DivumWX Skin Template for WeeWX

Some time ago now we stated that weewx-Weather34 skin template development had reached reached maturity, would not be developed further and at some stage it would be replaced.

Its replacement is weewx-DivumWX, the dashboard style format will be familiar but that is where the similarity ends. Every single module (card) has been completely re-written together with new graphic designs and a CSS re-write with a better performing responsive layout across all devices from cell phones to large wide screen monitors and TVs. The new default format is now a 5w x 4h grid with 20 full size card modules from a choice of 25 (compared with the previous 3w x 3h format). An alert banner which appears at the top of the page to flag up alerts, watches, warnings and advisories has also been introduced. A new installer process is being developed together with a suite of admin functions. Forecasts and alerts are provided by XWeather API. Live example of DivumWX https://skynetweather.com

In the meantime, as development and testing is still ongoing, we have decided to release a "lite Version", DivumWX-Lite. This is fully functioning but only in a 3 x 3 grid format. We have pre-selected a range of sensors that we would expect to find as a minimum on any home weather station. The layout is responsive but it is particularly suitable to use on tablet size screens for desktop or wall displays. Live example of DivumWX-Lite https://claydonsweather.org.uk

DivumWX-Lite Skin Template for WeeWX

Weather Station website skin with Live Data for WeeWX. This version is compatible with WeeWX 5.1.0 and later builds / Python 3.7 and later. At this point in time, the unique installer is only designed to work with WeeWX 5.1.0 or later installed by the pip install method. This version of the template requires the extended database schema introduced with WeeWX 4.0.0. It is strongly recommended that you start with an entirely new clean Python3 pip install of WeeWX 5.1.0 or later.

Although this is free software it contains elements from third parties that cannot be used on commercial websites or websites that contain advertising. It is therefore FORBIDDEN TO INSTALL ON COMERCIAL WEBSITES OR THOSE THAT ARE SPONSORED/SUPPORTED BY ADVERTISING.

Installation Guide for DivumWX-Lite

The installer defaults to overwrite mode, userSettings.php will not be overwritten as it does not exist in the package. However, it is essential that any customisations you may have been made are backed up before running the install.

IMPORTANT. If you are making a completley clean install of WeeWX and DivumLite Template it is strongly recommended that you allow the WeeWX database to establish itself for 24hours before attempting installing the template.

This installation guide assumes that you are already reasonably familiar with WeeWX and that it is already installed on your computer along with a webserver, php and curl.

Currently, Divumwx-Lite only supports WeeWX 5.1 or later, installed by Pip into a Python v3.7 or later virtual environment. Instructions can be found at https://weewx.com/docs/5.1/quickstarts/pip/

• Please familiarise yourself with the location of your WeeWX system files including your bin/user folder, skins folder and weewx.conf file. If you are unsure where to find these, please refer to the installation process here: - https://weewx.com/docs/5.1/quickstarts/pip/.

Install packaging.py

# Activate the WeeWX virtual environment
source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate
# Verify that your version of pip is current
pip3 install --upgrade pip
# Install packaging.py
pip3 install packaging

IMPORTANT DivumWX-Lite requires PHP8.2 or later. Please make sure you install all the PHP modules appropriate for your version of PHP. Failure to due so may mean that forecasts and current conditions fail to update. There are numerous instructions to be found on The Internet for various flavours of Linux. This is an example for installing PHP8.4 modules on a Debian based distribution: -

Install PHP

Connect to Raspberry Pi via SSH and execute command to download GPG key:

sudo wget -qO /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/php.gpg https://packages.sury.org/php/apt.gpg

Add PHP repository:

echo "deb https://packages.sury.org/php/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/php.list

Update the package lists:

sudo apt update

Next, install PHP 8.3 with command line interface (CLI):

sudo apt install -y php8.3-common php8.3-curl php8.3-gd php8.3-mbstring php8.3-xml php8.3-zip php8.3-cli php8.3-sqlite3 php8.3-mysqli php8.3-pdo php8.3-sqlite

Check PHP version when installation was finished:

php --version

We can use -m option to check what extensions are installed.

php -m

PHP integration with MySQL or MariaDB

To use PHP with MySQL or MariaDB database, we need to install the following extension:

sudo apt install -y php8.3-mysql

PHP integration with Apache

If we want to integrate PHP with Apache HTTP server, then install the following extension:

sudo apt install -y libapache2-mod-php8.3

Once installation is complete, restart Apache:

sudo service apache2 restart

Testing PHP

Create a new main.php file:

nano main.php

Add the following code:

<?php

echo 'Hello world';

Run the following command to test a script:

php main.php

Install the Skin

• This install process assumes that your are using one of the officially documented WeeWX installs and a typical Apache2 or Nginx web server configuration with a document root of /var/www/html. In this instance, at the end of the installation process your path to the DivumWX-Lite skin will be /var/www/html/divumwx. If your installation deviates from this, you will need to adjust the paths in your weewx.conf file after the installation process has taken place.

