Spb Diary vs. Pocket Plus...also Spb Weather [Archive]

sharyncern

07-19-2006, 10:02 PM

Can anyone tell me the difference between these two programs? I downloaded trial versions of both and have installed Diary, but if Pocket Plus makes Diary redundant (or vice versa), it'd be nice to know that. The info sites, either at Spb or Handango, aren't real clear as to any overlap between the two.

I also downloaded a trial version of Spb Weather, but it doesn't have the weather for my two locations (which Journal Bar does, but I'm increasingly unhappy with Journal Bar's performance). I've emailed Spb support asking how to get weather for my two locations (I've got the weather.com codes for them, but can't figure out how to get SpB Weather to use weather.com as a source), but not received a response. Not surprising since I'm just a trial user, but I'm not buying it if I can't get the weather I want.

Thanks for any help!

Sharyn

sweb3028

07-19-2006, 11:26 PM

Okay, here is the scoop as I see it:

Spb Diary: This is a today screen plug-in that allows you to preview PIM (Personal Information Manager) information on your today screen. (i.e. upcoming appointments/calendar events, emails, contacts, and notes)

Spb Pocket Plus: Another today plug-in that provides several other useful tools. It allows you to place tabs on the today screen on which you can put icons for easy access to programs. You can also create a tab where you can monitor memory usage, battery status, and adjust your backlight. You can add other Spb product to the tabs as well (i.e. Spb Weather and Spb Finance) It adds enhancements to PIE (Pocket Internet Explorer) and File Explorer. It gives you support for Extended Themes, and the ability to minimize or close programs with a task manager. There are several other useful features, but those are the main ones.

I use Pocket Plus, but not Diary. I use SHSH Pocket Breeze instead of Spb Diary. I also have several programs that have overlapping abilities with Pocket Plus. Some of them I use, and some I prefer the way that Pocket Plus handles it (i.e. I like the Resco Today plug-in for memory management and battery info better than Pocket Plus)

The key is …. Try them all/both first. That’s the great thing about trials. I rarely buy anything if it doesn’t offer a trial (of course, there are very few nowadays that do not offer some type of trial)

Oh, and make sure to look for loyal customer rewards programs for anything you buy. For example Spb offers a discount (Spb Product Discount) on any programs after the first, and gives you points (Spb Rewards Program) for every program purchased that can be used later to get more software.

Janak Parekh

07-19-2006, 11:27 PM

Well, you can certainly try by installing Pocket Plus. :) Anyway, the two are significantly different. Pocket Plus is more of a system-level utility that adds a "real" close button and adds some functionality to built-in Pocket PC apps. While it has a Today plugin, that plugin is primarily a system monitor, launcher, etc. Diary, on the other hand, is PIM-centric, showing appointment, task, etc. information. In fact, I believe (although I haven't used them recently) that Diary can "plug into" the Pocket Plus today plugin to save screen space.

As for Spb Weather: I don't use it, so I can't assist you. There may be some other forum members that can chime in on this...

--janak

Edgar_

07-19-2006, 11:32 PM

From the today screen I click and hold the City tab, then I can goto the options and from there add a city, source and code.

Download the User manual from SPB, its all in there

http://www.spbsoftwarehouse.com/products/weather/Spb%20Weather%20User%20Manual.pdf

sharyncern

07-20-2006, 01:09 AM

Thanks, everyone, for your thoughts. As you say, it is a trial, so I can play with both Diary and Pocket Plus and see what the differences are.

As to Weather, believe me, I've read the manual backwards and forwards. I can easily add both my cities (Port St. Lucie, FL/34952 and Wayne, PA/19087), can even put in the weather.com codes for them, but it won't download their data.

Sharyn

Edgar_

07-20-2006, 01:46 AM

weird, just added both of them and no problems but I own it - perhaps the trial doesn't allow for custom cities.

I am a VERY HAPPY owner of all three of these products. Think of Diary and Weather as tabbed items on a PocketPlus Dashboard.

It's fast, solid and well thought packages. Diary I use with PocketInformant and love the integration to Pocketplus, weather and PI.

I have dumped all my Omega One software. Their service is poor, software buggy and bloated. JB was nothing but problems and slow downs for me.

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 02:52 AM

As to Weather, believe me, I've read the manual backwards and forwards. I can easily add both my cities (Port St. Lucie, FL/34952 and Wayne, PA/19087), can even put in the weather.com codes for them, but it won't download their data.

