== Post Build 924 (version 1.8.9) ==▼
The alltime.ini file is normally located in the Data sub-folder of the path where your Cumulus.exe is installed. If you cannot find the file [[FAQ#I_can.E2.80.99t_find_my_data_files.21|see this FAQ]]. Date, Time and Decimal formatting is as per your regional settings on the PC running Cumulus.▼
The format consists of a number of sections (section title is delimited by [ ]), and a number of properties (consisting of attribute name, an equals sign and a value). Blank lines can be included for readability, they are ignored in these .ini type log files.▼
▲Starting with Build 924 (version 1.8.9)
▲The alltime.ini file is
=== Cumulus MX ===
The alltime.ini file is located in the "data" sub-folder of the path where your Cumulus.exe is installed. If you are moving to MX from Cumulus 1, you can copy the contents of the Cumulus 1 "data" folder into the MX "data" folder, but you will need to edit each '''.ini''' file as described in next section.
▲The format consists of a number of sections (section title is delimited by
[[File:Badge vMx.png]]Decimal formatting always uses a period/full stop in Cumulus MX. Cumulus MX shows date/time in ISO 8601 format of "yyyy-MM-ddTHH:mm:ss" (using the net specifiers that MX uses).
[[File:Badge v1.png]]Date, Time and Decimal formatting is as per your regional settings on the PC running Cumulus.
Thus if you want to swap from Cumulus 1 to Cumulus MX during a month, you will copy your existing Cumulus 1 "data" folder to within your MX installation, but you will also need to manually edit your '''alltime.ini''' file so all the date/time entries are converted to the correct format. The following table shows just one section from the file, that dealing with wind, as an example of the two formats.
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[File:Badge v1.png]] !! [[File:Badge vMx.png]]
|-
| [Wind] || [Wind]
|-
| highwindvalue=44.0676460266113 || highwindvalue=9
|-
| highwindtime=09/02/2020 07:51:08 || highwindtime=2016-03-07T11:49:52
|-
| highgustvalue=62.0693855285645 || highgustvalue=29
|-
| highgusttime=09/02/2020 07:31:50 || highgusttime=2019-03-14T02:53:00
|-
| highdailywindrunvalue=477.365875244141 || highdailywindrunvalue=89.6165924072266
|-
| highdailywindruntime=09/02/2020 23:59:00 || highdailywindruntime=2014-03-26T23:59:00
|}
The wind speed and gust speed may be shown as integers if that is how your weather station outputs them, and you have not asked Cumulus to calculate them in different units.
The two columns shown represent different locations, that is why the contents do not match, this table is just to illustrate different formats.
== How alltime.ini is used ==
If you restart Cumulus during the day it will read this file at startup, so it can resume tracking extremes of the key parameters starting from latest stored values in alltime.ini. Equally, if you close Cumulus during the day it will write the final values for highs and lows and their timestamps to alltime.ini as part of the close down process.
== Editing this log file ==
It is possible that rogue values read from your weather station will cause this log file to show an incorrect extreme. As mentioned earlier, there is a log of changes to the "alltime.ini" records, called [[alltimelog.txt]], so look at that to see when your rogue value was processed and what was the previous extreme that you should reset to in "alltime.ini".
Also note that the timestamp shown in alltime.ini includes a calendar date, so if you use a 9 or 10am rollover and you are trying to correct highs or lows for times between midnight and rollover, don't forget you need to look for the ''meteorological date (the date before the calendar date for those early hours)'' when seeking the relevant line in the daily log (dayfile.txt) to check in case if it too needs updating.
▲If you restart Cumulus during the day it will read this file at startup, so it can resume tracking extremes of the key parameters starting from latest stored values in alltime.ini. Equally, if you close Cumulus during the day it will write the final values for highs and lows and their timestamps to alltime.ini as part of the close down process.
=== Viewing the all-time highs and lows ===▼
[[File:Cumulus_View_menu.jpg]] Select ''Highs and Lows - All time'' from '''View''' menu.▼
=== Editing alltime.ini within Cumulus ===
Expanding what it says in FAQ: [[FAQ#How_do_I_correct_my_all-time_.28or_monthly.29_records.3F]], the stored values can be corrected using the ''All time records'' screen on the '''Edit''' menu and this Cumulus editor allows you to read from the [[dayfile.txt|daily log]] or the [[Monthly_log_files]]. Therefore, normally any rogue values are corrected in these source files, and resulting lows and highs copied across to the all time log using the in-built editor. However, you can also just edit any low, high or timestamp manually looking at [[Alltimelog.txt]] for current and previous values.
'''Tips''' -- take a copy of the original log file before you work on it outside Cumulus.
Edit the original file using an editor that treats all fields as text [either any text editor, or a spreadsheet program that can be instructed ''not'' to recognise special field (like date) types]. All values have to be specified in the correct section, see [[#Post_Build_924_(version_1.8.9)]] above and follow the format of the property lines in the example below. Note that figures are held internally in Cumulus in binary, and converted to Base 10 numbers for the value shown. Since fractional binary values cannot be converted exactly to base 10 decimals, real numbers appear to be given to a strange decimal resolution with multiple decimal places.
▲[[File:
▲==Example line of the file==
== Example of a larger part of the Cumulus 1 file ==
<pre>[Temperature]
hightempvalue=30.7999992370605
lowtemprangevalue=1.29999995231628
lowtemprangetime=31/12/2010
[Rain]
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