Author Topic: WeatherCatRCP difficulties  (Read 2157 times)

stepheng

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WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« on: April 29, 2023, 05:42:42 PM »
Hi,

I think I reported some problems with WeatherCat RCP previously, and I've just noticed some fragility once again. with WeatherCat supporting the WeatherCatRCP app.

For some considerable time, I'd been using WeatherCatRCP iOS app quite successfully (at least in my limited way) typically just looking at the channels or the reports.

I've recently had my internet upgraded and the use of a new router which meant I needed to set up my port forwards again (and as I have a a few machines acting as servers and multiple public IPs - this has not been entirely trivial).  When testing WeatherCat clients, the standard WeatherCat Mac client (v2 ...) was working as was the "Classic" IOS app, but I couldn't get the RCP App to work.   This applied both within my network as well as externally and therefore not just an issue with any miss configuration of port forwarding or router firewall.

Further investigation using some networking tools showed that the WeatherCat Rich Client Protocol Server was not being advertised on Bonjour (_wcrcps._tcp) although the standard WeatherCat Weather Data Server (_wcwds._tcp) was being advertised.

This was consistent with the fact that I couldn't get any response from "http://hostname:49255/help" either locally or from any other machine.

WeatherCat has been restarted a few times in the last few days but obviously the bit that provides the server has not been working properly.   Another restart made it operate and WeatherCat RCP IOS app now works.

However, .... and I think I've reported this before some functions of the app seem to cause the WeatherCat server programme itself to instantly crash - for example, these include the graphs.

Stephen

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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #1 on: April 29, 2023, 10:33:26 PM »
More information please:

What version of the desktop WeatherCat are you using?
Are you using a remote URL in WeatherCatRCP app to access your dekltop WeatherCat server? What is the URL?
What do you expect to happen when you use ""http://hostname:49255/help"?
Are you reporting that actions in WeatherCatRCP are causing desktop WeatherCat to crash? Can you reproduce them?
Have you noticed any changes in reliability when you use "Local" in the WeatherCatRCP network setting?

--grand

stepheng

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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #2 on: May 03, 2023, 12:41:06 PM »
Dear Grand Poohbah

Hi, sorry for not putting in more information, and my apologies for this slow response to your rapid response. 

I'm using WeatherCat 3.20 Build 364.  IOS app version is 1.4 (220815).

I was testing using a local URL (192.168.246.26) - the URL of my Mac running WeatherCat.  Obviously when away from home I'm using my home URL which is port-mapped to my Mac. 

Using Curl in a terminal or a web-browser, accessing "http://192.168.246.26:49255/help" demonstrates that WeatherCat is responding to the RCP request - that is probably the shortest tag - otherwise one has to type a relatively long string with $-symbols which I usually mis-type!  This, to my way of thinking, is the simplest way to check whether a WeatherCat RCP request is getting to WeatherCat and being responded to (Obviously it could be problems with firewalls / port mapping / etc, but it helps eliminates issues with the WeatherCat RCP IOS app.) It certainly led me to the conclusion that the problem was that WeatherCat had stopped listening on port 49255 rather than a problem with WeatherCatRCP IOS app, which I then was able to back up by doing some network probes which showed that the RCP protocol was not being advertised on Bonjour. 

I can reproduce the ability to crash WeatherCat.     For example requesting the basic graph of External Temperature causes WeatherCat to immediately crash on the Mac and the IOS app to report no graph available.  This applies to I think, all of the graphs in my case.  It certainly applies to the three custom graphs that I have set up.  It also applies to "CTW"

I seem to get the same behaviour whether I'm using "local" or via an explicitly entered server URL. 

Stephen

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Dear Stephen, Grand, and WeatherCat iOS fans,

Sorry that you are having difficulties with WeatherCatRCP.

. . . .

I can reproduce the ability to crash WeatherCat.     For example requesting the basic graph of External Temperature causes WeatherCat to immediately crash on the Mac and the IOS app to report no graph available. 

That was something that was easy enough for me to try to reproduce and I have no problems bringing up the External Temperature graph using WeatherCatRCP.  Can any other WeatherCatters reproduce this?

Do keep us posted of your discoveries.

Edouard

stepheng

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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #4 on: May 13, 2023, 01:08:26 PM »
I don't see any other reports from other weatherCatters having the same problem as me with requesting Graphs (for example) through the WeatherCatRCP app.  I presume there must be something unusual about my set-up of WeatherCat.  Can I provide any diagnostics that might help?

I can certainly produce graphs on my Mac that runs WeatherCat but any attempt to request a graph of WeatherCatRCP causes an immediate crash.

