Creating a Weather Application

Jul 4, 2024

Lecture on Creating a Weather Application

Introduction

  • Application Goal: Create a weather application from scratch.
  • Reasons for Creating:
    • Understand the working of weather apps.
    • Experience how data changes dynamically.
    • Create our own weather app instead of using others.
  • Learning Outcomes:
    • Implement a splash screen.
    • Change background and icons based on weather conditions.
    • Obtain weather data for any location using APIs.
    • API calling techniques.
    • Publishing app on Play Store.

App Features

  • Splash Screen: Introduction screen that transitions to main app interface.
  • Dynamic Backgrounds: Changes based on weather (rain, snow, sunny, etc.).
  • Search Functionality: Allows user to search weather by city name.
  • Weather Details: Displays temperature, max/min temperature, humidity, wind speed, rain condition, sunrise/sunset, sea level.
  • Animations: Use of Lottie animations for dynamic weather icons.
  • Publishing: Instructions for publishing the app and monetization possibilities.

Development Process

Initial Setup

  1. Create New Project: Using Android Studio, select activity template, and choose Kotlin as the language.
  2. Set Minimum API Level: Target API level 7.0 (95% device compatibility).
  3. Add Assets/Resources: Include necessary backgrounds, icons, fonts, etc.
  4. Creating the Splash Screen:
    • Design layout with background image and text.
    • Set up the splash screen with a delay and transition to the main activity using handlers.

Main Activity Design

  1. Search View Setup: Create and style a search view for city-based weather search.
  2. Build Layout: Consisting of text views, image views, and weather details.
  3. Implement Lottie Animations: Include dynamic icons for weather conditions.
  4. Constraint Layout: Use constraint layout for responsive design.
  5. Text and Icon Styling: Adjust text sizes, colors, and align icons appropriately.

API Integration

  1. OpenWeatherMap API: Use current weather data API.
  2. Adding API Keys: Get API keys from OpenWeatherMap after signup and email confirmation.
  3. Create Retrofit Interface: Implement Retrofit for API calls and JSON conversion.
  4. Fetching Data: Convert JSON responses to usable data.
  5. Handling Responses: Check for success of API calls and handle errors.

Dynamic Data Display

  • Display Weather Data: Show fetched data (temperature, min/max temperature, humidity, etc.) on UI elements.
  • Error Handling: Handle scenarios where data fetching fails or is incomplete.
  • Background and Icon Changes: Change background images and weather icons based on weather condition.

Final Touches

  • Time and Date Format: Format current time and date to display in the app.
  • Set Up Permissions: Ensure internet permissions are enabled in the Android manifest.
  • Testing: Run the application on emulator/device to check functionality.
  • Publishing: Highlights on publishing the app to Play Store.

Conclusion

  • Encouragement: Modify and enhance the project as needed.
  • Community Interaction: Share your created apps and mention on social media for recognition.
  • Future Projects: Suggestions and encouragement for proposing new project ideas.

Call to Action

  • Like & Subscribe: Encourage viewers to like the video and subscribe for more content.
  • Comments & Suggestions: Open to questions and suggestions in comments for further improvement.

Full transcript