Weather Watcher Bot - Upgrading Your Data Collection with BotFleet

Hello, data enthusiasts! Ever found yourself buried under manual tasks, wishing there was a way to automate all the repetitive stuff, especially data collection? Whether it's tracking stock prices, compiling news articles, or just gathering weather data, doing it by hand is so tiresome. Today, we're crafting a bot that automates data collection, and we'll walk through it together, step by chill step.

The Mission

Our goal? To build a bot that automates the collection of data from the web. Let's pick something universally interesting - weather data. Our bot will grab daily weather forecasts from a public API and store them. This data could be used for anything from planning your outfit to sophisticated climate research.

Gear Up

Before we set sail, make sure you're logged into BotFleet and are somewhat comfortable with Python. You'll also need access to a weather API. There are plenty of free ones out there, like OpenWeatherMap, which we'll use for our example. Grab an API key by signing up on their platform, and you're ready to go.

The Blueprint

Let's dive into our Python script. This script will call the weather API, grab the forecast for your city, and print it out. Here's a simple starter:

import requests
from datetime import datetime

# Replace 'your_api_key_here' with your actual OpenWeatherMap API key
api_key = os.environ.get("API_KEY")
# Feel free to change the city to your location
city = os.environ.get("CITY")
url = f"http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?q={city}&appid={api_key}&units=metric"

def fetch_weather():
    response = requests.get(url)
    if response.status_code == 200:
        return response.json()
    else:
        print("Failed to retrieve weather data")
        return None

def main(request, store)
    weather = fetch_weather()
    store[datetime.now().isoformat()] = weather

What's Happening Here?

fetch_weather function: This baby hits the OpenWeatherMap API with our city and API key, grabs the current weather and temperature, and prints it out. Simple yet powerful.

Setting Up the Bot on BotFleet

Head over to BotFleet and go to the bots section. Name it something memorable, like "Weather Watcher".

Indicating script

Copy the Python script we just wrote into the script section.

Indicating requirements

We're using the requests library. Let's add this to our requirements:

requests

Indicating environment variables

Set API_KEY and CITY as environment variables:

API_KEY=your_api_key_here
CITY=your_city_here

Schedule It

Set your bot to run every hour. You can use the following cron expression to run your bot every hour:

0 * * * *

Taking It Further

You've got the basics down. As you saw, we can store data in store. BotFleet's got you covered with built-in data storage options. You can build upon this example to create a bot that collects data from multiple sources and stores it.

Wrapping Up

This example is just the tip of the iceberg. The real magic happens when you start customizing and expanding. Think about collecting data from multiple sources, aggregating it, and analyzing it to uncover trends.

And just like that, you've set up your own automated data collection bot. No more manual data gathering, just pure, efficient automation. Whether you're a hobbyist looking to simplify your life or a business aiming to streamline operations, automation is the way to go.

Got a cool idea for a data collection bot or a success story to share? Reach out.