Station Details Project
This started as a self-education exercise in eXtensible Stylesheet Language (XSL) Tranformation (XSLT), where XSL is a styling language for XML that defines how data will be displayed in another format.
The aim was to create an XML-based webpage showing the details of our weather station to replace the existing hard-coded webpage. It was intended that Windows Task Scheduler would generate a daily XML metadata document from a template file.
Project Stages
The following stages were identified as key elements of the project:
- Match variables with the required station and instrument details,
- Create the template file and XML Schema Definition (XSD) document to specify the structure of the new Station Details Document,
- Create an XSL document to specify how the XML data would be displayed in a web browser.
Project Variables
The variables used in this project are listed below. Select a variable to view the complete XML element definition, including: the element name and description, the expected data type, the permitted values where explicitly defined, and whether the element is mandatory or optional.
The variables in the template file are replaced with the equivalent webtags provided by the PWS software. If a variable has no equivalent webtag, the variable is manually updated in the template file. If an optional variable subsequently becomes permanently unavailable, the syntax for that element in the template file is changed from <element>variable</element> to <element />.
- common name
- station altitude
- auto obs
- description of photo
- wmo climate zone
- station opened
- country pws located
- instrument type
- instrument location
- absolute path to photo
- instrument status
- station latitude
- station longitude
- instrument manufacturer
- instrument model
- station name
- instrument role
- software name
- software description
- pws type
- wow site rating
- station status
- cloud amount units
- dewpoint units
- distance units
- evaporation units
- height units
- humidity units
- pressure units
- rainfall units
- sunshine duration units
- temperature units
- wind speed units
- software version
XML Schema Definition
View the XSD diagram for this project.
Project Status
This 2020 project successfully achieved its aims and is operational. View our Station Details & Instrumentation using the Station Details Document. The project remains open for further development.
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