Cumulus.ini (preserving history): Difference between revisions

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[[Category:Configuration Files]]
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}}{{Template:Version badge Mx}}
This page has been renamed from "Cumulus.ini" to preserve the early history of that page.

The information that was on this old Cumulus.ini page has been moved into separate pages for Cumulus 1, MX early releases, and MX latest releases.


=History of this page=
=History of this page=


This page has proved the most complicated of all those in the Wiki to maintain:
This page was created for the legacy Cumulus 1 software (e.g. 1.9.4). When a beta version of Cumulus 1 was available, any parameters specific to that beta appeared in [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]]. That beta page was then briefly used for Cumulus 2. Finally, that beta page was used for Cumulus 3 (the MX beta).
# Settings change extremely often
#* Therefore it is a lot of effort to keep the documentation up to date
#* It is obviously easiest if an update is made here as soon as the settings change, sometimes that happens (perhaps by developer doing an update here)
# The design of configuration menus/screens/pages to edit the settings periodically changes
#* This means information about how to change settings often depends upon which release someone is using
#** In turn that means, either Cumulus users of latest release, or those using an earlier release, will struggle with the documentation
# Developers often provide limited information about settings,
#* Sometimes new settings are mentioned in an answer in a forum post, and do not get mentioned as a change in release announcements
#** This means that finding accurate information to update this page requires an awful lot of research that is very time consuming


The above observations applied for the legacy software, when Cumulus 2, and then 3 (MX), came along the documentation was originally split. When MX started (in 2019 to early 2020) to try to replicate much of what Cumulus 1 offered, it made sense to reuse what was written on this page for Cumulus 1, instead of duplicating it on a second page.
This was the position when Steve Loft ceased his involement with Cumulus. This page related to Cumulus 1 and the beta page was for MX.


Then from mid 2020 to early 2021, there was rapid development of MX by the new developer, and MX began to increasingly diverge more and more from the legacy configuration, this page reflected that by introducing sub-sections (Cumulus 1 only, MX only, and both).
When Mark Crossley brought MX out of beta, MX was basically using a sub-set of the legacy parameters – so it was possible for this single page to cover both Cumulus 1 and MX.
From early 2021 onwards that 3 sub-section design for this page failed because new MX releases began to diverge from earlier MX releases. In other words, parameters that had existed at an early MX release, were no longer used by later releases. It was possible, but increasingly more and more difficult, to track new parameters to add that were added at particular releases, so the documentation got more and more obsolete.


To sum up, it was impossible for this page to show information for the legacy software, for early MX releases, and for later MX releases. The response was to move off this page anaything not relevant to the latest MX release, and to restructure this page based on how MX settings are altered, rather than where a parameter appears in the file.
The rapid development of MX by the new developer, made MX start to diverge from Cumulus 1, and this page had to be redesigned to cope, by introducing sub-sections (Cumulus 1 only, MX only, and both).


However, MX then started to diverge from earlier MX releases. It was impossible for this page to show information for the legacy software, for early MX releases, and for later MX releases. As MX diverged again, it was time to start splitting this page.


==Steve Loft Era==
The content relating to the legacy software (e.g. 19.4) has been moved to [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)|this page]].

The content relating to releases 3.0.0 to 3.7.x has been moved to [[Cumulus.ini(MX_3.0.0_to_3.9.7)|this page]] where it is hoped someone will document the various changes from 3.8.0 to 3.9.7, as currently they are not documented anywhere.

The past history for both those two new pages remains available via the history tab on this page.

To conclude, in the past the content on this page was arranged assuming people were editing the file directly.

(In earlier releases, "read-only" settings were made directly in the "Cumulus.ini" file, while "read-write" settings were made either in the file or via the interface. You will see in the two pages split off from this page, how the parameters had to identify themselves as read-only or read-write).

=Revising Content of this page=

From release 3.10.1, much of the information that was produced for earlier MX releases became invalid. MX 3.10.1 has added a lot of new settings, and it has made others redundant.

Consequently, this page was emptied again, and made ready for new content to reflect how MX works from 3.10.1 onwards. PLEASE HELP TO POPULATE THIS PAGE WITH ALL THE RELEVANT CONTENT.

#One big change in 3.10.1 is that all settings are now made via the [[MX Administrative Interface|Admin interface]].
#*Therefore it makes no sense anymore to organise this page how someone editing the file directly might want.
#*This page is now organised by how you change settings in the admin interface (i.e. similar to how settings have been explained in [[MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings]]).
#Another change is that some of the settings that used to be made on the “Station Settings” page, are now made on different pages in that interface.
#Yet another change is that what you pick in some settings can affect what settings are shown later on the page.
#*You could say the settings pages have become intelligent.
#*For example, when you select a weather station type it ensures only parameters that relate to that weather station type are shown.
#*As another example, you can opt in or out of the default web site design, so that determines which parameters relating to web sites are shown.
#A final change is that some parameters are grouped as “Advanced”, so that novices can avoid those.

=How this page shows settings=

Settings are now arranged according to the menu selections, as that is the way you change them.

Consequently, the revised tables have to explain which section settings are in the file.

=The Cumulus.ini file=

'''Cumulus.ini''' is a text file containing initialization parameters used by the Cumulus MX software application.


== Creating Configuration File ==

When Cumulus MX is run for very first time, the file does not exist, as it is not included in the release distribution.
#If you start Cumulus MX without a configuration file, and you have a screen attached so you can see the output from the engine, it will show this: [[File:MX first start.PNG]]
#As you can see, it is running, but it does not know what station type, so it cannot connect to it, and will not do anything more.

So when you first use the software, you will need to enter all settings (some have defaults that might be right for you), and that will lead to creation of the main configuration file.

==Reading Configuration File==

Whenever MX is restarted, it reads the ''Cumulus.ini'' that now exists.

The settings it finds tell it what options you have selected, and which sections of the MX code apply for your selections of weather station type (input) and for your selections of what processing it should do, and for where you want it to send weather data to (output).

==File contents==

The file is a simple text file. It is divided into sections with section names in square brackets (e.g. [Station]). These sections can appear in any order, by default new sections are appended after all previous sections.

Within each section, there are parameters. Each parameter is in format '''Attribute=Value''', and appears on a line to itself.

The parameters, within a section, can be in any order, by default new parameters are appended at end of the relevant section.

== Add new parameters to file==

If a new release of MX adds new parameters, then they will be automatically added to Cumulus.ini when you access that setting.

