README

• Overview

  • This is a simple app that uses google places autocomplete to take an address entry and queries www.weatherapi.com to present a 7 day forecast. Forecast data from the API is cached by US Zip Code for 30 minutes using Rails memory caching. There is a thermometer icon in the "Current Conditions" header section that indicates whether the forecast data is cached or fresh. A full thermometer icon means cached, a low thermometer icon means freshly updated.
  • ⚠️ NOTE: At the time this app was developed, the weather api returned a 7 day forecast. At some point that has changed to support only a 3 day foreast. Since the purpose of this app was just to experiment with certain rails 8 features, and to tinker with Goolgle Places API, it will not be updated

• Key Features

  • Google Places Autocomplete: Smart address/location input with autocomplete suggestions
  • Weather API Integration: 7-day forecast data from WeatherAPI.com
  • Intelligent Caching: 30-minute cache by zip code to reduce API calls and improve performance
  • Cache Status Indicator: Visual thermometer icon shows if data is cached or freshly fetched
  • Temperature Unit Toggle: Switch between Fahrenheit and Celsius
  • Responsive Design: Bootstrap 5.3 for mobile-friendly interface
  • AJAX Interface: Seamless updates without page refreshes

• Technical Architecture

  • Rails 8.0: Latest Rails framework with modern conventions
  • Stimulus Controllers: Hotwire Stimulus for JavaScript interactions
  • Typhoeus HTTP Client: High-performance HTTP requests for API calls
  • Custom Error Handling: Graceful handling of API failures and invalid inputs
  • Comprehensive Testing: RSpec, Webmock, Capybara, and Cypress test coverage

• Requirements

  • Ruby 3.4.2
  • Rails 8.02
  • SQLite3
  • jQuery 3.7.1
  • Bootstrap 5.3
  • Bundler

• Clone:

  • git clone https://github.com/worshamweb/weather.git
  • cd weather
  • bundle install
  • rails db:prepare
  • rails s
  • http://localhost:3000/forecast/

• Testing

  • This app uses Rspec, Webmock, Capybara Selenium Drivers and Cypress
  • run rspec spec for tests
  • default configuration is selenium headless driver. To change, edit Capybara.default_driver = :selenium_chrome_headless in spec/rails_helper.rb

• Troubleshooting

  • App uses memory cache by default. To enable SSD caching:
    • Change config.cache_store = :memory_store to config.cache_store = :solid_cache_store in config/environments/development.rb
    • Run ./bin/rails db:setup:cache to create cache database