# ASCOM VantagePro2 driver
This is a general-purpose ASCOM ObservingConditions driver for weather stations, with special support for the VantagePro stations.
It evolved from being dedicated to the VantagePro2 stations (by Davis Systems Inc.) to handling home made stations created by amateurs.
The VantagePro2 weather station is usually serviced by the vendor-supplied WeatherLink software (Windows), no ASCOM driver is supplied. This driver bridges the gap.
The driver can access various data sources, selectable via the Operational Mode in the driver's Setup window
The driver periodically parses an ASCII report file (the path is specified in the Setup window) and looks for the following lines:
outsideTemp=25.5
outsideHumidity=59
barometer=1006.5
windSpeed=38.6
windDir=328
rainRate=0.0
outsideDewPt=16.9
utcTime= 4:03p
utcDate=06/23/19
stationName=My Very Own Station
stationModel=_My Very Own Model
NOTES: -- The bold words are keywords, the must appear exactly as presented above
The = (equals) character is a separator. It separates the keywords from the values. At least one = (equals) character is expected per each line.
White spaces are trimmed, both on the keyword and the value.
The driver first tries to parse the value using the local "Culture" and, if it fails, it tries to parse it with "en-US".
If any keywords are missing, getting the values of the respective ObservingConditions properties will produce PropertyNotImplemented exceptions
If either the utcDate or utcTime keywords are missing, TimeSinceLastUpdate will reflect the last time-of-change of the file.
The WeatherLink software can be set-up to produce a periodic HTML report (the minimal interval is 1 minute) using a specified template (the driver provides one, named VantagePro.htx, which just dumps all the station's internal data). This operational mode allows the user to continue enjoying WeatherLink's capabilities while gaining ASCOM compatibility.
The driver will directly connect the station and get the relevant data (the serial-port, e.g. COM1, is supplied at Setup time).
In this mode the WeatherLink software cannot be used, as it will no longer get access to the serial port.
The driver will directly connect the station's IP address (see Setup form), on port 22222.
The driver exposes the following ASCOM ObservingConditions properties (if the data source provides the respective keyword):
| Property | Keyword | Units |
|---|---|---|
| DewPoint | outsideDewPt | centigrades |
| Humidity | outsideHumidity | percents |
| Pressure | barometer | hPa |
| RainRate | rainRate | zero or more :) |
| Temperature | outsideTemp | centigrades |
| WindSpeed | windSpeed | meters/second |
| WindDirection | windDir | degrees (zero when WindSpeed == 0) |
| TimeSinceLastUpdate | seconds |
The driver supports the following actions:
raw-data (no parameters): produces a JSON string containing all the raw data gathered from the weather station.OCHTag (no-parameters): produces a tag which can be used by the ASCOM OCH (Observing Conditions Hub) to redirect actions to this specific driver.