Some parameters have a valid default value. If you need to change that value, find the appropriate setting by looking in tables below.
Some parameters have an initial illegal value, and you are forced to give these parameter a valid setting before MX will allow you to save settings. In some cases, these ‘’’missing’’’ values will even stop MX doing any weather data processing.

==Remove redundant parameters from file==

Best done after, not before, you [[Updating MX to new version|upgrade]] MX, as installing a new release might add/remove parameters to/from Cumulus.ini.
If you have been using Cumulus for a while, there might be parameters that are now obsolete left in your configuration file, and as newer parameters are appended at end that might make the parameter order look strange. You can start afresh with a new file anytime by following a very simple procedure as follows.

You must do this while Cumulus MX running (to preserve existing settings)...
# Rename your existing '''Cumulus.ini''' to say '''Cumulus.ini.sav''' (this keeps the file, but stops MX finding it)
# In Cumulus go to one of the settings screens – simply click ‘’’Save Settings’’ (i.e. any action that makes MX save settings to its configuration file)
#*It is possible this might highlight a new parameter that does not yet have a valid value (e.g. the Alarm settings screen does not have a “save settings”, but it has ‘’’Enable Alarms’’’, and if you have not set all these parameters previously that will fail as there are parameters on this page that do not have a default value.
# Cumulus should create a brand new Cumulus.ini file,
#This will have all the settings you have chosen
#They will now be in the order MX is expecting
#*For the legacy software, the advice was to manually sort parameters alphabetically within sections to make it easier to find them, and avoid duplication. MX default sort order is where entries are set in the code, and that is far from alphabetic!
#As MX is unaware of settings it used previously, but does not use now, and MX is unaware of what settings the legacy software used, it won’t write back any of these redundant settings in the new configuration file.

As well as changing the order in which parameters are stored, this re-generation will show up other changes:
*A major change is likely in the <nowiki>'''[Station]'''</nowiki> section as that has seen a lot of changes as MX is developed.
*The <nowiki>’’’[Graphs]]’’’</nowiki> section has also seen a number of changes as MX has developed.
*The most dramatic change may happen in <nowiki>'''[FTP Site]'''</nowiki> as any changes to the list of parameters for '''Extra Web Files''' are reproduced 100 times.

=The settings pages in admin interface=

Please see [[MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings]] for basic information, including how to load the admin interface.

A KEY POINT TO REMEMBER HERE IS THAT SETTINGS FALL INTO TWO GROUPS
#SETTINGS THAT TAKE EFFECT IMMEDIENTLY ON CLICKING “SAVE”
#SETTINGS THAT ONLY TAKE EFFECT WHEN MX IS RESTARTED
Unfortunently, there is no documentation available from developer on which settings fall in which category, so nothing can be shown here yet.

The ‘’’Settings’’’ menu has links to a number of settings pages in its drop down. Each link name appears in a separate second level headed section below.

Within that second level section that covers the whole page, there are third level sections on this page that are named to match the sections that appear on the settings page in the admin interface.

If those sections can be opened to display sub-sections, those will appear here as fourth-level sections.

Finally, individual settings are presented in tables below. There are two different formats for these tables:
#Configuration file [Section] name appears in a column, permitting one table to cover parameters that appear in different sections in the file
# Configuration file [Section] name appears at top of table, signifying all parameters in that table are in same section of the configuration file.
==Program settings==

===Accessibility===


<big>The configuration file content relating to the legacy software (e.g. 1.9.4) has been moved to [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)|legacy page]]</big>


{| class="wikitable" border="1"
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:400px" | Legacy Software 1.x.y releases
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:200px" | Beta builds of legacy software
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:200px" | Cumulus 2 alpha releases
!style="width:600px" | Description
!style="width:300px" | MX beta 3.0.0
|-
|-
| This page was created for the legacy Cumulus 1 software (up to 1.9.4). If you look at the history tab of this page, user‎ '''Shamrockspider''' created this page at 12:55 on 27 August 2009 for the purpose of '''Documenting the cumulus.ini file content and its function.'''
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Program]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name
|-
|EnableAccessibility=0
|Enable accessibility features
|0 (disable)
|Determines styling of settings pages:
*Set to 1 to make this (and other pages) appear in a '''button selection''' style (more friendly on an accessibility basis).
*Leave it at zero for a '''Click &#9654;to expand, click &#9660; to collapse''' styling.
|}


Back in 2009, the file was fairly simple, and therefore documentating it was also fairly easy.
===Program Start-up Options===


Some settings were in [[Cumulus_Screenshots#Configuration_Menu_Screens|configuration screens]], and the file was arranged so that those settings were stored under a heading that generally (not in every case, for historic reasons) reflected the screen name. Documenting these was comparitively easy, the setting could be found easily and its allowed values could be easily tested.


A lot of extra settings were added to the file, but not added to the configuration screens. Documenting these was particularly difficult as only some got mentioned in release announcements, so the others were hard to discover, and allowed values were not always clear.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
| Each time a beta version of Cumulus 1 was available, any parameters specific to that beta appeared in [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], and only moved to the main page when that beta finished, and became the main release.
|-
| The same beta page, [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], was briefly used for Cumulus 2.
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
| Finally, that beta page, [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], was used for all the changes in Cumulus 3 (the MX beta):
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
*Some of the parameters for Cumulus 1 were not used by MX beta
!style="width:20px" | Default
*Some of the parameters for Cumulus 1 were used by MX beta
!style="width:600px" | Description
*Beta MX only added 3 new parameters
|-
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Program]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name
|-
|StartupPingHost=
|Host to PING on program start-up
|None (disable)
| Add a hostname or IP to address to ping at startup. Cumulus waits until the ping is successful before trying to read from your station. Leave blank to disable
|-
|StartupPingEscapeTime=999
|PING escape time (mins)
|999 (minutes)
|Specify a time after which if no ping response is received carry on starting Cumulus MX anyway
|-
|StartupDelaySecs=0
|Start-up Delay (secs)
|zero (disable)
|Add a delay before the Cumulus tries to start reading the station.
|-
|StartupDelayMaxUptime=300
|Max system uptime to apply the start-up delay
|300 (seconds)
|The time that has passed sice MX was started (up-time) is compared against the (max delay time) figure here.
*If max delay time less than up-time, the delay specified in previous parameter will NOT be applied
*If up-time less than this max delay time, then MX will apply any delay specified in previous parameter
*If this parameter is set to zero, then MX will always apply any delay specified in previous parameter
|}


This was the position when Steve Loft ceased his involvement with Cumulus. This page contained all parameters used for Cumulus 1, some of these were used by MX beta too.
===Program General Options===


The beta page contained some Cumulus 1 beta parameters that were still under development and the parameters that were only used by MX.
==Station Settings==

This is a different settings page. However, the settings made on this page appear in different [Section]s of the configuration file, so do check in each table.

