BufGetter v1.02

• A Bufkit companion and alternative to BufGet enabling rapid and dynamic forecast profile retrieval.
• This is a Python tkinter zipapp.

Contents

• Fixes in this Version
• Features
• Installation
• How to Use
• Note on Source Site Differences
• Modify Default Settings
• Future Update Ideas
• Credits/Links

Fixes in this Version

v1.02

• fixed a horrible flaw in trying to save an archive file. It was a total mistake in my code. It should work well now though

v1.01 (unavailable)

• Improved Settings change dialog
  • Prior to this update, the dialog wouldn't close correctly one didn't use the button widget for that purpose.
• Fixed inoperability in the last uploaded (but now discarded) version: I forgot to uncomment the .mainloop() method call!
  • I didn't bother to archive that version
• Fixed retrieval issues (dynamic-url creation) for ISU Bufkit Warehouse site.

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Feature Overview

• Quickly retrieve the latest bufkit soundings files (.buf) by assembling a list of stations, and marking which weather models you'd like to get.
  • This will save a lot of time over using BufGet as there are no 'profiles' to edit/save/load.
• Generates bufkit-compatible archive files.
• This app uses data from the PSU Bufkit Data Distribution website and/or the ISU Bufkit Warehouse. You can change/save the site-selection according to your preference.

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Installation

• This program is a Python tkinter zipapp. As such, you obviously need a Python installation (v3.5 or later), and have tkinter installed with it. Otherwise, this ain't gonna work.
• Download BufGetter.pyz. It is intended to be placed in the the default Bufkit Data folder. To find out what this directory is, open Bufkit and click Set Up in the top-right corner.

• Example: if the Folder that holds the bufkit profiles is C:/Users/Trogdor/Documents/Bufkit/Data/, you'd want to place BufGetter.pyz in C:/Users/Trogdor/Documents/Bufkit
• The program's default behavior is to save downloads to that Data folder.
• As the standard directory for archived data is in the Data/Archives folder, the default archive path will be just that.
• You're now ready to run BufGetter. You should be able to double-click the pyz and open-up the program.
  • If you don't want to put BufGetter.pyz in the same place as your Bufkit data or want to keep it in its own directory, you can manually change the Bufkit data save paths in BufGetter's options/settings.

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How to Use

1. In the entry box, type-in the station(s) that you want to retrieve data for. Multiple stations should be comma-separated (the program can also interpret space-separated if you find that more convenient).
2. Remember to check/uncheck the archive option (on the right) reflecting your aim. In this version, by default it is turned off, but I would highly recommend to change that setting.
3. Select the models that you want to download.
4. Click Get Profiles.

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Note on Source Site Differences

• The user can change the site-source for downloading via the options menu.
• This program utilizes the core websites dedicated to providing up-to-date bufkit profiles: PSU and ISU (Bufkit Warehouse).
• Both websites offer GFS, NAM, HRRR, and RAP weather models.
• PSU offers NAMNEST and SREF.
• ISU offers NAM4KM.
• ISU's GFS and NAM models have a slight difference from PSU. ISU's site separates most-recent data in 00z/12z and 06z/18z folders.
• ISU's NAM4KM offering is not available as a 'most-recent' upload. Instead, what this program does is attempt to get the latest archived version from the Bufkit Warehouse Archives via guessing the URL of the most-recent version (for example, if it's 20z, the 12z model-run will be attempted to be grabbed because the 18z run probably wouldn't be available until 23z or so).

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Modify Default Settings

• Select Options, then Change Default Settings. Here you can change the default website option (PSU or ISU), change the file paths to match your Bufkit Configuration settings, or indicate default archive file creation (this option doesn't download the file twice, so no extra data is used).

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Future Update Ideas

• Archive-Only option (saves only the archive-compatible version)
• Date-based requests to enable full use of the Bufkit Warehouse Archive
• Select All Models Button

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Credits

• PSU Bufkit Data Distribution
• ISU Bufkit Warehouse

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