Stephen

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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #5 on: May 13, 2023, 04:33:41 PM »
My comments will not be of much help here, but that won't stop me from making them.  :)

I had something close, but not the same, happen with RCP on my iPhone. One day the RCP app on my phone (and iPad) just lost connection the WC Server and I couldn't get it back. I was unable to reconnect with either my internal or external IP address in RCP for 10 months! I could show the forwarded ports were open but RCP could not connect to WeatherCat.

A couple of months ago, I just decided to try one more time. I deleted the RCP app (which I had previously tried 3 times). When I reinstalled it, low and behold, it immediately connected to WC and has been running ever since. EXCEPT, I did try to pull up a CTW and it crashed, but had no impact on the WC app on my Mac. When I reopened it, all was back to normal. So now that it's running, I just don't try to open anything on RCP other than reports, channels, etc.
Blick


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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2023, 09:21:00 PM »
Hi Edouard,
Can any other WeatherCatters reproduce this?

I can reproduce this crash repeatedly using the current WeatherCatRCP and WeatherCat 3.2. Trying to load any graph from WeatherCatRCP results in an immediate crash of WeatherCat. WeatherCat then relaunches and will crash again if I don't leave the graph loading screen.

WeatherCatRCP finds WeatherCat via Bonjour easily enough, so I'm just using the Local Network radio option.

Ryan

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Which version of MacOS? (Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties)
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2023, 10:47:30 PM »
Dear Ryan and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

I can reproduce this crash repeatedly using the current WeatherCatRCP and WeatherCat 3.2. Trying to load any graph from WeatherCatRCP results in an immediate crash of WeatherCat. WeatherCat then relaunches and will crash again if I don't leave the graph loading screen.

WeatherCatRCP finds WeatherCat via Bonjour easily enough, so I'm just using the Local Network radio option.

Okay, you got me to try this again.  I have absolutely no problems fetching either simple or custom graphs using WeatherCatRCP and WeatherCat 3.2.  It works just fine for me.  However, I'm stuck running obsolete MacOS 10.14.6 (Mojave.)  Which version of MacOS are you using?  This issue might OS related.

Thanks for helping all us troubleshoot this problem.

Edouard

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Re: Which version of MacOS? (Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties)
« Reply #8 on: August 17, 2023, 01:55:33 AM »
Hi Edouard,
Which version of MacOS are you using?  This issue might OS related.

Totally plausible. I’m running macOS Sonoma public beta 3. Wouldn’t surprise me if the newish (since Big Sur) permission requirements are a factor. I’ll take a look at that and see if adding WeatherCat to various permissions like full disk access helps.

Ryan

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Re: Which version of MacOS? (Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties)
« Reply #9 on: August 17, 2023, 02:52:31 AM »
I’ll take a look at that and see if adding WeatherCat to various permissions like full disk access helps.

On my M2 Mac, I gave WeatherCat full disk access along with highly unlikely culprits of screen recording, screen recording, and accessibility (lots of recent apps need accessibility for some reason). No dice.

I also ran WeatherCat on my Intel MacBook Pro w/the same Sonoma Public Beta, and it also crashed there when trying to load a chart in WeatherCatRCP. So Rosetta is likely not the culprit.

Ryan

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Can other folks try this? (Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties)
« Reply #10 on: August 17, 2023, 10:48:32 PM »
Dear Ryan and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Totally plausible. I’m running macOS Sonoma public beta 3. Wouldn’t surprise me if the newish (since Big Sur) permission requirements are a factor. I’ll take a look at that and see if adding WeatherCat to various permissions like full disk access helps.

On my M2 Mac, I gave WeatherCat full disk access along with highly unlikely culprits of screen recording, screen recording, and accessibility (lots of recent apps need accessibility for some reason). No dice.

I also ran WeatherCat on my Intel MacBook Pro w/the same Sonoma Public Beta, and it also crashed there when trying to load a chart in WeatherCatRCP. So Rosetta is likely not the culprit.

Thank you for your experiments.  There certainly could be issues with WeatherCat not running properly on the Sonoma beta.  Can anyone else who is running WeatherCat 3.2, has WeatherCatRCP, and is running more recent versions of MacOS than I am check to see if they can reproduce this?

Thanks again,

Edouard

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Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties
« Reply #11 on: August 19, 2023, 08:47:43 PM »
Sorry, can't help; I'm running Monterey 12.6.8
Blick


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Any problems? (Re: WeatherCatRCP difficulties)
« Reply #12 on: August 19, 2023, 09:57:58 PM »
Dear Blick and WeatherCat troubleshooters,

Sorry, can't help; I'm running Monterey 12.6.8

That is exactly what I was curious about.  Indeed it isn't Big Sur, but it is version of MacOS after Mojave.  I assume that you aren't having any problems with WeatherCatRCP   If there is an OS related problem, is must have been introduced after Monterey - correct?

Anyone else?

Edouard