Do you want to skip all this text and just get the widget?
Then click here.
Update: Version 1.2.3 was just released. Note that since versions before 1.2.0 have no way to display a ‘New version available’ message, those versions will display an error until February 7th 2010. After that, even if you didn’t upgrade, those versions should continue to work normally. But you really should upgrade.
Having received earlier this week a letter from Vidéotron, my ISP, about my account getting capped at 100GB monthly in the upcoming months, I decided I needed an easy way to monitor my monthly bandwidth usage. A Dashboard widget was a good fit.
I downloaded a couple of widget samples from Apple.com, and started a new widget from there.
The end result:
A nice little widget, sitting on my Dashboard, that can tell me how much of my monthly quota I’ve used so far.
Preferences are: Vidéotron username (something that looks like vlxxxxxx), and the internet access type (Basic, High-Speed, Extreme, Extreme Plus, Ultimate). Optionally, if you bought extra data transfer packages for the current month, you’ll be able to enter those too. Data transfer packages will be reset when the billing month changes.
Note: I had to data-scrape an HTML page to fetch the information from Vidéotron website, and decided it was much easier to do that in PHP, and keep it on my own web server, than to do it in JavaScript and have to release a new version of my widget each time Vidéotron would change their web page.
So if you install this, and see an outgoing connection to dataproxy.pommepause.com, that’s normal.
(BTW, I posted the source of the PHP script this widget is using here.)
Enjoy, fellow Vidéotron users.
Downloads
You can download the latest version of the Vidéotron Internet Usage Monitor widget for Mac OS X here, or on MacUpdate, or on i use this, or on Version Tracker.
Changelog
- 1.2.3 – Changed text in options, to clarify that the data transfer packages are ‘extras’, and the ‘Plan’ option is what will define your monthly limit.
- 1.2.2 – Added option to select data transfer packages bought this month. The selected value will be reset when the billing month changes.
- 1.2.1 – Missing Business plans from 1.2.0; added an option to display upload using a different color on the graph.
- 1.2.0 – Easier configuration; new version available notification; now displaying numeric deviation from daily limit (surplus) – this was only shown using a small arrow on the graph before; added overcharge ($) you should expect on your invoice, if you’re over your limit.
- 1.1.6 – Better handling for wrong username; people entering anything else than their VLXXXXXX Vidéotron username will now get a relevant error message.
- 1.1.5 – Fetch new data less often; was previously checking for new data every 15 minutes when the Dashboard was open; changed that to once a day.
- 1.1.4 – Added small arrows on meters to show the current date. If the meter is higher than the arrow, it means you’ve transferred too much in regard to the current date versus the date you’re invoiced. Red arrow = bad; green arrow = good.
- 1.1.3 – Beta for 1.1.4
- 1.1.2 – Small visual changes: loading animated GIF, numbers formatted as 0.xx instead of .xx.
- 1.1.1 – New French localization option; new minimal look option; fixed incorrect dates (all dates were one month early).
- 1.0.1 – Fixed missing percentage when using combined quota.
- 1.0 – First version.
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Tres cool, ton travail. Marche parfaitement. C'est cool de voir quelque chose de (tres) local sur la scene internationale (freemacware.com) pour OS X. Nice!
Can you PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have the same for COGECO cable – sister company of Videotron.
If you can give me the web page where you can see your monthly usage, I might be able to integrate it into my widget.
You can use the contact form if you'd like to contact me directly.
Merci beaucoup Guillaume pour le widget!
When will there be a version for Firefox ?
Never. If you want to use Firefox to check your monthly usage, just go to https://www.videotron.com/services/secur/ConsommationInternet.do?compteInternet=vlxxxxxx
We did exactly the same thing, but web oriented, so no need to have a mac. You can also receive your bandwidth usage by mail with http://graphotron.com
I just contacted Videotron, regarding the new Limit (100 G/Month, UL+DL) Starting October 1st. 2007.
They told me that for the transition, you will get 100G from oct 1st to your 1st day of your month, and then its going to be 100G again.
So if you internet month start on the 18, you'll get 100G from oct 1 – oct 17, and then 100G from 18 to 18.
Thanks for this widget btw !!
I found really useful your widget, but I have just one "little" problem, I'm windows user so I can't use it… so I was wondering if I could use your code to make it available as a internet widget (usable on netvibes google yahoo and other web based widget platforms. I suppose would be usable on win vista widget bar but I can't say for sure…
Salut,
Ton widget est vraiment utile, je l'utilise tous les jours.
Mais y a un truc qui me serais utile. J'aurais besoin d'un autre thermomètre qui indiquerais si je utilise trop de bande passante par raport au trente jours qui me sont alloué.
Par exemple j'ai droit à 100 Go par mois donc aujourd'hui le 17 je devrais ne pas avoir dépensé plus de 57 Go.
Si tu pouvais faire ça: ça serait probablement intéressant pour pas mal de monde. Pas juste pour moi.
Anyway, c'est juste une suggestion.
Merci pour le beau travail.
