YrWeatherPlugin for InfoPanel

Overview

YrWeatherPlugin is a plugin for the InfoPanel app that retrieves weather data from the MET Norway Weather API. It provides current weather conditions and a configurable multi-day forecast table using the locationforecast/2.0/complete endpoint. Weather icons are sourced from OpenWeatherMap by default, with support for custom icon sets via a configurable URL.

Features

• Fetches current weather data using user-defined latitude/longitude or geocoded location (e.g., "Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia)").
• Altitude-corrected temperatures: Optionally specify your elevation for accurate temperature readings.
• Displays metrics: temperature, feels-like temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed/direction/gust, cloud cover, rain, and snow.
• Configurable Forecast: Table with daily weather, temperature range (Celsius or Fahrenheit), precipitation, and wind for 1-10 days.
• Temperature Units: Supports Celsius (C) or Fahrenheit (F) via INI settings, converting MET/Yr’s Celsius data accordingly.
• Geocoding: Converts location names to coordinates using Nominatim if exact coordinates aren’t provided.
• Customizable refresh interval, date/time format, and UTC offset for local time display.
• [AVAILABLE WITH NEXT INFOPANEL RELEASE]Weather Icons: Uses OpenWeatherMap icons (e.g., https://openweathermap.org/img/wn/01d@4x.png) or custom PNG/SVG icons from a user-defined URL.
• Seamless integration with InfoPanel’s UI, including sensor values and text fields.

Forecast Table Data

The plugin provides a configurable forecast table (default 5 days) with:

• Date: Customizable date format (default: "dddd dd MMM", e.g., "Tuesday 08 Apr"). Can be changed via ForecastDateFormat in the INI file.
• Weather: Dominant condition (e.g., "cloudy", "rain"), from next_6_hours symbol_code, displayed as an icon.
• Temp: Max/min temperature in chosen unit (e.g., "68°F / 64°F" or "20°C / 18°C").
• Precip: Total precipitation in mm (e.g., "1.5 mm"), summed from next_6_hours.
• Wind: Average speed in m/s and direction (e.g., "3.2 m/s SE").

Date Format Customization

You can customize how dates appear in the forecast table using standard C# date format strings in the INI file's ForecastDateFormat setting. Some examples:

Format String	Result	Description
dddd dd MMM	Tuesday 08 Apr	Full day name, day, abbreviated month (default)
ddd d MMM	Tue 8 Apr	Abbreviated day name, day without leading zero, abbreviated month
dd/MM	08/04	Numeric day/month
d MMMM	8 April	Day and full month name
dddd	Tuesday	Full day name only
ddd	Tue	Abbreviated day name only
MMMM d	April 8	Month name and day (US style)

Example output (Fahrenheit):

Date	Weather	Temp	Precip	Wind
Tue 08 Apr	partlycloudy	68°F / 64°F	0.0 mm	3.2 m/s SE
Wed 09 Apr	rain	70°F / 65°F	2.3 mm	4.0 m/s S
Thu 10 Apr	clearsky	72°F / 66°F	0.0 mm	2.8 m/s SW
Fri 11 Apr	cloudy	71°F / 65°F	0.5 mm	3.1 m/s W
Sat 12 Apr	fair	73°F / 67°F	0.0 mm	2.5 m/s NW

Requirements

• InfoPanel app (latest version recommended).

Requirements to compile

• .NET runtime compatible with InfoPanel.
• Internet connection for MET Norway API, Nominatim geocoding, and icon fetching.

Installation

1. Download the latest release from GitHub.
2. Import into InfoPanel via the "Import Plugin" feature.
3. Edit InfoPanel.MetYr.dll.ini with your desired location and settings.

Installation from Source

1. Clone or download this repository.
2. Build the project in a .NET environment.
3. Copy compiled files to your InfoPanel plugins directory.

Usage

• Launch InfoPanel with the plugin loaded.
• The plugin fetches weather data at the configured interval (default 60 minutes).
• View current conditions and forecast in InfoPanel’s UI.
• Weather icons are rendered from URLs (OpenWeatherMap or custom), if supported by InfoPanel.
• Configure custom icons via the IconUrl setting in the INI file for alternative icon sets.