• Go to (https://millardiang.github.io/services-generator/) to complete the pre-install web services settings which which generates 'services.json' in your default Download folder. The new Settings Generator is required as the format has changed, and any previous settings files you’ve created are no longer usable.

• Download the archive from: - (https://github.com/Millardiang/weewx-divumwx/archive/refs/heads/divumwxLite.zip)

and transfer it to your weewx server along with the services.json file that you created

• Enter your Python Virtual Environment: -

  source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate

Running the following command will tell what user is running weewx ps aux | grep weewx

This shows that the user and group running/owning the weewx process is dietpi: dietpi on this machine.

Running the following command will tell what user is running weewx ps aux | grep apache

This shows that the user and group that runs/owns the apache2 process on this machine is www-data:www-data.

Checking the default pip HTML_ROOT (public_html, which equates to /home/[username]/weewx-data/public_html) will show you where weewx is creating its files, and, as you can see, they are owned by dietpi:dietpi

Before proceeding, you must ensure that weewx has been properly installed and producing reports, as shown below. Failure to do so will result in the installer failing.

Extract the archive.

unzip weewx-divumwx-divumwxLite.zip

This will leave you with a directory weewx-divumwx-divumwxLite. Move the services.json file into that new directory as well. mv ./services.json ./ weewx-divumwx-divumwxLite/services.json

Change into that directory. cd weewx-divumwx-divumwxLite/

Python Installer

In the weewx-divumwx-divumwxLite directory, enter the following command: python dvmInstaller.py

If you are missing one of the non-standard Python modules required by the installer, you will be prompted to install it.

Responding “Y” will install the necessary module and restart the script.

Pressing any key will then display the essential installation document.

Pressing “q” will exit the text viewer and proceed to the welcome message.

Pressing any key will continue, and the script will verify your Python version and verify that you are running in the Python virtual environment. Next, it checks the weewx version, then it gets the user running the script and verifies the user and group for file permissions:

Entering “n” will allow you to manually enter the user and group for file permissions; otherwise, entering “y” will accept what the script has found.

Next, the script will attempt to locate what software you are using for a web server and what user and group it’s run under, again for file permissions:

Entering “n” will allow you to enter the web server and user/group manually; otherwise, entering “y” will proceed.

Next, the script will inform you of the HTML_ROOT setting in the weewx.conf file and ask if you want to use that setting.

Entering “y” will accept what the script found; otherwise, entering “n” will allow you to input the full path for the HTML_ROOT.

HTML_ROOT is the directory where weewx is writing its report files, NOT necessarily the DOCUMENTROOT of your web server. In the case of a stock, standard pip installation, then the HTML_ROOT would be /home/[username]/weewx_data/public_html, and the URL of your weewx page would be however you linked it in your web server

Next, the script will ask you if you wish to change the webserver's document root. Since you’ve created reports using the Seasons skin, files will already be in the current document root. Unless you’ve deleted those files, it is highly suggested that you enter “y” to the following question to keep things clean and separate.

Entering “y” will append “divumwx” to the current “HTML_ROOT” setting and answering “n” will leave it alone.

Next, the script will ask if you want to use the DVM Backup service to back up your weewx database.

Entering “y” will allow you to enter the specifics for the DVM Backup service; entering “n” will bypass this section.

Now the script displays the inputs that it has loaded for you to look over and asks if you’re ready to have it start the installation process:

Once you’ve reviewed everything, if you enter “y,” the installation will proceed; otherwise, entering “n” will exit the script.

The script will proceed and inform you of the steps as they are completed. Then run reports to get a head start

  #run reports
  weectl report run

You’ve completed the command-line Python installation. The next step is to visit the DivumWX Skin's home page and start the web-based initial setup.

This will allow some of the required variable data to be generated immediately without having to wait for the next report generation interval.

• You can now test that the template is working by opening it up in your browser.

Location Settings

• You need to set your location settings.

Click on the side menu 'hamburger', top rigt of your weather page. and then click on the first item, Location Settings. You will be presented with a login screen. Leave the password empty for the initial login. Click on the button and enter the location settings screen. Create a password, complete the other fields and save. Browse back to the main page and refresh the screen. This completes the installation process.

Ownership and Permissions

• You need to carry out a final clean up of Ownership and Permissions.

  #from the command line, go to your document root folder (normally /var/www/html is default for Apache2 or Nginx)
  cd /var/www/html
  #set ownership and group (replace your userID with your own user name used to login to your server)
  sudo chown -R www-data:your_userID divumwx
  #set permissions
  sudo chmod -R 775 divumwx
  #restart weewx
  sudo systemctl restart weewx
  

Wait for the next archive cycle to complete and you should see a fully working web page.

• Any problems, please raise an Issue in this repository attaching a debug report, your skin.conf files and a journal report covering at least two archive cycles from startup.

  # Debug Report
  source ~/weewx-venv/bin/activate   
  weectl debug
  
  # Journal Report
  sudo journalctl -u weewx -f