Live weather on iOS

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 6, 2020, 11:29:59 AM12/6/20

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I have been using WeeWX for seven years or so and I have been inspired by the work that Tom and others have put into making this software better and also expandable.

Ever since I added the MQTT extension to WeeWX I was able to incorporate live weather data from my Vantage Pro weather station, which I think it is very cool.

I wanted to give back something to the community, so I spent some time writing a GUI in Pythonista on my iPad, and I have ported it over to the Apple store as a free application, in hopes that it can be useful to others.

I am always mesmerized by moving dials and I also find that the application, apart from giving you quick access to your weather station's data, it looks quite good as a make shift screen, especially on larger iPad screens. :-)

You can fetch the application from the app store from the below link or look for "weather mqtt"

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/weather-mqtt/id1542679289

I have also put together a quick user guide at; https://www.samaklis.com/confluence/display/WEAT/2020/12/05/Weather+MQTT+Support

PS The application is a port from Python to Objective C, so you may experience a crash from time to time as it is not OS native. I am in the process of looking into SWIFT and in time, based on community interest, I will try and put some work on porting the application to it. so it is iOS native.

Thanks again to all the weather enthusiasts out there that make applications like WeeWX possible.

Tom Keffer

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Dec 6, 2020, 11:47:58 AM12/6/20

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Very cool, Constantine!

You don't mention it, but I assume your app needs some sort of WeeWX extension to push MQTT updates to the MQTT broker?

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Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 6, 2020, 12:36:52 PM12/6/20

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Indeed, you do need the MQTT extension for WeeWX running. I am using: https://github.com/weewx/weewx/wiki/mqtt (may have gotten missed in my excitement) :-)

Christopher Joseph Alemany

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Dec 6, 2020, 3:42:24 PM12/6/20

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Very cool! Thank you Constantine and great work! I’ll install the mqtt extension just for this. Consider this friendly and appreciative encouragement to port it to Swift!

Cheers

Chris

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On Dec 6, 2020, at 08:30, Constantine Samaklis <sama...@gmail.com> wrote:

I have been using WeeWX for seven years or so and I have been inspired by the work that Tom and others have put into making this software better and also expandable.

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Kevin Davis

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Dec 6, 2020, 6:15:19 PM12/6/20

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I love this! Is there a way to change the topic name to look for?

On Dec 6, 2020, at 12:42 PM, Christopher Joseph Alemany <chri...@gmail.com> wrote:

Very cool! Thank you Constantine and great work! I’ll install the mqtt extension just for this. Consider this friendly and appreciative encouragement to port it to Swift!

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/A0ED93AC-FC10-409C-B13C-CC6E2E2B5BE0%40gmail.com.

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 6, 2020, 6:27:17 PM12/6/20

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Currently no. It defaults to weather/#. The gauges are also limited to the topics published by the MQTT extension so for example if you have configured the extension to run in metric, you will have weather/windchill_C for windchill and if you have it configured for imperial units, then it will listen for weather/windchill_F.

The pattern is similar across all the available gauges.

I have also left some topics as soil alarm and other alarm ones out, as they are present only in professional weather stations such as Vantage Pro, and have not seen them used, outside of farming applications. (On my todo list at some point though.)

Kevin Davis

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Dec 6, 2020, 6:37:04 PM12/6/20

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Ok understood; my topics are published as weather/corbett and weather/williams for different locations. I look forward to that enhancement! This looks like a cool app.

On Dec 6, 2020, at 3:27 PM, Constantine Samaklis <sama...@gmail.com> wrote:

Currently no. It defaults to weather/#. The gauges are also limited to the topics published by the MQTT extension so for example if you have configured the extension to run in metric, you will have weather/windchill_C for windchill and if you have it configured for imperial units, then it will listen for weather/windchill_F.

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/678c9f2e-2d82-4bb4-bea1-448ac1494c6an%40googlegroups.com.

bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 6, 2020, 7:42:20 PM12/6/20

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This looks really cool. I too am anxiously awaiting to be able to specify the topic. In my case, I am publishing json loop data to weather/loop, json archive data to weather/archive, both to weather/looparchive. So if I could specify something like weather/loop-individual/#... but I could easily publish to almost anything but weather/#.