===Accessibility===

Yes, this selection can be made on two different pages in the admin interface.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Section
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:600px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Program]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name
|-
|EnableAccessibility=0
|Enable accessibility features
|0 (disable)
|Determines styling of settings pages:
*Set to 1 to make this (and other pages) appear in a '''button selection''' style (more friendly on an accessibility basis).
*Leave it at zero for a '''Click &#9654;to expand, click &#9660; to collapse''' styling.
|}
|}


== Mark Crossley era==
===General Settings - Station type and Log interval===

===General Settings - Log Rollover===

===General Settings - Units ===

===General Settings - Location===

===General Settings - Advanced Options===

===Station specific alternatives===

====Fine Offset Settings====

====Davis VP/VP2/Vue====


* Cumulus.ini content has changed drastically, and therefore the documentation page called "Cumulus.ini" has also had to change drastically
* There was a period when it was possible for one page to document both the legacy Cumulus 1.9.4 and all MX releases, but that has long gone.


{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} This table does not yet have all details in it.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:300px" | MX beta releases 3.0.0 to MX release 3.4.6
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:250px" | MX releases 3.6.0 to 3.7.0
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:400px" | MX releases 3.8.0 to 3.9.7
!style="width:300px" | Description
!style="width:200px" | MX releases 3.10.0 to 3.11.4
!style="width:250px" | MX release 3.12.0 onwards
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Station]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in Station section
|-
|-
|VP2SleepInterval=500
|
|
* Until MX release 3.4.6, people using MX needed to refer to the page now called [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)]], which was called "Cumulus.ini" at the time, and the beta page, [[Cumulus.ini_(Beta)]], as MX still used most of the parameters that the legacy software used and just a few new parameters. The latter still contained information from the last Cumulus 1 beta relating to Proxies section of Cumulus.ini, as that had not been finalised.
|500 (milli-seconds)
* When Mark Crossley brought MX out of beta, he started adding new features to MX:
|the period which Cumulus waits between reads of the data from Davis stations, the value is in milliseconds.
** Some features represented functionality in the legacy software that MX had lacked, these used parameters that had been used for the legacy software
* if you suspect that data is being missed, reduce number
** For other new features, like interfaces with new weather station types and new sensors, he created new parameters, and the beta page began to rival the legacy page in the number of parameters it covered
*For VirtualVP users, tests revealed that VP2SleepInterval = 1100 seems to work the best. It updates every two seconds with few exceptions.
* The information about MX on the beta page stayed there until April 2020
|-
|VPClosedownTime=x
|
|
* Release 3.6.0 was when the functionality of MX first started to exceed the functionality of the legacy software
|(default not yet documented)
* Between April and June 2020, information on the beta page was slowly moved across to the main page, it took some time as it needed to be verified because as MX developed configuration file content was changing
| x is the number of seconds after the start of the re-connect attempts that you want the program to close itself
* Suddenly, a lot of people were migrating from the legacy software to MX
|-
* To help people migrating, from June 2020, all settings (for both the legacy software and MX) were covered on a single "Cumulus.ini" page
|DavisCalcAltPress=1
* As people migrated, they could see on that single page clearly which parameters in their '''Cumulus.ini''' file were still valid, and what new parameters were needed when they migrated
* For those using MX, the page was recording the new parameters that were being added to the file as MX developed
* Now the history of all the changes at that time can be viewed on this page, as this was originally the page that once held that combined information.
|
|
* From release 3.8.0, the pace of change in MX was so fast, and the contributors to the Wiki so few, the page then called "Cumulus.ini" (with its previous content) stopped being maintained.
|1
*# The main problem was somebody needed to do a lot of research, and devote a lot of time, to track what the developer was changing.
|Davis stations calculate Sea Level Pressure (SLP) from Station Pressure (SP) using a formula based on temperature, humidity, and altitude
*# There was a second problem, it was clear that it was too complicated to use the same page to describe configuration for the legacy software, older MX releases, and the latest MX release

* Consequently, the "Cumulus.ini" page had to change, and the first move meant accepting MX and the legacy software could not be documented any more on the same page
CWOP require 'Altimeter Pressure' (AP) to be uploaded, i.e. a value calculated simply using altitude.
** A new page was created [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)]], and all the information specific to the legacy software was split off from this page
*0 = Use SLP supplied by Davis
* This still left the problem that this page, at that time called "Cumulus.ini", had information that related to a release that had been superseded
*1 = Convert the SP Davis supplies to AP using the altitude you have supplied.
** Another new page was created, [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)]], and all the MX information was moved there.
|-
* Finally, this old "Cumulus.ini" paqe, with the attached history, but without any parameter information in the main page, was renamed to its current name, so it has preserved the history of the old page that had been split into two new pages, neither of which had the past history
|SyncDavisClock=0
|
|0
|When set, at Cumulus start-up and at a fixed time (default 04:00, see next parameter) each day, Cumulus will set the Davis VP/VP2 clock to within a minute of the same time as the PC. (From build 3015 for MX).
*0 = Disabled, default (as deselected on the Station Configuration Screen)
*1 = Enabled, ensures that when Cumulus asks the station for data since time X, both recognise X!
|-
|ClockSettingHour=4
|
|4
|Controls what hour of the day the SyncDavisClock activity will take place if it is enabled.
*4 = 04:00 (default value)
*0-23 = 00:00 to 23:00
|-
|VP2ConnectionType=1
|
|
* At release 3.10.0, the settings pages in the admin interface were given a significant makeover, and huge numbers of new settings were created, while many others became redundant
* It was clear the old [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)|MX "Cumulus.ini"]] page was badly designed for the way 3.10.0 operated
* That old page was already out of date as it had not been updated for 3.8.0 changes
* It became obvious it was easier to start a new page that would would be based around 3.10.0 MX release, but would incorporate changes from 3.8.0 onwards, and would ignore anything that was now redundant
* The other change was a redesign of the page, so it focussed on explaining how to change the settings using the admin interface, rather than just documenting what each parameter in the file was used for
|
|
* As MX was developed, its settings pages were being redesigned, and so where you changed particular parameters in the file was modified making the documentation that already existed obsolete for people using latest release, but still valid for people who were using an older release.
|Weather station connection type
* As release 3.12.0 was planned to add many, many more parameters to the Cumulus.ini file, and the Settings pages get another redesign, it was decided the documenting of the changes in 3.8.0, 3.9.2, and 3.10.0 would be delayed until it became clearer what might change in 3.12.0
*0 = serial (see next parameter to specify COM port)
* The new [[Cumulus.ini]] page to cover all these recent releases was created in June 2021, a year after the last big change to a page with that name.
*(1 = usb - setting no longer available on screen, remains as default in cumulus.ini for those not using a Davis)
*2 = TCP/IP (see later parameters to specify ports)
Default is type 1, i.e. neither option on screen selected, so if you use a Davis you must select either serial or TCP/IP.
|-
|VP2TCPPort=22222
|
| 2222
|Communications port used if VP type has TCP/IP selected.
|-
|VP2IPAddr=0.0.0.0
|
| 0.0.0.0
|Weather station IP address if VP type has TCP/IP selected.
|-
|VP2PeriodicDisconnectInterval=0
|
|0 (disable)
|When the clock minute changes, Cumulus stops the current stream of data from the console, disconnects, waits for the specified number of milliseconds, to allow the Weatherlink IP to briefly connect to the Davis Weatherlink site. Cumulus then attempts to reconnect.