Spb, for some odd reason, left out the weather.com source in the latest release (which is what you need to get those weather.com codes working). I've been meaning to ask them why, but it keeps falling off my radar. Let me ask them again for you. Expect a reply soon (hopefully). ;)

yardcat

07-20-2006, 06:52 AM

The discussion of Spb Weather Source issues that Darius is referring to is at http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41336&start=10

That post SEEMED to confirm to me that Weather sources for the USA were not included with the software. Certainly not for Phoenix, AZ. My ver 1.5 (the latest) english version, only had one source, GisMeteo.ru, which I know couldn't get Birmingham and Phoenix.

Incidentally, Spb's Support is terrible. I've sent them 3 emails over 2 weeks, plus even PMing one of their employees, Denis Krenov, who frequents this forum, I believe. Its been almost a week for him (though not assuming speediness). NO response from ANYONE! Worse, I own the darn thing, which I got as a voucher deal with my N560.

Edgar, (if you're viewing) I noticed that you are from San Francisco, so I was supprised that you can use Weather. Is there anyone else who is able to use this program in the USA? If so, what Weather Sources did your software come with? Just GisMeteo.ru ?

- yardcat

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 08:31 AM

That post SEEMED to confirm to me that Weather sources for the USA were not included with the software. Certainly not for Phoenix, AZ. My ver 1.5 (the latest) english version, only had one source, GisMeteo.ru, which I know couldn't get Birmingham and Phoenix.

Not just the USA, but the whole world. There are localised weather sources available on the SpbDN.com and PDAGold.com forums, but it shouldn't have to be so difficult for the first-time user.

You are correct in stating that GisMeteo.ru is the only source included. It's only good for Russia.

Incidentally, Spb's Support is terrible. I've sent them 3 emails over 2 weeks, plus even PMing one of their employees, Denis Krenov, who frequents this forum, I believe.

I'm not too sure where Denis is. E-mails I've sent to him have bounced, so I've contacted another Spb developer about this matter, although he's on a short holiday, so I probably won't get a response until a week's time.

Edgar_

07-20-2006, 08:33 AM

**EDIT: DARIUS! Geez, way to sneak in buddy :) ** I'll leave this in anyways. WOW! Wonder if Denis left - right after all that work he did on Time?**

I'm on 1.5.0 build 628

My forecasts come from weather.com; gismeteo.ru or Intellicast. For example I use weather.com for Kiev Ukraine.

Maybe because I was an update to 1.1 which always had weather.com?

Denis never answers PM's but I always got emails back from him. He, however, is the product manager for Time and I think PP. I don't think he handles Weather.

But on perusing their FAQ page I came upon this:

I can't see any weather sources for my city.

Due to technical and organizational issues a new version of Spb Weather is provided with the only one weather data source. As a basic weather source Spb Weather uses Gismeteo.ru. We currently updating database and very soon a new version of the Spb Weather with extended database will be provided.

this makes me think my build must be slightly dated (even though its v1.5)
OR - I seem to remember adding a custom weather template for one of my 6 cities....... AHA - (writing serially and not editing.)

When you have a weather source template file:
Open Spb Weather options by tapping on Spb Weather icon. If in Spb Pocket Plus mode, just tap-and-hold somewhere on the Spb Weather area and select Options... from the pop-up menu.
Select Tools > Weather Sources from the menu.
In the Weather Sources dialog tap on Add
You will get to the New Weather Source dialog. In it, provide the source name and a path to the template file, it is stored in.

look here for templates:
http://www.pdagold.com/themes/list.asp?tp=11

You can also download a template design doc from SPB and build your own parser.

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 08:42 AM

Maybe because I was an update to 1.1 which always had weather.com?

Yes, if you update Spb Weather from an older version, the old templates still remain. If you install v1.5 on a fresh device, only GisMeteo.ru is included.

Denis never answers PM's but I always got emails back from him. He, however, is the product manager for Time and I think PP. I don't think he handles Weather.

I just found another e-mail address of Denis, so I contacted him again. Looks like it got through this time. :)

By the way, Denis is the Spb Weather product manager (or at least, was; I'm not too sure about the present moment).

**EDIT: DARIUS! Geez, way to sneak in buddy Smile ** I'll leave this in anyways. WOW! Wonder if Denis left - right after all that work he did on Time?**

No, I think he's still around. My address book is just terribly outdated. ;)

Edgar_

07-20-2006, 08:44 AM

Are those files on my PPC somewhere? I'm happy to share them - they seem to be public domain.