Again, thanks for sharing! If I can help in any way, let me know.

rich

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 7, 2020, 5:26:12 PM12/7/20

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I have submitted a new build where the topic can be specified. As soon as it gets approved, I will post a link where you can use testflight for you to test it and see if it works as expected.

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 8, 2020, 5:14:52 PM12/8/20

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TestFlight link for testing the build:

https://testflight.apple.com/join/EPwi6NBP

Let me know if that works for you with the custom topic name and I will push to the Apple store if it does.

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bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 8, 2020, 7:20:46 PM12/8/20

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OK, I’m new to this. I’ve installed TestFlight, but it seems like I need a link or something to your app...

rich

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 8, 2020, 7:23:48 PM12/8/20

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https://testflight.apple.com/join/EPwi6NBP <-- This is the link. (also in the previous post) you can visit it from your iOS device and it will open testflight and ask you to open the application, etc.

bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 8, 2020, 7:44:15 PM12/8/20

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Interesting. The first time I clicked on the link it only installed TestFlight. But I digress. I must be doing something wrong. I get the green dot, so I think I am connected. I entered weather/individual as my topic.

Here is some output from some test code

Connected with result code 0

Connected flags {'session present': 0}

Subscribing to weather/individual/# has a mid 1 and rc 0

Subscribed to topic mid: 1 is size 1 has a QOS of 0

topic: weather/individual/monthET

payload: b'"0.11"'

topic: weather/individual/heatindex_F

payload: b'"22.5"'

topic: weather/individual/outHumidity

payload: b'"86.0"'

topic: weather/individual/dayET

payload: b'"0.006"'

topic: weather/individual/maxSolarRad_Wpm2

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/consBatteryVoltage_volt

payload: b'"4.54"'

topic: weather/individual/monthRain_in

payload: b'"0.14"'

topic: weather/individual/insideAlarm

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/barometer_inHg

payload: b'"29.282"'

topic: weather/individual/dayRain_in

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/stormRain_in

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/sunrise

payload: b'"1607429520.0"'

topic: weather/individual/windchill_F

payload: b'"22.5"'

topic: weather/individual/dewpoint_F

payload: b'"18.9577377882"'

topic: weather/individual/outsideAlarm1

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/soilLeafAlarm2

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/outsideAlarm2

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/radiation_Wpm2

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/forecastRule

payload: b'"192.0"'

topic: weather/individual/rainAlarm

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/inTemp_F

payload: b'"67.4"'

topic: weather/individual/inHumidity

payload: b'"38.0"'

topic: weather/individual/windSpeed10_mph

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/yearRain_in

payload: b'"23.37"'

topic: weather/individual/inDewpoint_F

payload: b'"40.9048059523"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm1

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm2

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm3

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm4

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm5

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm6

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm7

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/extraAlarm8

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/rainRate_inch_per_hour

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/rain_in

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/humidex_F

payload: b'"22.5"'

topic: weather/individual/forecastIcon

payload: b'"18.0"'

topic: weather/individual/pressure_inHg

payload: b'"28.7311013367"'

topic: weather/individual/soilLeafAlarm4

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/trendIcon

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/altimeter_inHg

payload: b'"29.2387383925"'

topic: weather/individual/soilLeafAlarm3

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/usUnits

payload: b'"1.0"'

topic: weather/individual/soilLeafAlarm1

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/leafWet4

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/yearET

payload: b'"25.01"'

topic: weather/individual/txBatteryStatus

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/appTemp_F

payload: b'"17.4069618021"'

topic: weather/individual/UV

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/dateTime

payload: b'"1607474098.0"'

topic: weather/individual/outTemp_F

payload: b'"22.5"'

topic: weather/individual/windSpeed_mph

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/sunset

payload: b'"1607464200.0"'

topic: weather/individual/windGust_mph

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/cloudbase_foot

payload: b'"1295.05959359"'

topic: weather/individual/hourRain_in

payload: b'"0.0"'

topic: weather/individual/rain24_in

payload: b'"0.0"'

Exception in thread Thread-4:

Traceback (most recent call last):