Set it to zero to disable, if you are not using the Weatherlink site.
|-
|LogExtraSensors=0
|
|0
|This is set in the '''Settings''' block on the Station settings screen off the configuration menu. Set this to 1 if you have additional sensors (e.g. a Davis Leaf Wetness probe) to make Cumulus read, display, and log the readings from the sensors. You don't select this for Solar/UV sensors.
|-
|UseDavisLoop2=1
|
|1 (use Loop2)
|The current MX code uses ''LOOP2'' for two purposes. First, it uses the 'peak 10-minute gust' value, to avoid the problem where a gust might be missed, and secondly it uses the 'absolute pressure' value to make calculation of 'altimeter pressure' easier and more accurate. This is mainly used if you upload to CWOP.
*1 (default) = Cumulus MX will use the LOOP2 packet for Davis Weather Stations by default. The LOOP2 packet is supported on the VP2 with firmware version 1.90 or later, and on the Vue.
*0 = Select this if you have a Vantage Pro (i.e. the original 'VP1'), or a VP2 with pre-1.90 firmware, or if you are using Virtual VP, none of these support the LOOP2 packet.

Without this setting, Cumulus will revert to calculating the 10-minute gust value itself from the individual wind speed readings, but it will not currently attempt to calculate altimeter pressure correctly, it will simply use the sea-level pressure instead. This is likely to be an issue if you are at high altitude and you upload to CWOP using Cumulus MX.
|-
|DavisIPResponseTime=500
|
|500
|The length of time in milliseconds which Cumulus waits to allow a response from the console to a command (i.e. a request for any kind of data) from an IP logger, see Cumulus MX forum where times up to 2000ms are suggested.
|-
|ForceVPBarUpdate=0
|
|0 (normal)
| Added in build 3042 (January 2017).

The default (value=0) is to assume standard barometer updates on Davis stations. Set to 1, by adding ForceVPBarUpdate=1 in [Station] section to force more frequent barometer updates on Davis stations. Steve says "Having checked the code, I see it asks for 20 packets from the 'LOOP2' if the barometer forcing is on, otherwise it stops receiving LOOP data after 50 packets". Note that ForceVPBarUpdate=1 is only useful on very old versions of the console firmware.
|-
|DavisIncrementPressureDP=0
|
|1
|(from version 3.0.0 build 3042)
* 0= Pressure values shown to 1 decimal places when reported in mb/hPa, shown to 2 decimal places for inHg
* 1= Pressure values shown to 2 decimal places when reported in mb/hPa, shown to 3 decimal places for inHg
|-
|VPrainGaugeType=0
|
|1
|Specifies the units selected on your Vantage Pro Rain Gauge.
*0 = Metric Rain Adapter fitted, a 0.2mm gauge
*1 = Imperial gauge without adapter, a 0.01" gauge.
Note that if the units you choose for rainfall do not match your rain gauge type, conversion rounding errors will then occur.
|-
|DataLogging=0
|
|0
|(Build 3018 onwards).
*0 (default) = Cumulus MX will not add extra logging.
*1 = To add extra logging to the diags file for data received from Davis stations. Use this with care, the log will get very large.
I've also added some more diagnostics to try to find the cause of the problem where data stops being read from Davis stations. Debug logging is required to be turned on. (Build 3022 onwards).
|-
|AutoUpdateIpAddress=1
|
|1
|default = 1, set to 0 to switch off the WLL autodetection of IP address. This is a workaround for a WLL firmware bug that does not update the IP address when it changes using DHCP.
|-
|ZeroConfig
|
|(default not known)
|set this on station settings screen; to enable/disable the entry/update of the stations IP address via auto-discovery
|}
|}


=Original content of this page=
====WM918/WMR928 Settings====


==How this page used to be laid out, and why==
Oregon Scientific specific
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}}Some cells in table not yet completed


For both [[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)|Cumulus 1]] and [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)|early MX releases]], the content on this page was arranged assuming people were editing the file directly.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Station]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in Station section
|-
|Humidity98Fix=0
|
|0 (disable)
|Applies to weather station types that never report more than 98% relative humidity.
*0 = Disabled (default)
*1 = Enabled, humidity displayed and recorded as 100% if your sensor registers a relative humidity of 98%. Normally only useful for Oregon Scientific stations.
|-
|LogExtraSensors=0
|
|0 (disable)
|This setting determines whether MX looks for readings from extra temperature probes etc.
*0=Disabled (default)
*1= Enabled - Used for Oregon Scientific WMR-928 and similar stations if you have additional sensors (e.g. another temperature probe) to make Cumulus read, display, and log the readings from those sensors. You don't use this for Solar/UV sensors..
|-
|WMR928TempChannel=N
|
|(no default)
|for WMR-928 stations (and other serial stations using the same protocol, eg WMR-968) to use an 'extra' channel (see previous parameter) as your main temperature sensor, set N to the required channel
|-
|WMR200TempChannel=N
|
|(no default)
|for WMR200 stations (and any other Oregon Scientific USB stations which work with Cumulus, e.g. WMR100) to use an 'extra' channel as your main temperature sensor, set N to the required channel
|}


Therefore, the file was described by working through the sections on the file, and explaining the parameters that could go in each section.
====EasyWeather File Settings====


For the longer sections, parameters might be split into separate tables to make it easier.
====Instromet Settings====


Before release 3.10.1, there were two types of parameters in Cumulus.ini.
#"read-only" settings were made directly in the "Cumulus.ini" file, there was no way to adjust these parameters using the settings screens/pages
#"read-write" settings could be changed in two ways, either by editing the file with Cumulus stopped, or by finding the parameter on a setting screen (for MX, these are in admin interface).


