Tray Weather

Tray Weather is a Windows desktop application that provides current weather data and forecasts. The application resides in the system notification area, displaying an icon and basic data. When interacting with the icon, a dialog with detailed information and maps is displayed. Configuration requires a free API key from OpenWeatherMap. The program operates by obtaining the user's location via IP geolocation services or manual coordinates.

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• System tray icon. Tray Weather runs minimized, showing an icon in the Windows system tray. This icon changes dynamically to reflect current weather conditions, such as sun, rain, or clouds. During the night, the icon displays the current moon phase. Hovering the cursor over the icon shows a tooltip with the location, weather description, and temperature in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit.
• Current weather information. Double-clicking the tray icon opens a dialog window with a complete weather report. This report includes numerical data on temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind speed and direction, and cloud cover percentage. All values are updated periodically according to the interval set by the user.
• Extended forecast. The application provides a forecast for the coming days, typically up to seven. It shows the predicted maximum and minimum temperatures, precipitation probabilities, humidity, and other parameters. This data can be viewed in a list format or through graphs representing temperature trends and accumulated rainfall over time.
• Interactive weather maps. It integrates maps showing global or regional conditions. Users can select between different map layers to visualize temperature, precipitation, cloud cover, or wind speed. The maps are loaded from OpenWeatherMap servers and allow zooming and panning.
• Location settings. The location for weather data can be determined in two ways. The first is automatic, using a geolocation service based on the computer's IP address. The second is manual, where the user enters the exact latitude and longitude coordinates of a place. The application saves multiple locations to switch between them.
• OpenWeatherMap API Key management. To function, the program needs a valid API key from the OpenWeatherMap service. The configuration window includes a field to enter and save this key. The application verifies the key's validity at startup and displays an error if it is incorrect or if there are network problems.
• Automatic update. Weather data updates automatically at user-defined time intervals. The minimum update interval is limited by OpenWeatherMap's terms of service. The application attempts to retrieve new data in each cycle, handling network failures and displaying an error icon in the tray if the operation is unsuccessful.
• Unit customization. It allows the user to select the measurement units for the displayed data. Options include degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit for temperature, hectopascals or millimeters of mercury for pressure, meters per second or kilometers per hour for wind speed, and millimeters or inches for precipitation.
• System notifications. Optionally, it can display Windows pop-up notifications for specific weather alerts. The user can configure thresholds to trigger notifications, for example, when the temperature exceeds a defined maximum or minimum value, or when there is a heavy precipitation alert in the forecast.
• Multiple data sources. Although it primarily uses OpenWeatherMap, the application's architecture allows for the integration of other weather data sources. The configuration manages the API endpoint and necessary query parameters to obtain information from each compatible provider.
• Centralized configuration dialog. All program options are accessible from a single configuration dialog. This dialog organizes options into tabs or sections for location, appearance, units, updates, and notifications. Changes are applied immediately or require restarting the application.
• Status and error indicator. The tray icon serves as the main status indicator. It changes to a warning or error icon when there is a problem, such as lack of internet connection, an invalid API key, or an error in the weather service. The icon's tooltip details the nature of the error.
• Low resource consumption. The application is designed to use a minimal amount of RAM and CPU when in tray mode. The map functionality, which consumes more resources, can be completely disabled from the settings to maintain a reduced memory usage profile.
• Tray context menu. Right-clicking the tray icon brings up a menu with shortcuts. This menu allows opening the main weather window, accessing the configuration dialog, manually updating data, switching between saved locations, and exiting the application.

Development of Tray Weather began in 2018. The main project creator is Félix de las Pozas, who develops and maintains it. The program is written in the C++ programming language, using the Qt framework for the graphical user interface and cross-platform capabilities. The source code is available on GitHub under an open-source license, allowing other developers to review, modify, or contribute to the project.

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