File "/var/containers/Bundle/Application/98214C3F-7429-489D-8C5B-62EBF1A92501/Pythonista3.app/Frameworks/Py3Kit.framework/pylib/threading.py", line 917, in _bootstrap_inner

self.run()

File "/var/containers/Bundle/Application/98214C3F-7429-489D-8C5B-62EBF1A92501/Pythonista3.app/Frameworks/Py3Kit.framework/pylib/threading.py", line 865, in run

self._target(*self._args, **self._kwargs)

File "/private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/03C7B2FF-1C6F-474E-A5E4-35A11C6986BE/Pythonista3/Documents/site-packages-3/paho/mqtt/client.py", line 3428, in _thread_main

self.loop_forever(retry_first_connection=True)

File "/private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/03C7B2FF-1C6F-474E-A5E4-35A11C6986BE/Pythonista3/Documents/site-packages-3/paho/mqtt/client.py", line 1782, in loop_forever

rc = self.loop(timeout, max_packets)

File "/private/var/mobile/Containers/Shared/AppGroup/03C7B2FF-1C6F-474E-A5E4-35A11C6986BE/Pythonista3/Documents/site-packages-3/paho/mqtt/client.py", line 1163, in loop

socklist = select.select(rlist, wlist, [], timeout)

KeyboardInterrupt

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 9, 2020, 5:54:49 AM12/9/20

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In the application configuration have you turned your station units to imperial? (I think they default to metric)

That would make a difference between looking for example between heatindex_F and headindex_C which is part of the whole topic string

Thanks

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bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 9, 2020, 11:39:23 AM12/9/20

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I did. Since then I have tried the following.

1. Publish as metric and change the application configuration back to metric.

2. Only publish outTemp_C and configure only an ‘Outside Temperature’ gauge.

I’m sure I’m missing something obvious. I’ll keep experimenting.

rich

Message has been deleted

Martin J

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Dec 9, 2020, 12:34:25 PM12/9/20

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Thank you for producing this app and allowing the specification of topic. It works fine for me, for a number of variables. However, I use METRICWX in weewx, with rain in mm and wind in m/s. We haven't had any rain yet to test this, but my wind and gust speeds are both permanently zero. Do you have any plans to support METRICWX or to allow choice of units by some other means? Also, is there any way of displaying my radiation and UV data?

Thanks.

bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 9, 2020, 2:38:55 PM12/9/20

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My error was publishing the data as strings. Now that I am publishing floats, all is working for me.

Thanks again for this app.

rich

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 9, 2020, 2:47:43 PM12/9/20

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Just to confirm your topic in the application settings is set to weather/individual right?

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bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 9, 2020, 2:50:59 PM12/9/20

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Yes it is

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 9, 2020, 2:52:35 PM12/9/20

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Also just to make sure, delete the app first in case the settings files are persisting from the original version you may have tried

bell...@gmail.com

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Dec 9, 2020, 3:45:33 PM12/9/20

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Sorry, I wasn’t clear. I am all set now. The problem was the format of my payload. It was originally strings. Now I am publishing floats. Here is an example of what is working.

Subscribing to weather/individual/# has a mid 1 and rc 0

Subscribed to topic mid: 1 is size 1 has a QOS of 0

topic: weather/individual/monthET

payload: b'0.12'

topic: weather/individual/heatindex_F

payload: b'30.8'

topic: weather/individual/outHumidity

payload: b'93.0'

topic: weather/individual/dayET

payload: b'0.005'

topic: weather/individual/maxSolarRad_Wpm2

payload: b'5.01839449489'

topic: weather/individual/consBatteryVoltage_volt

payload: b'4.54'

topic: weather/individual/monthRain_in

payload: b'0.16'

topic: weather/individual/insideAlarm

payload: b'0.0'

topic: weather/individual/barometer_inHg

payload: b'29.087'

topic: weather/individual/dayRain_in

payload: b'0.02'

topic: weather/individual/stormRain_in

payload: b'0.02'

topic: weather/individual/sunrise

payload: b'1607515920.0'

Again, thanks.

Constantine Samaklis

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Dec 12, 2020, 11:27:49 PM12/12/20

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The latest build is now available in the Apple store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/weather-mqtt/id1542679289

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