:You will see in the two pages split off from this page ([[Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1)]] and [[Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)]]), how the parameters had to identify themselves as read-only or read-write.
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} The following table has some gaps to fill in


==Why has this original "Cumulus.ini" page been renamed, cleared of old content, and made historic?==
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Station]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in Station section
|-
|ImetWaitTime=200
|
|200
|This parameter (attribute=value) if you need to change it from its '''default of 200 ms''' is added directly to the file, it does not appear on a configuration screen.
Specifies the time in milliseconds that Cumulus allows for a response from an Instromet station. If you are having problems with reading from an Instromet station, try inserting this line into the ''Station'' section using a value of 500. According to the specification, 500 ms is the absolute maximum time that the station should take to respond to any command.
|-
|ImetBaudRate=19200
|
| 19200
| Some ?older? Instromet loggers operate at 115200, if you have one of these older loggers you will need to reset this value
|-
|SyncDavisClock=0
|
|0
|Note despite the name of the parameter within 'Cumulus.ini', this does apply to Instromet stations.
When set, at Cumulus start-up and at 04:00 each day, Cumulus will set the Instromet clock to within a minute of the same time as the PC
*0 = Disabled, default as deselected on the Station Configuration Screen
*1 = Enabled, ensures that when Cumulus asks the station for data since time X, both recognise X as representing same time!
|-
|LogExtraSensors=0
|
|0 (disable)
|If you have 'extra sensors' selected, the wet bulb reading will be used as an extra temperature sensor. Otherwise it is used as 'wet bulb' and the humidity will be calculated from that and the dry bulb sensor.
*0=Disabled (default). For a wet bulb sensor, Cumulus will output the humidity, not the temperature shown by the wet bulb.
*1= Enabled - Used for optional Sunshine hours or extra temperature sensors on Instromet stations. For a wet bulb sensor, Cumulus will output the temperature it shows, but not calculate the humidity.
|}


#One big change in 3.10.1 is that (almost) all settings are now made via the [[MX Administrative Interface|Admin interface]].
====Davis WeatherLink Live====
#*Therefore it makes no sense any more to organise this page how someone editing the file directly might want.

#*The replacement [[Cumulus.ini]] page is now organised by how you change settings in the admin interface (i.e. similar to how settings have been explained in [[MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings]]).
{{Template:WorkInProgressBanner}} This table has not been populated yet
#Another change is that some of the settings that used to be made on the “Station Settings” page, are now made on different pages in that interface.

#Yet another change is that what you pick in some settings can affect what settings are shown later on the admin interface page.
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
#*You could say the settings pages have become intelligent.
|-
#*For example, when you select a weather station type it ensures only parameters that relate to that weather station type are shown.
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
#*As another example, you can opt in or out of the default web site design, so that determines which parameters relating to web sites are shown.
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
#A final change is that some parameters are grouped as “Advanced”, so that novices can avoid those.
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Station]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in Station section
|-
|
|
|
|
|}

====Ecowittt GW1000 Settings====

Ecowitt GW1000 and Froggit DP1500 (and any equivalents) specific
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:100px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:600px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[GW100]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name
|-
|AutoUpdateIpAddress=1
|Auto-discovery
|1 (selected)
|Should MX attempt to discover IP address
*0=Disable
*1=Enable
|-
|IPAddress=
|IP address
|(no default)
| stores the IP address of your GW1000 WiFi logger
|-
|MACAddress=
|MAC addresss
|(no default)
|Populated by MX when auto-discovery enabled
|}

====Solar====

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:150px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:600px" | Function
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[Solar]
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section Name - the following parameters appear in Solar section
|-
|SunThreshold=75
|If you have a solar sensor: Cumulus tries to determine whether the sun is shining by determining whether the current solar radiation value is above a certain percentage of the current theoretical maximum. The value you supply here is used as that percentage. The default value is 75%.
|-
|RStransfactor=0.8
|Cumulus uses the Ryan-Stolzenbach formula to determine the current theoretical maximum solar radiation at your location at the current moment in time. This formula has a factor to allow for the transmission of the radiation through the atmosphere; the default is 0.80.
|-
|SolarMinimum=0
|This setting allows you to specify a minimum solar radiation value which needs to be reached before it can be considered to be sunny. Note that this setting does not replace the calculation using the current theoretical maximum, it specifies an additional condition which has to be met. This setting therefore allows you to cater for the periods at the beginning and end of the day when the theoretical maximum is very low.
|-
|LuxToWM2=0.0079
|this parameter applies if you have a Fine Offset station with a solar detector. These supply 'Lux' values rather than 'W/m2' values that Davis stations supply. Cumulus attempts to convert from Lux to W/m2 using the supplied multiplication factor. You can add this parameter if you want to use a value other than the default of 0.0079, which is the generally accepted standard conversion factor for sunlight.
|-
|UseBlakeLarsen=0
| Called B/l on screen. Set this to 1 if you have a Blake-Larsen Sun Recorder, and you want Cumulus to get today's sunshine hours from it. You need to configure the Blake-Larsen software to put the SRsunshine.dat file into the correct folder i.e. the ''' program root folder''' in MX (i.e. same folder as where "Cumulus.ini" is stored).
|-
|SolarCalc=1
|The value is set in the MX user interface when the solar calculation method is set.
*0 (default) = Ryan-Stolzenbach calculation, which uses the RStransfactor entry to tune the output.
*1 = Bras calculation, which uses the BrasTurbidity entry below to tune the output.
|-
|BrasTurbidity=2.0
|The value is set in the MX user interface when the solar calculation method is set.
*2.0 (default) = Perfect clear sky
*decimal value = The normal range is 2 (Clear sky) to 5 (Smoggy)
|}


===Common Options===

===Forecast===

===Annual Rainfall===

===Growing Degree Days===

===Annual Temperature Sum===

===Graphs===

===Display Options===

==Internet Settings==

===Web/FTP Site===

===Web/FTP Settings===

===Email Server Settings===

===External Programs===

===MQTT===

MQTT (Message Queuing Telemetry Transport) is a machine-to-machine (M2M), also known as "Internet of Things", connectivity protocol.

