This weather reader uses JSON data from https://api.weather.com  and requires a subscription. It uses the Weather Company Max Solution Data Package - Basic.

You can learn about updates to the app in the https://bannisterlake.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/ST/pages/645660701.

This weather reader supports the following forecast types and will test your API key to automatically enable using the newest version supported.

Create Your Instance

The first time you launch the reader you will be prompted to create a new instance. You will need to provide 2 pieces of information.

Instance Name: this can be anything you want it to be.

Flow URL: this is the URL you use to access your instance of Chameleon or Tick-it Flow.
Examples:

• http://localhost/tickit/

• https://cloud.com/chameleon/

Open

By providing the URL the reader is able to automatically fill in some of the setup information required.

Setup

Open

Changes made will apply the next time the reader runs. The main piece of setup you need to do is to apply your API key and then select the language and units. The language option affects the text fields. The units field will control what units are applied to the extra field values. The primary fields are converted to the default units specified in Flow for Chameleon.

Licensed Days

The licensed days drop down allows you to select the correct number of daily forecasts you want to use and your API license allows.

Units

The options available for units are: Imperial, Metric, SI, UK

The following table showing what each set of units is comprised came from the official documentation under the Standard Units of Measure heading. http://ibm.co/APICom

Custom Data

To enable the use of Custom data endpoints (where you as a client have been able to edit the forecasts) - select the appropriate Hourly and/or Daily checkboxes and enter your Client ID.

Current Conditions Versions

The Current Conditions options are V1 (site-based) and V3 (currents on demand).

V1 notes from: https://ibm.co/v1cSBO

Current Conditions are sourced from physical site-based observation stations. This API returns the latest weather observation for the location supplied to include current temperatures, winds, pressure and other observed weather information. Weather observations are reported from physical devices deployed worldwide (weather data collected from METAR, SYNOP, BUOY, CMAN devices).

V3 notes from:

The Weather Current Conditions are generated on demand from The Weather Company (TWC) Currents On Demand (CoD) system.  CoD is a system that, at request time, assimilates a variety of meteorological inputs to derive a current condition value precise to the requested location on the Earth's surface. The meteorological inputs include physical surface observations, radar, satellite, lightning and short-term forecast models.  The CoD system spatially and temporally blends each input appropriately at request-time, producing a result that improves upon any individual input used on its own.

Options

The day names options allow you to change how the day of the week name is saved in the data.

The abbreviated checkbox will either change the day name to it’s abbreviation or leave it as its full description. The Case drop down list allows you to select from:

• Source (don’t change the data)

• UPPER (convert to all upper case)

• lower (convert to all lower case)

• Title (first character is upper case and the rest is lower case)

The use today icon option causes the reader to look for and use the weather icon from the daily forecast records for today when there is no weather icon available in the current condition data.

The preserve today forecasts option is available because the today forecast (day 1) from the daily forecast data is automatically cleared from the data after 3:00 pm local time for each location. By enabling this option the reader will not apply that blank data after 3:00 pm but instead will leave the last forecast data in place for the rest of the day.

Locations

You add and remove locations to be updated by the reader using the Locations tab.

1. Type the city name, airport code or geocode into the search box

2. Press the Search button or the Enter key.

3. The reader will lookup a list of possible matches and display them in the dropdown list below the search box.

4. Select the appropriate location and click on the Add Location button.

   1. it will insert the location

   2. it will retrieve current forecast data for the new item (as of 2.0.4)

Name Customization

You can edit the displayed name by using the Weather module in the Flow website. The basic steps are:

1. Select the location in the Weather module

2. Click the Edit button (to the right of the location list)

3. Edit the name in the textbox

4. Save your change.

Removing Locations

To remove locations from the reader you:

1. Select the location(s) you want to remove.

2. Right-click to activate the popup menu.

3. Click on Remove to proceed.

4. You will be prompted to confirm the removal.

Extra Data

The weather module in Flow for Chameleon supports a number of standard fields for each forecast type. The weather source can provide additional data beyond these standard fields that may be useful to you. To support that there is a list of extra fields that you can select to be added as dynamic fields to the weather forecast records in Chameleon.

Language and Units

The language and units you choose on the Setup tab will control how the data in the extra fields is saved.

Ski Index Data

If your subscription/API key support it there will be additional fields added for the ski index data in the Daily Records list.

The fields that will be made available include:

• skiIndexDay

• skiCategoryDay

• skiPartNameDay

• skiIndexNight

• skiCategoryNight

• skiPartNameNight

If your subscription does not support it then these fields will not display.

Additional Instances

You add additional instances to the reader. One of the reasons for doing so is to have a collection of locations that use different reader options or settings.

Add A New Instance

There are a couple ways to initiate the process

• press the key combination CTRL-N

• In the File menu click on New Instance

Then you will be prompted with a form to provide a name and a Flow URL as you did with before.

Once you click OK you will move on to the next step.

Select Icon and Location Collections

You will be prompted to select an Icon Collection and a Location Collection next. If you want to use the same graphics/icons with the new instance then leave the default selection in place.

Setup a new Location List

To setup a new list of locations that will use a different reader options you will want to uncheck the checkbox labelled Same as above…. Then you will see the option to select a collection from the list or create a new one.

Create a New Location Collection

When you want a new location collection you click the checkbox labelled Create a new collection.

This will cause the list to disappear and a new textbox to appear. Simply edit the short name to be a new and unique short name that makes sense to you for your purposes.

Examples: TWC-FX or TWC-CNN

When you have entered a new and unique short name click the OK button to proceed. Then you should be taken to the normal Setup tab of the reader to allow you to finish customizing your settings for your new instance.

Be sure to add your API key to the appropriate text box to enable it.

Then switch over to the Locations tab to add some new locations to this new list.

Logging Options

If you need to know more about the inner workings of the reader or check for errors - you can view log files.

View Logs

To view the logs click on

• Help menu

  • Logs menu

    • Show Current Log menu item

Verbose Logging

If you need to know the URL’s the reader is using you can turn on Verbose Logging in the Help - Logs menu. This will add extra details to the logs that you wouldn’t normally need and is off by default. It also includes details about what data records are being updated. This setting is not saved.

Example verbose log entries:

Performance Logging

If you want to check how long parts of the reading process are taking you can enable the Performace Logging option in the Help - Logs menu option. This will add extra details to the logs. This setting is saved.

Example performance log entries:

Help Menu Options

Check for Updates

Use this menu option to check for and download any new updates for the reader.

Check TLS Version

(added version 2.1.7 - October 12, 2022)

Use this menu option to check what version of TLS is being used by the app when it connects to the weather API service.