Staging Area to Experiment?

136 views
Skip to first unread message

Andy Sloane

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 12:59:28 PM8/5/20
to weewx-user
I am using the standard skin on Weewx, and would like to create a "staging area" where I can experiment with different skins.  This area would be completely hidden from public view, unless you had the URL.  Is this possible?

Thanks. 

galfert

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 2:41:54 PM8/5/20
to weewx-user
I'm actually running multiple copies of WeeWX. One is the production system that I don't make changes to unless tested successfully in the test system. My weather station allows me to query it from multiple software simultaneously. I have an Ecowitt GW1000, but you could do the same with a Davis WLL system. Great use for a VM if you don't have multiple hardware.

Hans Cilker

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 3:01:01 PM8/5/20
to weewx-user
galfert, thats nice, shit, my nexus dont like it from different instanzes, therefore its very tedious to work with the file, copy them to the right place, look whats happening and copy them back if its running shit.

Tom Keffer

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 5:43:49 PM8/5/20
to weewx-user
You can run multiple reports (skins) from a single instance. Just make sure they have different HTML_ROOT values, so they don't overwrite each other. 

For example, say you wanted to run both the Standard skin, and the Seasons skin. The Standard skin will be FTP'd to your webserver, the Seasons skin is for your private viewing. The following would do this:

[StdReport]

    # Where the skins reside, relative to WEEWX_ROOT
    SKIN_ROOT = skins

    # Where the generated reports should go, relative to WEEWX_ROOT
    HTML_ROOT = public_html

    # The database binding indicates which data should be used in reports.
    data_binding = wx_binding

    # Whether to log a successful operation
    log_success = True

    # Whether to log an unsuccessful operation
    log_failure = False

    [[SeasonsReport]]
        # The SeasonsReport uses the 'Seasons' skin, which contains the
        # images, templates and plots for the report.
        skin = Seasons
        enable = true
        HTML_ROOT=private/Seasons

    [[StandardReport]]
        skin = Standard
        enable = true

    [[FTP]]
        skin = Ftp

        enable = true
        user = replace_me
        password = "replace_me"
        server = replace_me    # The ftp server name, e.g, www.myserver.org
        path = replace_me      # The destination directory, e.g., /weather


Note how the results of the Seasons skin is put in a private directory, outside of the tree to be FTP'd to your webserver.

-tk

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-user" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to weewx-user+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/fce33ce5-a276-4242-b1b5-a2c9aab3b3b7n%40googlegroups.com.

vince

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 6:34:22 PM8/5/20
to weewx-user
On Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at 9:59:28 AM UTC-7, Andy Sloane wrote:
I am using the standard skin on Weewx, and would like to create a "staging area" where I can experiment with different skins.  This area would be completely hidden from public view, unless you had the URL.  Is this possible?



Another option is to spin up a throwaway instance of weewx on a pi, or in docker, or in a virtual machine.   That lets you fiddle and possibly break things without affecting your production configuration. I've learned the hard way to never test in production.

(and also have learned multiple times the hard way that I forget that sometimes too) 

p q

unread,
Aug 5, 2020, 6:41:01 PM8/5/20
to weewx...@googlegroups.com
That's what I do. Use simulator as the weather station and a VM thats a copy of my real station weewx implementation. I make any significant changes on the vm first. 

I have considered using docker but lack motivation. 

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "weewx-user" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to weewx-user+...@googlegroups.com.

Andy Sloane

unread,
Aug 6, 2020, 4:27:31 AM8/6/20
to weewx...@googlegroups.com
The production instance is running on a VM but I think the host is being hammered already, so spinning another one up isn't an option.  Besides, would VMWare let me share a USB controller and peripheral between two VMs?

But that does give me the idea of setting up a VirtualBox environment on my PC. Only thing I won't have is the data but I can manually copy it over and use outdated stuff, just to see what it looks like. 

Perfect. Thanks very much. 

You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "weewx-user" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/weewx-user/pS3qjKcGoAo/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to weewx-user+...@googlegroups.com.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/weewx-user/CAA1SM224pRQy2%2BR2Vgk_m%2B9UnUcLMfei58w_iY4p-0wDrNyDhA%40mail.gmail.com.

vince

unread,
Aug 6, 2020, 10:17:52 AM8/6/20
to weewx-user
On Thursday, August 6, 2020 at 1:27:31 AM UTC-7, Andy Sloane wrote:
The production instance is running on a VM but I think the host is being hammered already, so spinning another one up isn't an option.  Besides, would VMWare let me share a USB controller and peripheral between two VMs?



If you're just fiddling with skins, simply run the Simulator driver.
The skins don't care if the data is real or simulated.

Ξ

unread,
Aug 19, 2020, 7:59:04 AM8/19/20
to weewx-user
How do you spin up a throwaway instance?

Andy Sloane

unread,
Aug 19, 2020, 8:23:18 AM8/19/20
to weewx...@googlegroups.com
Personally, I was thinking of using VirtualBox to create  a RHEL VM on my PC, and then installing it on that.  Maybe use vagrant to get it off the ground and make sure I can rinse and repeat.  

On Wed, 19 Aug 2020 at 12:59, Ξ <fcky...@gmail.com> wrote:
How do you spin up a throwaway instance?

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to a topic in the Google Groups "weewx-user" group.
To unsubscribe from this topic, visit https://groups.google.com/d/topic/weewx-user/pS3qjKcGoAo/unsubscribe.
To unsubscribe from this group and all its topics, send an email to weewx-user+...@googlegroups.com.
Reply all
Reply to author
Forward
0 new messages