The Alternative Interface (ai.cmx)

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An Alternative (additional) Interface

Overview

Following the release of the responsive default website for CumulusMX, I have now developed an alternative interface pack so that both your live site and your CumulusMX Console site look similar. The general layout is the same but without a sidebar. The header and footer are static by default but both can be made to scroll if preferred.

Like the default website, you can change the theme with impacts all elements on the pages including tooltips and calendars. Unlike the default site, you get nearly 30 colour themes included which can also be used with the default site.

How it fits with the existing inteface

It has been developed to run in tandem with the existing Interface, has the same pages (plus one to manage the themes), and each page does the same as the Interface. This is a deliberate choice so that you don't need to do anything differently. The menu has been reworked to shorten it; I have grouped together pages that just show you your weather data and those that enable you to configure or edit it.

One other alteration is on the main dashboard. I have moved the alarms panel to just underneath the sun and moon times. When using the Interface I like to be made aware of any alarms without scrolling; especially ones about the system. This page is already being modified to improve its layout - I will be releasing a new version shortly that enables the alarm panel to be hidden once scanned for issues.

Overview

Below are a number screenshots of various aspects of the alternative interface.

Version 1

  • Showing the weather records.

    Showing the weather records.

  • NOAA Reports. No significant change to this page in version 2

    NOAA Reports. No significant change to this page in version 2

  • Version 2 of this page enables you to re-order each block to suite your weather station resources

    Version 2 of this page enables you to re-order each block to suite your weather station resources

This has now been superseded by Version 2. (See below).

Version 2

  • The v2 Dashboard showing some version 3 developments ideas

    The v2 Dashboard showing some version 3 developments ideas

  • A sample of the carts page - note all charts are zoomable and any buttons always spread across the width of the page

    A sample of the carts page - note all charts are zoomable and any buttons always spread across the width of the page

  • The Today verses Yesterday page. All panels can be re-ordered as required.

    The Today verses Yesterday page. All panels can be re-ordered as required.

  • The 'Edit Data Logs' page showing rows hovered and rows selected.

    The 'Edit Data Logs' page showing rows hovered and rows selected.

  • The same page showing the edit popup.

    The same page showing the edit popup.

  • The Alarms settings page.

    The Alarms settings page.

  • The extra Webfiles page. Note I put a heading in the first entry of every page to identify role of upload.

    The extra Webfiles page. Note I put a heading in the first entry of every page to identify role of upload.

  • Showing the combined diary and current conditions editor.

    Showing the combined diary and current conditions editor.

All the above are taken from my current Version 2 of the Interface. The only exception is the image of the dashboard that shows some of the developments I am playing with.

  • One is the inclusion of Davis Weather Station details so that I can see when the battery needs replacing or if there is some other issue.
  • The second is the inclusion of "New Record" LEDs in the appropriate panels. I don't yet know how detailed this needs to be; at the moment its limited to just the four main categories - Temperature, Pressure, Rain and Wind. It might start getting very cluttered if I include all possible LEDs. Let me know your thoughts.

You can download version 2 of the Alternative Interface (AI) using this link Alternative Interface for CumulusMX. This upload has been updated on 2nd December 2021 @ 10:55am. This update fixes the Feels Like gauges not displaying data, the Dew point temperatures title to 'Other Temperatures, and the popup editor used on the Day File, Sensor (and extra Sensor) logs pages. It also improves the Edit Records pages which were not loading the required stylesheet. It is also available on the Forum under CumulusMX ~ Alternative Interfaces.

Installation

Once you have downloaded the zip file, extract it somewhere other than your CumulusMX installation. This will avoid accidentally overwriting your existing Interface contents.

The Extracted package should consist of a single folder - ai.cmx, which can then be copied into the existing Interface folder so it shows as a sub-folder.

You are then ready to start using it. If you use the url: http://localhost:8998/ to run your normal interface, you can simply add the folder name to the end like so: http://localhost:8998/ai.cmx/. (Note the trailing backslash)

Of course localhost can be replaced with the IP address of the machine running CumulusMX.

You still have access to the default interface if you want. It can also be run from the alternative interface - there is a menu item at the right end to do this.

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