1: Weather Dashboard

Overview

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The challenge involves building a Python application that fetches real-time weather data from the OpenWeatherMap API and saves it to an AWS S3 bucket. I decided to create a simple graphical user interface (GUI) using Tkinter to make the application more user-friendly.

Features

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• Fetch Weather Data: Retrieves current weather conditions for a specified city using the OpenWeatherMap API.
• Display Weather Data: Presents the fetched data in a clear and readable format within the GUI.
• Save to S3 Bucket: Stores the raw JSON data received from the API into an AWS S3 bucket for later analysis or use.

Project Snippets

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Technologies Used

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• Python: The core programming language for the application.
• Tkinter: Used to create the graphical user interface.
• Requests: For making HTTP requests to the OpenWeatherMap API.
• Boto3: The AWS SDK for Python, used to interact with S3.
• dotenv: To load environment variables (API keys, bucket name) securely.

Project Structure

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weather-dashboard/
├── src/                 # Source code for the application
│   ├── __init__.py      # Makes src a package (can be empty)
│   ├── gui.py           # Tkinter GUI code
│   ├── weather_api.py   # Weather API interaction logic
│   └── s3_utils.py      # S3 bucket interaction logic
├── tests/               # Unit tests for the application
│   ├── __init__.py     
│   ├── test_gui.py
│   ├── test_weather_api.py
│   └── test_s3_utils.py
├── .gitignore           # Files/folders to exclude from Git
├── requirements.txt     # Project dependencies
├── README.md            # Project description and instructions
└── main.py              # Entry point of the application

Architecture Diagram

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How to Run

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1. Prerequisites:

   • Python 3.7+: Install from https://www.python.org/
   • Libraries: Install required packages: pip install -r requirements.txt
   • OpenWeatherMap API Key: Obtain an API key from https://openweathermap.org/api
   • AWS Account: Create an account on https://aws.amazon.com/
   • S3 Bucket: Create an S3 bucket in your preferred AWS region.

2. Configuration:

   • Create a .env file in the project’s root directory.

   • Add your API key and bucket name to the .env file (see example below):

     OPENWEATHER_API_KEY=your_actual_api_key_here
     AWS_BUCKET_NAME=your_bucket_name 
     

3. Run the application:

   python main.py
   

Issues and Troubleshooting

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This section outlines some common issues I have encountered while setting up or running the weather dashboard application and provides solutions or workarounds.

1. “IllegalLocationConstraintException” when Creating S3 Bucket:

Problem: You might encounter the error “An error occurred (IllegalLocationConstraintException) when calling the CreateBucket operation” if you haven’t specified a region for your S3 bucket or if the default region setting is incompatible.

Solution:

• Specify Region in s3_utils.py: Ensure you’ve set the correct AWS region in the S3Handler class within src/s3_utils.py. Replace "your-aws-region" with your desired region (e.g., "us-east-1", "ap-south-1"):

  self.region_name = 'your-aws-region'
  self.s3 = boto3.client('s3', region_name=self.region_name)
  

• Configure Default AWS Region: For convenience, set your desired region as the default in your AWS CLI or Python environment to avoid specifying it repeatedly.

2. “NoSuchBucket” Error when Saving Data:

Problem: The error “An error occurred (NoSuchBucket) when calling the PutObject operation” usually means the S3 bucket you’re attempting to save data to doesn’t exist.

Solution:

• Verify Bucket Name: Double-check that the bucket name in your code (self.bucket_name) matches the name of the bucket you created in S3. Remember that bucket names are globally unique.
• Confirm Bucket Creation: Make sure the code to create the bucket (create_bucket_if_not_exists) runs successfully before attempting to save data.

This “Issues and Troubleshooting” section provides a starting point for addressing common problems. If you encounter issues not listed here, refer to the AWS documentation, online forums, or contact the project maintainers for further assistance.