Climate Watch

Created By: Jordan Mielke, Mohamed Yusuf, Steve Hartmann

Problem Statement

Climate Watch aims to provide accurate and up-to-date weather information. Whether you're checking the local weather or planning for a trip abroad, our app ensures you have the latest forecasts at your fingertips.

Product Objective

Our application offers a comprehensive weather tracking experience, allowing you to effortlessly view current temperatures at your current location or anywhere of your choosing. Perfect for planning your next family vacation, our tool provides an in-depth look at expected highs and lows for any destination. Beyond just temperature readings, you'll also gain access to detailed weather insights, such as wind speeds, humidity levels, visibility, dew point and so much more!

Functional Components

1. Display Current Weather For City: Upon launching the app, a pop-up is shown giving the user the ability to read current weather data using the user's location.

2. Search By ZIP Code: Enter a valid ZIP code and verify if the weather details are displayed. Test invalid ZIP codes (like "00000" or "Scooby Dooby-Doo") and check for an appropriate error message.

3. Unit Conversions: Access the User Preferences tab, toggle between different units, and observe if the temperature display updates accordingly.

4. Responsive UI Components: Interact with various UI components to ensure they respond appropriately to user input and display relevant weather data efficiently.

5. Location Services: When loading the app, it will prompt the user with a welcome screen asking if they would like to allow for location tracking. If allowed, it will grab the IP address of the user and use that to get their ZIP code. If denied, it will default to the ZIP code for Metro State University.

6. Weather Cache: When searching for ZIP codes to display weather, if you were to check for a previously entered ZIP code it will load the cached information instead of doing a REST API call.

Non-Functional Components

1. JavaFX For GUI: Our application uses JavaFX to create a user-friendly graphical interface. This ensures an intuitive and responsive experience for users interacting with the application.

2. Implements Weather API For Weather Data: We utilize the OpenWeather API (https://openweathermap.org) to fetch real-time weather data. We've implemented efficient API calls and handled responses to display the data seamlessly within the app.

3. Use IP Geolocation API For Converting User IP Address To Location: Our application incorporates the IP-Stack API (https://ipstack.com) to convert the user's IP address into a geographical location. This feature enables the app to automatically detect and display weather information for the user's current location, enhancing the app's usability and personalization.

4. Error Handling: We have implemented comprehensive input validation and error handling mechanisms. This ensures that the application responds gracefully to invalid inputs, such as incorrect ZIP codes, and provides helpful feedback to the user.

Code Structure & Class Locations

There is a package for each type of category such as caches, controllers, models, etc.

Four Class Definitions

src/main/java/edu/metrostate/model/City.java
src/main/java/edu/metrostate/model/FiveDayForecast.java
src/main/java/edu/metrostate/model/UserPreferences.java
src/main/java/edu/metrostate/model/Weather.java

Interface Class src/main/java/edu/metrostate/cache/Cache.java

Abstract Class src/main/java/edu/metrostate/model/Location.java

Running the Application

Open the MainApp.java class
Press the run icon
Or Right click src\main\java\edu\metrostate\MainApp.java and press the run.