Weather App with Flask and Rate Limiting

This project is a simple web application built with Flask that retrieves and displays weather information for a specified location using the Visual Crossing Weather API. It includes basic rate limiting to control the frequency of API calls.

Features

• Location-Based Weather Data: Enter a location to fetch current and forecasted weather information.
• Rate Limiting: Limits requests to prevent excessive API usage.
• Error Handling: Handles common issues like missing location input or API key.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.7 or higher
• An API key from Visual Crossing Weather API
• Flask and other dependencies listed in requirements.txt

Setup Instructions

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone https://github.com/LuckyKhoza-crypto/Flask

2. Create a Virtual Environment:

   python3 -m venv venv
   source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

3. Install Dependencies:

   pip install -r requirements.txt

4. Set Up Environment Variables: Set up the WEATHER_API_KEY environment variable with your API key from Visual Crossing:

   export WEATHER_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

5. Run the Application:

   python app.py

6. Access the Application: Open http://127.0.0.1:5000/enter_location in your browser.

Project Structure

• app.py: Main application file with route definitions.
• templates/enter_location.html: Template for entering a location.
• templates/show_weather.html: Template for displaying the weather data.
• requirements.txt: Lists the dependencies for the project.

Endpoints

1. /enter_location (GET, POST): Accepts a location input and redirects to the weather display page.
2. /show_weather (GET): Retrieves and displays weather data for the specified location.

Rate Limiting

This app uses Flask-Limiter to manage API request frequency:

• 200 requests per day
• 50 requests per hour

Error Handling

• Missing API Key: If WEATHER_API_KEY is not set, the app will raise a ValueError.
• Invalid Location: If an invalid location is entered, an error will be shown on the location entry page.

Project requirements described here: https://roadmap.sh/projects/weather-api-wrapper-service