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 08:48 AM

Are those files on my PPC somewhere? I happy to share them - they seem to be public domain.

Weather sources can reside in any directory (depending on how you installed them). But as a default, check \Program Files\Spb Weather.

Edgar_

07-20-2006, 08:55 AM

OK found them, but cant upload to my media folder (unallowed?)

I can email I suppose to someone who can post them

-Edgar

Denis Khitrov

07-20-2006, 09:34 AM

Hi All,

Sorry for keeping silence - I was in a vacation.
Darius, my personal thanks to you for you support!

Starting from version 1.5 Spb Weather includes only one default weather source, which is Gismeteo. Templates are still supported for other sources and can be easily installed (Options/Tools/Weather Sources).
A number of templates may be found at:
http://www.pdagold.com/themes/list.asp?tp=11

To use installed template you should know the "code" of you city. Typically, you may find some notes what is used as city code in the template description.

Now we are finishing a new update(free) of Spb Weather which will include more then 4000 cities World wide. Release is planned to the next week.

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 10:53 AM

OK found them, but cant upload to my media folder (unallowed?)

Yes, the media folder has a file format restriction.

I can email I suppose to someone who can post them

Feel free to send them to darius (at) pocketpcthoughts (dot) com.

I'll see what I can do with them. Bear in mind that copyrights may act as a barrier here.

Darius Wey

07-20-2006, 10:55 AM

Sorry for keeping silence - I was in a vacation.
Darius, my personal thanks to you for you support!

No problem, Denis. Thanks for commenting. Hope you enjoyed your holiday. :)

Now we are finishing a new update(free) of Spb Weather which will include more then 4000 cities World wide. Release is planned to the next week.

Great. Looking forward to it. :)

yardcat

07-21-2006, 03:30 AM

Denis sent me an email today (Thurs) and said Phoenix will be one of the cities in ver next week.

I tend to believe that Weather.com would be better alternative to GisMeteo.ru. If there are no copyright restrictions. Please let us know Darius.

Question: Is there a different City Code for each Weather Source?
Denis kind email included the following:

Quote: You could add your city as custom with a code 72278 (source is GisMeteo)...could use a W_Channel template. Add it (Options/Weather Sources/Add) and add custom (Options/Cities/Add/Custom) city with a code: USAZ0166 (this is for Phoenix, AZ)

It's possible many forum members are not aware that there are different city codes for different sources. My google research gave me the impression that there was only ONE city code. Guess I was totally wrong??

-yardcat

Darius Wey

07-21-2006, 03:48 AM

I tend to believe that Weather.com would be better alternative to GisMeteo.ru. If there are no copyright restrictions. Please let us know Darius.

Let's see how the update performs. If indeed the GisMeteo.ru source is lacking the accuracy of the weather.com source, I'll check to see if I can publish the latter.

Question: Is there a different City Code for each Weather Source?

It does depend on the source. Some use the well-known XXXXYYYY (X = letters; Y = numbers) format, some use airport codes (e.g., KLAX for Los Angeles), and some use plain old numbers.

Edgar_

07-21-2006, 04:50 AM

The template files are just config files. Nothing special in them. The info is non-proprietary and you could actually just download for free from pdagold and edit the url and scrape info into it

So I don't see why you cant publish them.

Denis? Is this true?

-Edgar

BTW I use Time like crazy - you fixed all the problems I had in the beta! I can't wait for your travellign software.

ctmagnus

07-21-2006, 07:13 AM

I can't wait for your travellign software.

They're coming out with travel software? D'oh! I just paid for CityTime a few weeks ago!

Edgar_

07-21-2006, 02:38 PM

I seem to remember Denis telling me they were workign on a Traveller/worldmate type of thing.

I hope I rememebr right! I like worldmate, but not their pricing model. I like Traveller but not enough.

sharyncern

07-21-2006, 11:06 PM

Well, I seem to have opened a can of worms with this thread!<G>

Report to date:
I can't uninstall Weather for some reason....although both the PDA Remove Programs and ActiveSync's Add/Remove Programs say it isn't there, it's still there, not working. And won't allow me to install a new one over it. Although now that I know there's a new one coming out soon with new sources, I won't mind waiting and trying again.

Diary seems okay...but at least once a day I have a big blank space on my Today screen with a message in the middle saying "please insert storage card." My storage is never *un-inserted*, so I'm not quite sure what that means.

Pocket Plus is ho-hum for me...I probably won't use it past the trial period.