This section was introduced by release 3.5.0 (build 3071)

Cumulus.ini Section Name is [MQTT]
{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:150px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:600px" | Function
!style="width:150px" | Where to Edit
|-
|Server=
|Note there is no default. This text box is to enter your server name or the IPv4 or IPv6 address to find your server
|MQTT section
|-
|Username=
|This is optional.This text box is to enter the username if one is needed for updating your server
|MQTT section
|-
|Password=
|This is optional. This text box is to enter any password needed for that username
|MQTT section
|-
|Port=1883
|Note default. To edit which port is used to connect to your server
|MQTT section
|-
|UseTLS=0
|Transport Layer Security (TLS), and its now-deprecated predecessor, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), are cryptographic protocols designed to provide communications security over a computer network. This tick box on settings screen indicates whether TLS support is required,
*default is not (0),
*set to 1 if modern security protocol is being used
|MQTT section tick box
|-
|IPversion=0
|Mandatory - This parameter must be added to this Cumulus.ini section, it cannot be edited on a screen.
*0=default,
*4=IPv4,
*6=IPv6
|In file only
|-
|EnableDataUpdate=0
|This provides an easy way to stop/start the updating without losing other settings. Default is unticked as most people do not use this functionality.
|tick box in '''Send message on data update''' section
|-
|UpdateTopic=CumulusMX/DataUpdate
|This feature in the '''Send message on data update''' section is where you specify the name to give to the update message
|'''Send message on data update''' section
|-
|UpdateTemplate=DataUpdateTemplate.txt
|In the CumulusMX/mqtt folder there is a default template with a file name specified by the default value of this parameter. In that default file <tt>{"time":"<#timehhmmss>","windspeed":<#wlatest rc=y>,"winddir":<#bearing>}</tt> will send wind readings in case for example you want to close something when it is windy. If you create your own file, you can put its name here.
|'''Send message on data update''' section
|-
|EnableInterval=0
|This tick box provides an easy way to stop/start this type of updating without losing other settings. Default is unticked as most people do not use this functionality.
|tick box in '''Send message at fixed intervals''' section
|-
|IntervalTime=600
|This text box is where you enter the time between messages in seconds, the default is 600 meaning every ten minutes.
|'''Send message at fixed intervals''' section
|-
|IntervalTopic=CumulusMX/Interval
|This text box is where you specify the name to give to the fixed interval update message
|'''Send message at fixed intervals''' section
|-
|IntervalTemplate=IntervalTemplate.txt
|In the CumulusMX/mqtt folder there is a default template with a file name specified by the default value of this parameter. In that default file <tt>{"time":"<#timehhmmss>","temp":<#temp rc=y>,"humidity":<#hum>}</tt> will send temperature and humidity readings in case for example you want to open something when it feels uncomfortable. If you create your own file, you can put its name here.
|'''Send message at fixed intervals''' section
|}


===Moon Image===

===Proxies===

Cumulus 1.9.4 beta build 1061 introduces these. Currently, search the forum using the term 'proxies' for more details. They will be described here when 1.9.4 becomes a full release, currently they are being tested.

HTTPProxyName=

HTTPProxyPort=

HTTPProxyUser=

HTTPProxyPassword=


==NOAA Settings==

===Create NOAA files after daily rollover===

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
| AutoSave=1
| Create NOAA files after daily rollover
|0
| *0= do not use Reports functionality
*1= do use Reports functionality
|}

===Site Details===

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
|Name=Personal Weather Station
|Site Name
|(empty)
|What you would like to see in report title for your station name
|-
|City=
|City
|(empty)
|Enter here your hamlet, village, town, or city, name
|-
|State=
|State
|(empty)
|Enter here your local authority area or region (state in USA)
|}

===Output Files===

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
|MonthFileFormat='NOAAMO'MMyy'.txt'
|Monthly filename format
|'NOAAMO'MMyy'.txt' (note quotes round 'NOAAMO' and round '.txt')
|Here you specify the filename template for MX to use when reading, or writing, monthly reports

There is a prefix text in quotes,then comes a way to specify months (see [[Reports_folder#NOAA_style_Report_Naming]]), and finally comes the mandatory text extension. e.g. "NOAAMO"MMMyyyy".txt" would also be valid.
|-
|YearFileFormat='NOAAYR'yyyy'.txt’
|Yearly filename format
|'NOAAYR'yyyy'.txt'
|Here you specify the filename template for MX to use when reading, or writing, yearly reports

There is a prefix text in quotes,then comes a way to specify months (see [[Reports_folder#NOAA_style_Report_Naming]]), and finally comes the mandatory text extension.
|}


===Report Format Options===

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
|12hourformat=0
|Time format
|0 (24 hour)
| How times are output on reports
* 24 Hour
* 12 Hour
|-
|NOAUseUTF8=1
|Use UTF-8 encoding
|Please see [[Reports_folder#Encoding]]

By default, reports use UTF-8 encoding, this can display for example degree characters as well as normal A-Z and 0-9 (or locale equivalents)

If unticked (0 appears in file), then iso-8859-1 encoding is used
|-
|UseDotDecimal=0
|Use a 'dot' decimal point
|0 (locale)
| Should dot or comma decimal be used?
*0= as defined in your locale
*1= dot decimal place, regardless of what in locale
(The reason for this is that some people instead of looking at reports, have a script that parses the report and outputs in a different way)
|}

===FTP Options===

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
|AutoFTP=0
|Auto FTP NOAA report files
|0 (disable)
|Assuming you have selected (in earlier sub-section) that MX is to create reports
*0= Disable any further action with filename
*1= Enable the file transfer process you have defined for MX, to upload the file for you (at first update time after rollover has completed)
|-
|FTPDirectory=
|FTP directory
|(empty)
|Where you want MX to use as destination folder on your FTP server
*Leave blank and MX will use wherever has been specified in main internet settings (this fits how the default web site is designed to work)
* Specify a folder relative to FTP root, and MX will upload reports to that folder instead (if you use any files from default web site, then you will need to amend the JavaScript file:
<code>let rptPath = ''; // Your path should have a trailing "/", eg. 'Reports/'</code> by putting your folder name in, an example is given for the case when “/Reports” is a sub folder off the main upload destination, note how you don’t include a leading slash, but you must add a trailing one.
|}

===Thresholds===

‘’Please note any temperatures you specify in these settings must use the same units as you have asked MX to report temperature in. Equally any rainfall amounts you specify here must use the same units as you have asked MX to report rainfall in.’’