Configuration

On first load the plugin will automatically create default the .ini file. You will need to edit the .ini file with your details! Edit InfoPanel.MetYr.dll.ini:

[Yr Weather Plugin]
Location = Newcastle, New South Wales (Australia)
Latitude = -32.92953
Longitude = 151.7801
Altitude = 10
RefreshIntervalMinutes = 60
DateTimeFormat = yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm
ForecastDateFormat = dddd dd MMM
UtcOffsetHours = 10
ForecastDays = 7
TemperatureUnit = F
IconUrl = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Makin-Things/weather-icons/refs/heads/main/static/

• Location: City/region (used for geocoding if lat/long omitted).
• Latitude/Longitude: Optional exact coordinates (overrides geocoding).
• Altitude: Elevation in meters above sea level (recommended for accurate temperatures, see below).
• RefreshIntervalMinutes: Refresh frequency (e.g., 60).
• DateTimeFormat: C# date format for "Last Refreshed" (e.g., yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm).
• ForecastDateFormat: C# date format for dates in forecast table (e.g., dddd dd MMM).
• UtcOffsetHours: Local time offset from UTC (e.g., 10 for AEST, -4 for EDT).
• ForecastDays: Days to forecast (1-10, default 5).
• TemperatureUnit: C for Celsius, F for Fahrenheit.
• [AVAILABLE WITH NEXT INFOPANEL RELEASE] IconUrl: Optional URL to a directory containing custom PNG or SVG icons (e.g., https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Makin-Things/weather-icons/refs/heads/main/static/). If omitted or invalid, falls back to OpenWeatherMap icons.

Finding Your Altitude

The Altitude setting is highly recommended for accurate temperature readings. Without it, MET Norway uses a coarse 1km resolution terrain model that can be off by hundreds of meters in hilly areas, causing temperature errors of up to 6.5°C per 1000m difference.

How to find your altitude:

1. Google Maps: Right-click your location → "What's here?" → The elevation may be shown in the info card.
2. Google Earth: Hover over your location and read the elevation in the bottom-right corner.
3. Online Tools:
   • FreeMapTools Elevation Finder
   • GPS Visualizer
   • What Is My Elevation
4. Smartphone: Many GPS/compass apps show your current elevation.
5. Wikipedia: Search for your city - elevation is often listed in the info box.

Example: If your house is at 23 meters above sea level, set Altitude = 23 in your INI file.

Custom Icon Configuration [AVAILABLE WITH NEXT INFOPANEL RELEASE]

To use custom icons, set IconUrl to a directory containing PNG or SVG files named according to the plugin’s icon mapping. The plugin attempts to load .svg first, falling back to .png if the SVG is unavailable. Ensure the URL is accessible and points to a directory with the expected icon files.

Supported Icon Names: The plugin maps MET Norway’s symbol_code to the following icon names, used as filenames (e.g., clear-day.svg or clear-day.png):

• clear-day, clear-night
• cloudy-1-day, cloudy-1-night (light clouds/fair)
• cloudy-2-day, cloudy-2-night (partly cloudy)
• cloudy
• fog
• rainy-1, rainy-1-day, rainy-1-night (light rain, <2.5 mm/h)
• rainy-2, rainy-2-day, rainy-2-night (moderate rain, 2.5–7.5 mm/h)
• rainy-3, rainy-3-day, rainy-3-night (heavy rain, >7.5 mm/h)
• snowy-1, snowy-1-day, snowy-1-night (light snow, <2.5 mm/h)
• snowy-2, snowy-2-day, snowy-2-night (moderate snow, 2.5–7.5 mm/h)
• snowy-3, snowy-3-day, snowy-3-night (heavy snow, >7.5 mm/h)
• rain-and-sleet-mix (sleet)
• snow-and-sleet-mix (snow with thunder)
• scattered-thunderstorms, thunderstorms
• tropical-storm, hurricane
• wind

Example: For IconUrl=https://example.com/icons/, the plugin will try:

• https://example.com/icons/clear-day.svg or https://example.com/icons/clear-day.png for clearsky_day.
• Ensure all icon names above are available in the specified directory.

Example Icon Source: Use the weather-icons repository:

IconUrl = https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Makin-Things/weather-icons/refs/heads/main/static/

This provides SVG and PNG icons matching the supported names.