Backup is wonderful! I had hated not having a backup utility in the new ActiveSync, and am sleeping better at night now knowing that my info is backed up.

So that's my progress report....

Sharyn

Darius Wey

07-22-2006, 04:17 AM

Diary seems okay...but at least once a day I have a big blank space on my Today screen with a message in the middle saying "please insert storage card." My storage is never *un-inserted*, so I'm not quite sure what that means.

Did you install Spb Diary on to your storage card? There's a general problem with installing Today plug-ins on to storage cards, because the storage card is initialised after the OS starts up following a soft reset. That may be why you are getting that error.

yardcat

07-22-2006, 07:23 AM

I wanted to tell everybody that, despite having Unlucky experience with Weather, suprised to find looking forward to installing it. Just because it seems (from my unknowing perspective) that Spb does make good software.

And would like to thank you, Denis, for being a member of this forum, beyond the call of duty I'm sure.

I can't uninstall Weather for some reason....although both the PDA Remove Programs and ActiveSync's Add/Remove Programs say it isn't there, it's still there, not working. And won't allow me to install a new one over it.

Just recently, someone in this forum was talking about how some .tmp files were left behind on the PPC when software is Uninstalled. So I quess there are files/settings left behind and not all completely eradicated when a person does an uninstall.

Not sure what you might need to do, but maybe some kind of cleanup of leftover files??

Why did you do an Uninstall, in the first place, and what other things might have you been doing.

You didn't install Weather on the storage card maybe.

Can't help much, maybe that will get you somewhere.

-yardcat

sharyncern

07-22-2006, 03:05 PM

Did you install Spb Diary on to your storage card? There's a general problem with installing Today plug-ins on to storage cards, because the storage card is initialised after the OS starts up following a soft reset. That may be why you are getting that error.

I may well have...after living with 64MB RAM with my Audiovox PPC4100 for so long, I've learned to put on the storage card anything I can in order to conserve memory. I can easily uninstall and re-install to memory. I know during installation I was told to install Pocket Plus to memory and I did -- with trepidation! -- but I think I'm going to uninstall that one and not use it anyway...am not seeing much use for it, even with tweaking options...so I'll have that memory to play with. My Cingular 8125 has 128MB RAM, so I have a little more cushion there.

Thanks for your response! It's most appreciated.

sharyncern

07-22-2006, 03:17 PM

I wanted to tell everybody that, despite having Unlucky experience with Weather, suprised to find looking forward to installing it. Just because it seems (from my unknowing perspective) that Spb does make good software.
I am, too, just as soon as the new version comes out. I was a happy user of Omega One's Journal Bar for many years, but they've totally messed up the program and it's no longer to be trusted. I did like Weather during my trial, except that I couldn't get my two cities. I could easily get my daughter's city -- San Francisco -- so knew what *her* weather was like, but it's not worth buying if I can't get my own cities. I'm looking forward to the new version. I did sign up to receive update info, so hopefully will receive an email when the new version is ready.

And would like to thank you, Denis, for being a member of this forum, beyond the call of duty I'm sure.
Ditto here!

Just recently, someone in this forum was talking about how some .tmp files were left behind on the PPC when software is Uninstalled. So I quess there are files/settings left behind and not all completely eradicated when a person does an uninstall.

Not sure what you might need to do, but maybe some kind of cleanup of leftover files??.
This sounds reasonable. I did go to the storage card and delete the folder that was left behind, but there might be some bad registry links or other leftover files that MemMaid can find and take care of. Thanks for the suggestion!

Why did you do an Uninstall, in the first place, and what other things might have you been doing.
I uninstalled Weather because I couldn't get weather reports for my two cities (Wayne, PA/19087 and Port St. Lucie, FL/34952), so it didn't do me much good. But I understand the upcoming new release will have this capability and I'm looking forward to it!

The only other thing I'd done was to install Diary a day or two after Weather, and then a couple of days later Pocket Plus. Both of them are working well, except that I don't really seem to *need* Pocket Plus, so will probably uninstall that when my trial period is over.

Thanks for your help!

Sharyn

Denis Khitrov

07-24-2006, 07:32 AM

Hi All,

Actually a new version of Spb Weather with a new database is functionally finished. We are making final testing and some updates in the installation part. If you are interested to play with a current build, please contact me directly (PM or air[at]softspb[dot]com) to get it .

We still can't guarantee that all needed cities will present in the default database. Please check custom templates at PDAGold and fill free to sent your requests to our support (you surely can PM me as well).