La version 1.2.0 que je viens de publier rajoute cette fonctionnalité.
Totalement génial! Merci pour ton travail sur ce widget. Videotron devrait de payer une prime.
Super ton widget, je l'utilise tous les jours.
J'ai une petite suggestion pour amélioration future, il serait super d'avoir l'option d'une alarme ou message d'avertissement et coupure d'internet quand on atteint un certain pourcentage de notre quota mensuel. Je m'explique, tu download la nuit ou le jour et tu dépasses ta limite de download sans te rendre compte, à 90% le widget coupe le réseau avec un message. Au moins comme ça tu ne paies de pénalité.
Je pourrais envoyer une notification Growl à un certains pourcentage, mais je ne crois pas qu'un Widget puisse désactiver les interfaces réseaux. Je vais regarder et voir ce qui peut être fait.
Excellent! J,en ai rêvé, Guillaume l'a fait. Merci beaucoup!
Vraiment génial. Il ne reste plus qu'à travailler le look du widget…
Merci!!!!!!!!!!
I love the widget!!! great job! I only have one comment… I'm using a Mac and when I activate the widget page, the white of the screen is way brighter then all other widgets… Tone down the brightness of the white on the widget for it to keep the sweet Mac look.. Or maybe use the Videotron Gold and Black with white lettering…
Other then that small detail… GREAT JOB and great initiative!
Super c'est exactement ce qu'il me fallait!
Et je pensais que les Widgets fonctionnaient autant dans OS X que Windows?
Pas tous les widgets fonctionnent sur Mac & Wndows. Je n'ai pas de Windows Vista sous la main, donc je ne peux pas l'utiliser pour tester et ajuster le code du widget pour le rendre compatible.
Thanks! Needed this as I have too many computers grabbing too much data.
A quickie to let fellow Mac heads know that Guillaume's widget works nicely with Snow Leopard (10.6.1)
And once again I've blown my quota.. *sigh*
Ça fonctionne encore très bien sérieux (nous sommes en janvier 2010).
Merci.
can you make it update about every 4-5 hours because i keep seeing that I’m over my limit two days ago but not today, it would be nice for it to also update on command
You can manually make it refresh. Click once on the widget, and hit Cmd-R
This (Cmd-R) works with all widgets.
Merci Guillaume pour ton super travaille voudrais tu faire un Widget internet Affairre pour la limite donwlode de la vitesse TGV affaire merci
Bien sûr! C’est un oubli. J’ai rajouté les plans “Affaires – TGV 30/50″ au script côté serveur. La version 1.2.0 va afficher les noms en anglais. La version 1.2.1 contient les traductions nécessaires.
I can’t seem to flip the widget back around once I entered my Videotron info on the new version, is it just me? There’s no “Done” button or anything like on other widgets. I’m not on Snow Leopard yet, but I doubt that matters. Any help much appreciated!
Open Console.app, select Console Messages on the left, type “com.apple.Dock.agent” in the filter (top-right), and click the Clear Display toolbar button.
Then go in your Dashboard, select the Videotron widget, hit Cmd-R, and try to enter your username.
In Console.app, you should see an error message. What is it?
Try deleting old preferences for the widget.
Do this in a Terminal window (Applications > Utilities > Terminal.app):
defaults delete widget-com.pommepause.widget.videotron_internet_usage_monitor
Then re-add the widget in your Dashboard.
i get this:
2010-02-03 18:04:58.174 defaults[67048:807]
Domain (widget-com.pommepause.widget.videotron_internet_usage_monitor) not found.
Defaults have not been changed.
hey i just deleted the widget, restarted the computer and re-downloaded it and now it works. thanks for all the help. the preferences were no where to be found on my system for some reason, not sure why but if it happens to anyone else that’s something to try. thanks again!!
Hello, super le widget!
Mais depuis quelques jours, plus rien et j’ai ça qui est écrit à la place de ma barre de consommation:
“Oh noes! There’s been a error.
Response is not XML.”
Que faire???
Merci!
Lit le message dans le haut de cette page, ça explique pourquoi la vieille version donne une erreur:
http://www.pommepause.com/blog/2010/01/mac-widget-videotron-internet-usage-monitor/
oui mais le message est en anglais et je comprends rien
Pour traduire du texte que tu ne comprend pas, tu peux utiliser Google Translate:
http://translate.google.com
Tu entres l’adresse que tu veux traduire, et tu choisis les langues, et ça te traduit la page.
C’est pas parfait, mais c’est compréhensible.
Par exemple, ça donne ceci pour le message dans le haut de la page:
“Update: la version 1.2.3 vient de sortir. Notez que depuis les versions antérieures à 1.2.0 n’ont aucun moyen d’afficher une ‘Nouvelle version disponible’ message, ces versions affichera une erreur jusqu’en Février 7th 2010. Après cela, même si vous ne mettez pas à niveau, ces versions devraient continuer à travailler normalement. Mais vous devriez vraiment mettre à niveau.”
Donc, morale de l’histoire, soit tu attends le 7 février prochain, soit tu installes la nouvelle version.