WeatherWallpaper

Tags: C# WinForms MEF Plugin Architecture Windows Registry REST APIs

Dynamic Wallpaper Daemon with Weather Awareness and Plugin Architecture

Context/Story

WeatherWallpaper was created to transform static desktop wallpapers into dynamic, weather-responsive visuals. This project addresses the limitation of traditional desktop backgrounds by making them reactive to live weather data and the time of day. Originally relying on a single weather source (Yahoo), the system evolved to support multiple weather providers (NOAA, Microsoft Weather, OpenWeather) to ensure robustness and eliminate single-point failures. The plugin model allows developers to contribute new weather sources or sunrise/sunset implementations without forking the project.

Architecture & Decisions

• MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework): Enables lazy composition of weather and sunrise/sunset providers. Plugins load only when needed, ensuring zero coupling between the core and implementations.
• Multi-source weather resilience: Integrates with three independent REST API providers (NOAA/Gov3, Microsoft Weather, OpenWeather) and gracefully falls back if a source is unreachable.
• Time-based scheduling: Uses a 3-second polling loop with per-hour and per-day exclusion masks (BitArray optimization). Users can block updates during business hours or specific weekdays.
• System tray integration: Runs as a quiet notification icon, with zero visual footprint until user interaction.
• Windows Registry + P/Invoke: Utilizes direct registry writes and low-level DLL calls (SystemParametersInfo) for atomic wallpaper changes, avoiding the need for external tools.
• Custom theme compression: Wallpaper sets are packaged as ZipArchiveEntry archives for portability and ease of distribution.

Key Features

• Day/Night Wallpaper Switching: Separate imagery for daylight and night hours based on computed sunrise/sunset times.
• Weather-Aware Imagery: Maps current weather conditions (clear, cloudy, rain, snow, etc.) to corresponding wallpaper sets.
• Plugin Extensibility: Developers can implement ISharedWeatherInterface, ISharedSunRiseSetInterface, or ILatLongInterface to add custom providers.
• Granular Scheduling Control: Users can exclude specific hours or weekdays from wallpaper updates via BitArray masks.
• Configurable Providers: Users select active weather sources, and the fallback chain executes on failure.
• Custom Theme Support: Load wallpaper themes from compressed archives; zip-based distribution allows easy theme sharing and installation.

Quick Start

1. Build: Open WeatherDesktop.sln in Visual Studio (requires .NET Framework 4.8+).
2. Run: Execute WeatherDesktop.exe, which launches as a system tray application.
3. Configure: Right-click the tray icon → Settings. Select the active weather provider and configure exclusion hours.
4. Verify: Observe wallpaper changes on the hour (or as configured in the settings).

🚀 Features Overview

WeatherWallpaper is a dynamic wallpaper daemon that transforms your desktop into a live reflection of the weather and time of day. It offers a wide range of features that make it an ideal choice for developers and users who want a personalized and responsive desktop experience. Whether you're a developer looking to contribute new weather sources or a user seeking a visually engaging wallpaper experience, this project provides a seamless and efficient solution.

🧱 Technology Stack

WeatherWallpaper is built using the following technologies:

• Frontend: C#, WinForms
• Plugin Architecture: MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework)
• Data Integration: REST APIs (NOAA, Microsoft Weather, OpenWeather)
• System Integration: Windows Registry, P/Invoke for low-level system calls
• File Management: ZipArchiveEntry for custom theme compression and distribution

🤝 Contributing Guidelines

We welcome contributions from the community! To get started, follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
2. Create a new branch for your changes:

   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

3. Make your changes and commit them:

   git commit -m "Your commit message"

4. Push your changes to your fork:

   git push origin feature/your-feature-name

5. Create a pull request on GitHub.

📄 License

WeatherWallpaper is licensed under the Microsoft Public License (Ms-PL) license. See the [LICENSE] file for more information.

Additional Credit

• Weather icons provided by weather-iconic
• Main icon provided by Martz90, IconArchive
• Stock sunrise/set service is from sunrise-sunset.org
• Stock weather data is from weather.gov