It displays earthquake data from the USGS. Just a little column whose data rolls down as it is updated. Twice now I have learned about earthquakes before the news agencies have (like today) They need one of these. It is a Microsoft Sidebar gadget that is still supported by its creator (who has several gadgets) I'd like simply to chage the variables. I already know how to change the width and font and such. I'd really like to learn the API so I can make my own - using DesktopX.  I can't see the API call either in this thing.

http://addgadget.com/earthquakes_meter/

I didn't think of that when I was looking. I saw there was daily, weekly, and thirty day groupings and some variety of strengths. I wonder if the 1,2,3 etc match up to those feeds. I was looking a bit at that Atom feed that they replaced RSS with. I was just getting used to RSS...

So I guess at first I'm going to be limited by the existing sets and create a format I like better. The interface on the current one is too narrow, too scrunched up, and I would like the ability to scroll back.  I wonder if a person could add some more of those data sets? Like have 8 of them rather than just five. I think I shall change 1-5 to mix it up a little and see what I get. I still don't see where it is using that call to get the data. More looking I guess.

I have the gadget that is just the map too, but I like my IRIS bookmark better. With it you can gently click the little ring you want and have the data show up, and then use the "last thirty days" option to get some good data to play with. If I ever teach an Excel class again I'm going to give them weather or earthquake data to learn with. The hardest part about teaching Excel is to get enough interesting data to really play with the features with.

It seems he has gone to some trouble to prevent exactly what you are trying to do (but I could be wrong and you could try emailing him).

If you cannot find what you are looking for then modifying this gadget's scripts may involve a steep learning curve.

I would encourage you to make your own gadget. Use search to find examples from which to learn.

But if you really must look at his scripts then you will have to use something like the Web Developer extension in Firefox.

Open the relevant html file in Firefox and then from the Web Developer toolbar select "Information" and then from the drop down list click on "View Javascript" and all scripts loaded by the html file will be displayed in a new tab/page. Copy everything and paste into your editor. There will be quite a lot of white space...

I am trying to wean from Windows Sidebar. The thing is a memory hog and this is the only gadget I really care about. The rest I use are weather ones and I can survive with the available ones even though they do not have all the data I like to have at my fingertips (and use less than my favorite provider) I will investigate eventually to see if I can get the data and provider I want with the weather gadget because it does have good documentation.  As for the earthquake gadget, I really want to learn how those calls work. The color and window size are easy to figure out, but the key one is not. At first I thought that it refers to data on his web site, but I can't find that call either. The USGS site doesn't seem to have anything resembling a SDK and I'm not knowledgeable enough to translate web pages to desktop use.  It's OK, I'll figure something out.

ok....

You can look at an example of how to download and parse an xml file with jscript here :

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/sidebargadfetdevelopment/thread/5c313c0e-0a3e-4cf6-9e4e-e0d701a834d6

Well, it's about as basic as I know how to make it - and apart from the gadget.xml file (which is fairly generic) it is a complete working gadget. Still if anyone can provide that OP with an easier or less complicated working solution it would make me very happy. Him too, I suppose.

It is fun but if you have never made a gadget before, please consider following the advice in this thread

Gadget Newbie

and start by making a "Hello World" gadget. The thread also contains a few other useful links but please note that these do not cover the properties and methods of the IXMLDOMDocument and IXMLHTTPRequest objects (which besides script examples also contain code examples.)

There are also many other links possible to give for jscript. Think of it as a superset of javascript. A very big one. Also, if you can write jscript you will have little trouble learning how to write vbscript (and vice-versa).

What you have above is just an HTML element or object - a way of adding a drop down list to the page.

There are no commands.

But a select object can be manipulated through script via it's properties, methods and events.

You can change or read it's displayed value for example with the value property.

The "Gadget Newbie thread" mentioned above contains this link :

HTML and DHTML reference

which in turn includes these links :

DHTML Objects

(you will find the select link on this page)

DHTML Properties

DHTML Methods

DHTML Events

I assumed that you already knew how to write HTML/CSS (ie can make a web page) which is a necessary skill for making gadgets but if this is not the case then you should perhaps start elsewhere - for example :

Search for How to write HTML

bearing in mind that with gadgets you are writing your pages for one client/browser only.

There is a lot you can learn about this stuff and not too many shortcuts which is why I would suggest starting at the beginning.

Knowing how to make a gadget that downloads and parses an xml file with a script I would put more towards the advanced side of things.

(Likewise the first gadget I tried to make was a network gadget which was a very bad choice - I ended up rewriting it five times from scratch over five months before I published it. And I was pretty handy with HTML/CSS before I started.)

That's right - make your own !!

If you are trying to make gadgets, this is where the "Hello World" gadget becomes very handy. You can make the simplest example possible and experiment with it.

For example here is a fairly average example that changes the content above the select depending on the option that is selected (and please note that this is an Sidebar/Internet Explorer specific example)