/weather

Primary LanguageRuby

Weather App

This is a simple weather app that uses the OpenWeatherMap API to get the weather data for a given location. It uses geocoder to get the latitude and longitude of the location and then uses the OpenWeatherMap API to get the weather data.

Installation & Usage

  • clone the repository
  • cd into the directory
  • bundle install
  • rails db:create db:migrate
  • rails credentials:edit --environment=development and add the following lines:
open_weather_key: YOUR_OPEN_WEATHER_API_KEY
geocoding_key: YOUR_GEOAPIFY_KEY

To get an OpenWeatherMap API key, go to OpenWeatherMap and sign up for an account. You will get an API key in your account settings. To get a Geoapify API key, go to Geoapify and sign up for an account. You will get an API key in your account settings.

  • rspec spec to run the tests
  • rails s to start the server
  • navigate to localhost:3000 in your browser
  • enter the location you want to get the weather data for
  • submit the form

Design Choices

Modeling, Persistence, and Caching

I opted to create a very simple schema for my forecasts with only postal_code and data columns. I chose to store the data as a JSON object in the data column because the data returned from the OpenWeatherMap API is a JSON object and I wanted to store it as is. I could have created a separate table for the weather data and associated it with the forecast model, but I chose to keep it simple for this project. postal_code serves as a means for caching the weather data for a given location.

I chose to use sqlite as it requires no additional setup. Depending on the requirements of the production environment, I would likely choose Postgres or some other database with a native JSON column type.

Caching is relatively crude and verbose, but easy to understand. In a production environment, I would likely handle caching with redis, using expiring keys to handle the expiration of the cached entries, rather than using a coded solution.

Frontend

I went with a very basic approach to the front end, using erb templates and a simple form to submit the location. Traditionally, if a more complex front end was required, I would use a component-based frontend framework like React or Vue, but for this project, I wanted to keep it simple. Rails-native stimulus/turbo could also be used to add some interactivity to the form.