Status: 🚧 Work in Progress (Active Refactoring)
📌 Project Overview This repository documents the transition of a Java Desktop application from an IDE-dependent academic project to a professional, standalone software product. The application interfaces with the wttr.in REST API to provide detailed, multi-day weather forecasts.
🎓 Origin & Context The project was initially developed as a graded assignment for the PLH24 module at the Hellenic Open University (HOU). The original version relied heavily on NetBeans auto-generated GUI code and manual dependency management.
🛠️ Refactoring Objectives (In-Progress) The current development phase focuses on deep architectural improvements and best practices:
▸ Standardized Build System: Migrated the entire project to Maven to automate dependency management (OkHttp, Gson, iText, Derby) and ensure IDE independence.
▸ GUI Decoupling: Removing NetBeans Matisse "Guarded Blocks" and replacing auto-generated GroupLayout with manual GridBagLayout and BorderLayout for absolute UI control.
▸ Advanced Concurrency: Implementing SwingWorker to decouple long-running API calls and database operations from the Event Dispatch Thread (EDT), ensuring a non-blocking, responsive user experience.
▸ Data Structure Optimization: Refactoring complex UI views (e.g., 68+ text fields) by implementing multi-dimensional array data binding to reduce boilerplate code and improve maintainability.
▸ Persistence Layer: Managing an embedded Apache Derby database for local data storage and search history.
🚀 Technical Stack
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Runtime: Java 17 (LTS)
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Build Tool: Maven
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GUI Framework: Java Swing (Manual Layout Management)
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Networking: OkHttp 4.x
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Data Interchange: JSON (via Google Gson)
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Database: Apache Derby (Embedded Mode)
Status: ⚙️ In Progress — Core functionality complete, architectural improvements ongoing
Main Menu
Search by: City
Results Window — Full Parameters View
Original layout displaying all available weather parameters
Results Window — New Stylized View
Redesigned layout with core parameters. A "Details" button per day is planned for extended weather data.
Saving Weather Data
Editing Saved Data
Currently using the original layout — restyling planned in upcoming update
Deleting City Data
Deletion Confirmed