Sky Harbinger (iPhone astro forecast app)

[kustard]

Hi guys,

Just thought I'd mention an iPhone app called Sky Harbinger that scrapes 7Timer! astronomical weather forecast data for any location and displays it on your iPhone in an easy to read format with predictions for the next 2-3 days, handy for planning observations.

The app is free. I'm the developer for the app so happy to answer any questions about the app.

Cheers,

Simon

[quiggles]

Just downloaded it - fantastic job, and looks like I might get some viewing for the first time in a month!

[robbieince]

Just downloaded it too. Looks neat.

One small comment, the hour markings don't make it clear if it's am or pm being shown - can we have 24hr format?

Regards

Rob

[Black Knight]

Syncing up now ....

[dtr42]

looks very neat and should be good to use many thanks

[Black Knight]

Yep, looking good. As always though, it depends on the quality of the forecast!

[Mike73]

This is brilliant!

Thanks Simon.

[kustard]

Thanks all for the feedback,

Just downloaded it too. Looks neat.

One small comment, the hour markings don't make it clear if it's am or pm being shown - can we have 24hr format?

Regards

Rob

Rob, the time displays the hours for each of the three days in 24hr format. You are right though, it doesn't look very clear so I'll tweak the time format so it makes more sense.

Cheers,

Simon

[j45on]

Looks great but my time and date say "null" ?

Thank you for sharing this

[kustard]

Looks great but my time and date say "null" ?

Thank you for sharing this

Hrm, that is very odd indeed. For some reason the app hasn't been able to grab the time and date from you device. I may have missed one of the selectable options that changes what data the app can access (like location services etc).

What device are you using? iPhone or an iPod touch?

Cheers,

Simon

[Cath]

Works OK on my iPhone 4 Simon.

I'd love to be able to write iPhone apps but it seems you need a mac to do so

[pajr777]

Very useful and well presented - thanks for developing this and releasing it for free

[Teslar]

Works well on my iPhone 4 I take it high bars for cloud is bad news or is it the other way around

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[George]

Can you do a version for the ipad?

[j45on]

Hrm, that is very odd indeed. For some reason the app hasn't been able to grab the time and date from you device. I may have missed one of the selectable options that changes what data the app can access (like location services etc).

What device are you using? iPhone or an iPod touch?

Cheers,

Simon

Hi Simon

iPhone 4s , restarting my phone has fixed it

[robbieince]

Hi Simon

Thanks again for this app - I do like 7timer so this will be very useful.

After your response I checked again and I get the nulls instead of time values too. After a phone restart it cleared. However, I still just get 2 digit time values that don't go above 12 so it seems my display doesnt show 24 hrs but 12.

I am on an iPhone 3GS running 5.01.

Regards

Rob

[kustard]

Rob: I'll check the app code for the issue with the time not showing past 12. I might have missed something in the section where the app grabs the time information from the device. I'll check what it does on my 3GS dev phone, it might be something to do with that.

George: I have a few things on my to-do list, one is to add in iPad display, the code already allows for it I just have to modify it. I'm also going to put in a "User Location" option so that you can put in your own locations for quick access.

Teslar: Pretty much the bigger the bar, the worse the condition. The perfect situation would be a blank screen with just temperature and wind values

Thanks again for all the feedback

Cheers,

Simon

[Teslar]

Hi Simon. Thanks for all the time and effort your putting into this. Much appreciated

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[Redpaul]

Hi Simon

Thanks again for this app - I do like 7timer so this will be very useful.

After your response I checked again and I get the nulls instead of time values too. After a phone restart it cleared. However, I still just get 2 digit time values that don't go above 12 so it seems my display doesnt show 24 hrs but 12.

I am on an iPhone 3GS running 5.01.

Regards

Rob

I turned the 24hr clock option off on my iPhone to check if this was causing your problem and it seems to be the case. Try turning the 24hr clock on. Settings>General>Date & Time.

Thanks for a fantastic app Simon.

Paul

[badgerchap]

Excellent - thanks very much Simon, very easy to understand and hopefully what it's telling me is correct - 2 days of no clouds just around the corner - and me with a new untested setup and all! Very reasonably priced too Honestly, I would have happily paid a couple of quid!

[robbieince]

Hi Simon

I have just tried Paul's suggestion and find he is spot on. Of I go to 24 hr clock I see digits that go up to 24. Interestingly though in 24 hour mode the app also shows a dividing line between dates across the whole page. if I revert to 12 hr mode, this date separator disappears.

Can we have this separator irrespective?

Regards

Rob

[kustard]

Hi Simon

I have just tried Paul's suggestion and find he is spot on. Of I go to 24 hr clock I see digits that go up to 24. Interestingly though in 24 hour mode the app also shows a dividing line between dates across the whole page. if I revert to 12 hr mode, this date separator disappears.

Can we have this separator irrespective?

Regards

Rob

Thanks Paul and Rob for fault finding this bug. I'm going to change the date/time display to make it easier to see what days are being displayed. The disappearing line is not a feature it's part of the bug so Ill be fixing that up.

Thanks Badger for for feedback too, the data comes from the "7Timer!" website which specifically asks for no charging for the service so I'm happy to offer the app free

[kustard]

Firstly I want to thank everyone who has downloaded the app. It's had a decent amount of downloads, around 250 or so.

Secondly, I've submitted an update to the app last week and it should be approved within the next few days.

Fixes and features:

1) Temperature setting now saved.

2) Spelling mistakes fixed (I hope I got them all).

3) Fixed an issue with the time not being determined correctly. I hope this fix works as I had to dig about to see what the issue was as I wasn't able to reproduce it here.

4) You can now add up to 10 user locations by accessing the "Sky Harbinger" settings under the iPhone settings.

5) Added moon phase information as a percentage of full.

6) Wind Direction and Speed on the same line, touch to toggle between them.

7) Time and Date on the same line, touch to toggle between them.

8) DMS Location and Location Name can be toggled.

9) Added blue colour for temperatures less than 0C/32F.

I didn't get around to converting the app to run on an iPad in native screen resolution, I'll try and do this at a later stage.

Cheers,

Simon

[Mikejh]

Excellent - looking forward to using that-many thanks

[robbieince]

Hi Simon

That's looks excellent- many thanks. I'll download it when it's released.

Thanks again.

Regards

Rob