{| class="wikitable" border="1"
|-
!style="width:30px" | Parameter Line Entry
!style="width:60px" | Label on Settings page
!style="width:20px" | Default
!style="width:300px" | Description
|-
|style="background:lightgray;"|[NOAA]
|
|
|style="background:lightgray;"|Section name - the following parameters appear in NOAA section
|-
|HeatingThreshold=15.5
|Heating threshold
|65<sup>o</sup> F or 18.3<sup>o</sup>C
|[[Heat/cold_degree_days_and_Chill_hours#Heat_Degree_Days| Heating Degree Days]] are a measure of the need for heating, based on time below, and temperature difference below, a threshold temperature. The international standard says 15.5 <sup>o</sup>Celsius is a suitable threshold to ensure comfort. For historical consistency, the default used by MX is based on the threshold used when Steve Loft first implemented this in [[Reports_folder#A_brief_history_of_these_reports|Cumulus 2 (enhancement request 44)]], and that was done to match some early look up tables.
|-
|CoolingThreshold=22
|Cooling threshold
|65<sup>o</sup> F or 18.3<sup>o</sup>C
|[[Heat/cold_degree_days_and_Chill_hours#Cold_Degree_Days|Cold Degree Days]] are a measure of the need to cool the air to make it more comfortable, based on time above, and temperature difference above, a threshold temperature. The international standard says 22 <sup>o</sup>Celsius is a suitable threshold to ensure comfort. For historical consistency, the default used by MX is based on the threshold used when Steve Loft first implemented this in [[Reports_folder#A_brief_history_of_these_reports|Cumulus 2 (enhancement request 44)]], and that was done to match some early look up tables.
|-
|MaxTempComp1=22
|Max temp comparison 1
|(empty)
|The report will count the number of days when this threshold is exceeded. In the parameter I have quoted, the first comparison has been set to agree with the cooling degree day threshold
|-
|MaxTempComp2=0
|Max temp comparison 2
|(empty)
|The report will count the number of days when this threshold is exceeded. In the parameter I have quoted, the second comparison has been set to agree with feezing point (I’m using Celsius)
|-
|MinTempComp1=15.5
|Min temp comparison 1
|(empty)
|The report will count the number of days when this threshold is exceeded. In the parameter I have quoted, the first comparison has been set to agree with the heating degree day threshold
|-
|MinTempComp2=0
|Min temp comparison 2
|(empty)
|The report will count the number of days when this threshold is exceeded. In the parameter I have quoted, the second comparison has been set to agree with feezing point (I’m using Celsius)
|-
|RainComp1=0.5
|Rain comparison 1
|(empty)
| The report will count the number of days when the daily rainfall exceeds this threshold. In the parameter I have quoted, the first comparison has been set to the same as I have set else where as my significant rain threshold
|-
|RainComp2=
|Rain comparison 2
|(empty)
| The report will count the number of days when the daily rainfall exceeds this threshold.
|-
|RainComp3=
|Rain comparison 3
|(empty)
| The report will count the number of days when the daily rainfall exceeds this threshold.
|}

===Normal Mean Temperatures===

*The parameters run from ‘’’NOAATempNormJan=’’’ to ‘’’NOAATempNormDec=’’
*There is one box labelled for each month on the settings screens
*All the defaults are (blank)
*What you enter is the mean temperature, long-term averages (say over 10 or 30 years if available) say is expected that month, often taken from local climate statistics, or your own past measurements

===Normal Precipitation===

Rainfall equivalents of mean temperature described above





[[Category:Cumulus Files]]

Latest revision as of 07:20, 15 June 2021

This page has been renamed from "Cumulus.ini" to preserve the early history of that page.

The information that was on this old Cumulus.ini page has been moved into separate pages for Cumulus 1, MX early releases, and MX latest releases.

History of this page

This page has proved the most complicated of all those in the Wiki to maintain:

  1. Settings change extremely often
    • Therefore it is a lot of effort to keep the documentation up to date
    • It is obviously easiest if an update is made here as soon as the settings change, sometimes that happens (perhaps by developer doing an update here)
  2. The design of configuration menus/screens/pages to edit the settings periodically changes
    • This means information about how to change settings often depends upon which release someone is using
      • In turn that means, either Cumulus users of latest release, or those using an earlier release, will struggle with the documentation
  3. Developers often provide limited information about settings,
    • Sometimes new settings are mentioned in an answer in a forum post, and do not get mentioned as a change in release announcements
      • This means that finding accurate information to update this page requires an awful lot of research that is very time consuming

The above observations applied for the legacy software, when Cumulus 2, and then 3 (MX), came along the documentation was originally split. When MX started (in 2019 to early 2020) to try to replicate much of what Cumulus 1 offered, it made sense to reuse what was written on this page for Cumulus 1, instead of duplicating it on a second page.

Then from mid 2020 to early 2021, there was rapid development of MX by the new developer, and MX began to increasingly diverge more and more from the legacy configuration, this page reflected that by introducing sub-sections (Cumulus 1 only, MX only, and both). From early 2021 onwards that 3 sub-section design for this page failed because new MX releases began to diverge from earlier MX releases. In other words, parameters that had existed at an early MX release, were no longer used by later releases. It was possible, but increasingly more and more difficult, to track new parameters to add that were added at particular releases, so the documentation got more and more obsolete.

To sum up, it was impossible for this page to show information for the legacy software, for early MX releases, and for later MX releases. The response was to move off this page anaything not relevant to the latest MX release, and to restructure this page based on how MX settings are altered, rather than where a parameter appears in the file.


Steve Loft Era

The configuration file content relating to the legacy software (e.g. 1.9.4) has been moved to legacy page

Legacy Software 1.x.y releases Beta builds of legacy software Cumulus 2 alpha releases MX beta 3.0.0
This page was created for the legacy Cumulus 1 software (up to 1.9.4). If you look at the history tab of this page, user‎ Shamrockspider created this page at 12:55 on 27 August 2009 for the purpose of Documenting the cumulus.ini file content and its function.

Back in 2009, the file was fairly simple, and therefore documentating it was also fairly easy.

Some settings were in configuration screens, and the file was arranged so that those settings were stored under a heading that generally (not in every case, for historic reasons) reflected the screen name. Documenting these was comparitively easy, the setting could be found easily and its allowed values could be easily tested.

A lot of extra settings were added to the file, but not added to the configuration screens. Documenting these was particularly difficult as only some got mentioned in release announcements, so the others were hard to discover, and allowed values were not always clear.

