Daylight Saving Time Nightmare and how I resolved it

Many years ago when I used Windows Media Centre I had problems with DST, and today, although I use WG+ the problems persist. I'm in Ireland, where DST operates between March and October. I look forward to the days when DST is removed and we are on a single timezone for the whole year..

In the meantime, I've been trying to come up with a solution. The fact is that on my setup, which I think is not unusual, different site inis have different treatment of timezone. Not only that, but some sites (e.g. radiotimes) don't seem to use timezone or offset. And once you need to use different site inis to complete your EPG it becomes more difficult as some channels are "right" and some are "wrong". I've tried amending the timezone in siteinis etc. Still no joy. I was either an hour ahead or behind. So here's my solution - I'm just posting it so that it may help others, or perhaps this is already evident to all who are smarter than me!!

I'm using WG+ V3 on Win10

1) set up 2 configs, such as "WebGrab++.config-DST.xml" and "WebGrab++.config-DST-OFF.xml"

2) On DST day the first config is copied to "WebGrab++.config.xml" and becomes the active config. Here's a sample,
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<channel update="f" site="sky.com.EK" site_id="4101##3150" xmltv_id="4seven">4seven</channel>
<channel offset="1" same_as="4seven" xmltv_id="4seven Fxed">4seven Fxed</channel>
<channel update="f" site="sky.com.EK" site_id="4101##2002" xmltv_id="BBC One Lon">BBC One Lon</channel>
<channel offset="1" same_as="BBC One Lon" xmltv_id="BBC One Lon Fxed">BBC One Lon Fxed</channel>
<channel update="f" site="horizon.tv.EK" site_id="IE/eng_753737255275" xmltv_id="RTE One HD">RTE One HD</channel>
<channel offset="1" same_as="RTE One HD" xmltv_id="RTE One HD Fxed">RTE One HD Fxed</channel>
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3) When DST ends second config is copied to "WebGrab++.config.xml" and becomes the active config. Here's a sample,
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<channel update="f" site="sky.com.EK" site_id="4101##3150" xmltv_id="4seven">4seven Fxed</channel>
<channel update="f" site="sky.com.EK" site_id="4101##2002" xmltv_id="BBC One Lon">BBC One Lon Fxed</channel>
<channel update="f" site="horizon.tv.EK" site_id="IE/eng_753737255275" xmltv_id="RTE One HD">RTE One HD Fxed</channel>
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So the first config file uses the channel offset concept to give the correct listings for DST, and the second config uses the standard notation. Note the use of the channel name with the FXED suffix so that both config files create the same channel name for the final guide data. You can also mix and match if you have siteinis with different handling of timezone etc so that you end up with consistent times for programmes. Just put a reminder in your phone to swap the configs on DST On/OFF day.

I hope this helps someone else,
Regards

Richard.