Weather Forecast Widget

GENERAL

The weather data for this widget will be retrieved from the OpenWeatherMap API with your own API key.

OPENWEATHERMAP API

⚠️ Important Note: OpenWeatherMap has transitioned from version One Call API 2.5 to the new One Call API 3.0.
As of now, usage of the API is no longer possible without adding valid billing information (e.g. a credit card) to your OpenWeatherMap account – even for the free tier.

This means that the Weather Widget will not work anymore unless:
– you switch to the new One Call 3.0 API, and
– you have a valid payment method on file in your OpenWeatherMap account.

🔒 Recommendation:
To avoid unexpected charges, it is highly recommended to set a billing cap / usage limit in your OpenWeatherMap account under Billing Plans after adding a payment method.

For pricing details and limits, visit: Pricing – OpenWeatherMap

INPUT DATA

You can show the weather for a CITY (input data: city name) or for specific COORDINATES (input data: latitude & longitude coordinates) in the widget.

PLACEMENT/SHORTCODE

The weather widget can be implemented in a page, a post or into the widget area with the help of the shortcode [weather_forecast_widget]. Furthermore you´ll be able to pass different attributes to each shortcode to override your settings for this widget placement (e.g. manage widget title with an shortcode attribute).

TEMPLATES

Currently you can choose 3 templates for the widget.
* Template 1
* Current day´s weather with a weather forecast for the next 3 days
* Template 2
* Template 2 uses Bootstrap!
* Current day´s weather with an hourly weather forecast and a weather forecast for the next 3 days
* Template 3
* Template 3 uses Bootstrap!
* Weather for the current day and for the next 7 days, each with an hourly weather forecast and a weather forecast for the next 3 days
* Alert Template 1
* Alert Template 1 uses Bootstrap!
* Active weather alerts

BACKGROUND IMAGE

For this widget, you´ll be able to choose your own background image. Either you set a static background image in the widget settings or you choose the dynamic variant (thumbnail of the page/post, where the shortcode is placed) will be used as a background image.

WEATHER DATA

In addition to the daily weather forecast, an hourly weather forecast can also be displayed in the widget. Both the daily and hourly weather forecast can be collapsed.

WEATHER ALERTS

The weather widget also shows weather alerts. These alerts are dismissable.

WEATHER ICONS

In the widget you´ll find awesome and beautiful weather icons. In the plugins settings page you can choose which weather icons you want to use for the widget.
* Animated Icons Filled
* Animated Icons Not Filled
* Static Icons

LAZY LOADING

You have the possibility to load the widget with lazy loading (ajax) to load the data only when necessary.

CACHING

Nowadays caching is an important topic. This weather forecast widget makes it possible to cache the received weather data for the next visitor, who will visit your website page/post next time. You´ll be able to set your desired caching time in the settings (caching time possible up to 1 hour => this should ensure that the weather data in the widget is as current as possible). With this caching possibility you´ll also save API calls.

SHORTCODE EXAMPLES

• Retrieve weather data for a city
  • [weather_forecast_widget city=”Kufstein”]
• Retrieve weather data for a city and show city name as title text
  • [weather_forecast_widget city=”Kufstein” title_cityname=”X”]
• Retrieve weather data for specific coordinates
  • [weather_forecast_widget lat=”47.5824″ lon=”12.1627″]
• Retrieve weather data for specific coordinates and show “Weather for Weather Widget” as title text
  • [weather_forecast_widget lat=”47.5824″ lon=”12.1627″ title_overwrite=”Weather for Weather Widget”]
• Retrieve weather data with lazy loading and template 3 for specific coordinates and expand the hourly and daily forecast initially
  • [weather_forecast_widget lazy_loading=”X” template=”3″ hourly_forecast=”show” daily_forecast=”show” lat=”47.5824″ lon=”12.1627″]
• Retrieve weather alerts with lazy loading and alert template 1 for specific coordinates and expand the weather alerts initially
  • [weather_forecast_widget lazy_loading=”X” template=”alert_1″ alerts=”show” lat=”47.5824″ lon=”12.1627″ max_width=”500px”]

SETTINGS

• Input box for your OPEN WEATHER MAP API key (the api key will be tested for validity while saving!)
• Dropdown box to choose if caching of the weather data is necessary and if yes, which CACHE TIME should be used.
• Media uploader/selector to choose a BACKGROUND IMAGE for the widget (optional – otherwise the page/post thumbnail will be used)
• Radiobuttons to select the WIDGET TITLE TEXT, which will be displayed in the widget. This setting will be used as a default if nothing else will be passed in the shortcode. If you´ll pass title_cityname or title_overwrite as a shortcode attribute, this attribute will be processed in the widget output.
• Dropdown to choose the POST META FIELD for the title text, if you selected the readio button “Post Meta Field (choose one of the dropdown below)“
• Choose, which WEATHER VALUES should be shown in the widget
• Choose, which UNITS should be used to display the weather values
• Choose, which WEATHER ICONS should be used for the widget

TRANSLATIONS

• German – adminbergtourentipptirol

Credits

• Static Weather Icons provided from Erik Flowers Weather Icons
• Animated Weather Icons provided from Basmilius Weather Icons