Each time a beta version of Cumulus 1 was available, any parameters specific to that beta appeared in Cumulus.ini_(Beta), and only moved to the main page when that beta finished, and became the main release. The same beta page, Cumulus.ini_(Beta), was briefly used for Cumulus 2. Finally, that beta page, Cumulus.ini_(Beta), was used for all the changes in Cumulus 3 (the MX beta):
  • Some of the parameters for Cumulus 1 were not used by MX beta
  • Some of the parameters for Cumulus 1 were used by MX beta
  • Beta MX only added 3 new parameters

This was the position when Steve Loft ceased his involvement with Cumulus. This page contained all parameters used for Cumulus 1, some of these were used by MX beta too.

The beta page contained some Cumulus 1 beta parameters that were still under development and the parameters that were only used by MX.

Mark Crossley era

  • Cumulus.ini content has changed drastically, and therefore the documentation page called "Cumulus.ini" has also had to change drastically
  • There was a period when it was possible for one page to document both the legacy Cumulus 1.9.4 and all MX releases, but that has long gone.
MX beta releases 3.0.0 to MX release 3.4.6 MX releases 3.6.0 to 3.7.0 MX releases 3.8.0 to 3.9.7 MX releases 3.10.0 to 3.11.4 MX release 3.12.0 onwards
  • Until MX release 3.4.6, people using MX needed to refer to the page now called Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1), which was called "Cumulus.ini" at the time, and the beta page, Cumulus.ini_(Beta), as MX still used most of the parameters that the legacy software used and just a few new parameters. The latter still contained information from the last Cumulus 1 beta relating to Proxies section of Cumulus.ini, as that had not been finalised.
  • When Mark Crossley brought MX out of beta, he started adding new features to MX:
    • Some features represented functionality in the legacy software that MX had lacked, these used parameters that had been used for the legacy software
    • For other new features, like interfaces with new weather station types and new sensors, he created new parameters, and the beta page began to rival the legacy page in the number of parameters it covered
  • The information about MX on the beta page stayed there until April 2020
  • Release 3.6.0 was when the functionality of MX first started to exceed the functionality of the legacy software
  • Between April and June 2020, information on the beta page was slowly moved across to the main page, it took some time as it needed to be verified because as MX developed configuration file content was changing
  • Suddenly, a lot of people were migrating from the legacy software to MX
  • To help people migrating, from June 2020, all settings (for both the legacy software and MX) were covered on a single "Cumulus.ini" page
  • As people migrated, they could see on that single page clearly which parameters in their Cumulus.ini file were still valid, and what new parameters were needed when they migrated
  • For those using MX, the page was recording the new parameters that were being added to the file as MX developed
  • Now the history of all the changes at that time can be viewed on this page, as this was originally the page that once held that combined information.
  • From release 3.8.0, the pace of change in MX was so fast, and the contributors to the Wiki so few, the page then called "Cumulus.ini" (with its previous content) stopped being maintained.
    1. The main problem was somebody needed to do a lot of research, and devote a lot of time, to track what the developer was changing.
    2. There was a second problem, it was clear that it was too complicated to use the same page to describe configuration for the legacy software, older MX releases, and the latest MX release
  • Consequently, the "Cumulus.ini" page had to change, and the first move meant accepting MX and the legacy software could not be documented any more on the same page
    • A new page was created Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1), and all the information specific to the legacy software was split off from this page
  • This still left the problem that this page, at that time called "Cumulus.ini", had information that related to a release that had been superseded
  • Finally, this old "Cumulus.ini" paqe, with the attached history, but without any parameter information in the main page, was renamed to its current name, so it has preserved the history of the old page that had been split into two new pages, neither of which had the past history
  • At release 3.10.0, the settings pages in the admin interface were given a significant makeover, and huge numbers of new settings were created, while many others became redundant
  • It was clear the old MX "Cumulus.ini" page was badly designed for the way 3.10.0 operated
  • That old page was already out of date as it had not been updated for 3.8.0 changes
  • It became obvious it was easier to start a new page that would would be based around 3.10.0 MX release, but would incorporate changes from 3.8.0 onwards, and would ignore anything that was now redundant
  • The other change was a redesign of the page, so it focussed on explaining how to change the settings using the admin interface, rather than just documenting what each parameter in the file was used for
  • As MX was developed, its settings pages were being redesigned, and so where you changed particular parameters in the file was modified making the documentation that already existed obsolete for people using latest release, but still valid for people who were using an older release.
  • As release 3.12.0 was planned to add many, many more parameters to the Cumulus.ini file, and the Settings pages get another redesign, it was decided the documenting of the changes in 3.8.0, 3.9.2, and 3.10.0 would be delayed until it became clearer what might change in 3.12.0
  • The new Cumulus.ini page to cover all these recent releases was created in June 2021, a year after the last big change to a page with that name.

Original content of this page

How this page used to be laid out, and why

For both Cumulus 1 and early MX releases, the content on this page was arranged assuming people were editing the file directly.

Therefore, the file was described by working through the sections on the file, and explaining the parameters that could go in each section.

For the longer sections, parameters might be split into separate tables to make it easier.

Before release 3.10.1, there were two types of parameters in Cumulus.ini.

  1. "read-only" settings were made directly in the "Cumulus.ini" file, there was no way to adjust these parameters using the settings screens/pages
  2. "read-write" settings could be changed in two ways, either by editing the file with Cumulus stopped, or by finding the parameter on a setting screen (for MX, these are in admin interface).
You will see in the two pages split off from this page (Cumulus.ini_(Cumulus_1) and Cumulus.ini (MX_3.0.0_to_3.7.0)), how the parameters had to identify themselves as read-only or read-write.

Why has this original "Cumulus.ini" page been renamed, cleared of old content, and made historic?

  1. One big change in 3.10.1 is that (almost) all settings are now made via the Admin interface.
    • Therefore it makes no sense any more to organise this page how someone editing the file directly might want.
    • The replacement Cumulus.ini page is now organised by how you change settings in the admin interface (i.e. similar to how settings have been explained in MX_Administrative_Interface#Changing_Settings).
  2. Another change is that some of the settings that used to be made on the “Station Settings” page, are now made on different pages in that interface.
  3. Yet another change is that what you pick in some settings can affect what settings are shown later on the admin interface page.
    • You could say the settings pages have become intelligent.
    • For example, when you select a weather station type it ensures only parameters that relate to that weather station type are shown.
    • As another example, you can opt in or out of the default web site design, so that determines which parameters relating to web sites are shown.
  4. A final change is that some parameters are grouped as “Advanced”, so that novices can avoid those.
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