Use own API Key for OWM? #6

joekm · 2025-06-30T22:13:09Z

joekm
Jun 30, 2025

If we have an Open Weather Map account, it is possible to use our own API key?

tully-t · 2025-12-27T03:02:44Z

tully-t
Dec 27, 2025
Maintainer

Yes, absolutely! My apologies for the delayed response.

You will find the API key defined as part of the appIdAndModeSuffix property in .../weather.widget.plus/contents/ui/providers/OpenWeatherMap.qml. You are welcome to modify that definition locally, and your modification should take effect after logging out and logging back in or restarting.

7 replies

tully-t Dec 28, 2025
Maintainer

I don't see any obvious error, so make sure the syntax of your API key is correct (lowercase letters and numbers).

When you say it's not accepting your API key, what do you mean exactly?

If the answer is that it doesn't load, you can turn debugging on by opening .../weather.widget.plus/contents/config/main.xml and changing

<entry name="debugLogging" type="Bool"> <default>false</default> </entry>

to

<entry name="debugLogging" type="Bool"> <default>true</default> </entry>

You can test the widget in the terminal by using the following command:
plasmawindowed weather.widget.plus

Be sure to change the debugLogging value back to false when your are done debugging.

joekm Dec 28, 2025
Author

It loads but it gives me "N/A" as the icon. I've also posed the question to OpenWeatherMap support. It may be that my account is still considered a "free" account (One Call API 3.0) and the API is just getting rejected at OWM.

tully-t Dec 28, 2025
Maintainer

N/A for the icon and hyphens for the temperature means that the widget did not load data from the internet properly.

Weather Widget Plus does not use a paid API.

Run the widget from the terminal with debugging on and then we can determine if the problem is with your API key itself or something else.

You can also try to access the API through your browser to test if the problem is with your API key or the widget.

The full URL for the current weather API call is https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?id=[#######]&units=metric&mode=xml&appid=[API KEY]

id=[######] is the 6-7 digit number at the end of an OpenWeather URL. If the URL for Leicester is https://openweathermap.org/city/2644668, then the API call for Leicester is https://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?id=2644668&units=metric&mode=xml&appid=[API KEY]

An XML document should load. If it doesn't, then the issue is your API key, not the widget.

joekm Dec 29, 2025
Author

My APIs do work if I use the URL call. Tried running your app with debug set and it appears it's waiting for authentication from me.
[jk_mooney@jkmooney-ms7c96 ~]$ plasmawindowed weather.widget.plus
Loading default layout
kf.plasma.core: Unknown containment type requested: "" "" check Plasma::Containment::Type for supported values
kf.svg: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.svg: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.core: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.core: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.quick: Applet preload policy set to 1
qml: [kate weatherWidget] places count=6, placeIndex=0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] placeIndex now: 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] setting provider OpenWeatherMap
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cacheKey for 2644668 is: cache_fde0a958fded910a843c042b82fd23d4
qml:

qml: *****************
qml: * loadFromCache *
qml: *****************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] loading from cache, config key: cache_fde0a958fded910a843c042b82fd23d4
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cache not available
qml: [kate weatherWidget] CACHE false
qml:

qml: ************************
qml: * loadDataFromInternet *
qml: ************************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] setting provider OpenWeatherMap
qml:

qml: ****************************
qml: * OWM loadDataFromInternet *
qml: ****************************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelCurrent = http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/weather?id=2644668&units=metric&mode=xml&appid=b06eccd5177c31c4c76120c30151667b&v=1766967154965
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelLongTerm = http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/forecast/daily?id=2644668&cnt=8&units=metric&mode=xml&appid=b06eccd5177c31c4c76120c30151667b&v=1766967154965
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelHourByHour = http://api.openweathermap.org/data/2.5/forecast?id=2644668&units=metric&mode=xml&appid=b06eccd5177c31c4c76120c30151667b&v=1766967154965
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelHourByHour: 2
qml:

qml: ************
qml: * MAIN.QML *
qml: ************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] [object Object]
qml: [kate weatherWidget] Test local file opening - url: file:///home/jk_mooney/.local/share/plasma/plasmoids/weather.widget.plus/contents/code/db/GI.csv
XMLHttpRequest: Using GET on a local file is disabled by default.
Set QML_XHR_ALLOW_FILE_READ to 1 to enable this feature.
qml: [kate weatherWidget] plasmoid.formFactor:0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] plasmoid.location:0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] plasmoid.configuration.layoutType:0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] plasmoid.containment.containmentType:-1
qml:

qml: ***************
qml: * Load Cache *
qml: ***************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] reading cache
qml: [kate weatherWidget] initializing cacheBackend...
qml: cacheBackend failed to initialize
qml: [kate weatherWidget] initializing cacheBackend...DONE null
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cacheBackend N/A
qml: [kate weatherWidget] readCache result length: 0
qml:

qml: *********************
qml: * get Default Place *
qml: *********************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] places count=6, placeIndex=0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] placeIndex now: 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] setting provider OpenWeatherMap
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cacheKey for 2644668 is: cache_fde0a958fded910a843c042b82fd23d4
qml:

qml: *****************
qml: * loadFromCache *
qml: *****************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] loading from cache, config key: cache_fde0a958fded910a843c042b82fd23d4
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cache not available
qml: [kate weatherWidget] CACHE false
qml:

qml: ************************
qml: * loadDataFromInternet *
qml: ************************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] still loading
qml: 0
QFont::setPointSizeF: Point size <= 0 (0.000000), must be greater than 0
QFont::setPointSizeF: Point size <= 0 (0.000000), must be greater than 0
kf.svg: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
qml: [kate weatherWidget] Host requires authentication
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelCurrent Done
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelHourByHour: 1
qml: [kate weatherWidget] xmlModelHourByHour Done
qml:

qml: *************************
qml: * refreshTooltipSubText *
qml: *************************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] model not yet ready
qml:

qml: *******************
qml: * Timer Triggered *
qml: *******************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** loadingData Flag : true
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** loadingData failedAttemptCount : 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Last Load Success: 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Next Load Due : 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Time Now : 1766967165082
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Next Load in : -1766967165 sec = -29449452.75 min
qml: [kate weatherWidget] updateLastReloadedText: 0
qml:

qml: *********************
qml: * getPlasmoidStatus *
qml: *********************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] lastReloaded=0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] inTrayActiveTimeoutSec=3600
qml: [kate weatherWidget] reloadedAgoMs=1766967165082
qml: [kate weatherWidget] 1
qml: [kate weatherWidget] Timeout in:4883
qml:

qml: *******************
qml: * Timer Triggered *
qml: *******************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** loadingData Flag : true
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** loadingData failedAttemptCount : 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Last Load Success: 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Next Load Due : 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Time Now : 1766967175085
qml: [kate weatherWidget] *** Next Load in : -1766967175 sec = -29449452.92 min
qml: [kate weatherWidget] updateLastReloadedText: 0
qml:

qml: *********************
qml: * getPlasmoidStatus *
qml: *********************
qml: [kate weatherWidget] lastReloaded=0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] inTrayActiveTimeoutSec=3600
qml: [kate weatherWidget] reloadedAgoMs=1766967175085
qml: [kate weatherWidget] 1
qml: [kate weatherWidget] Timeout in:-5120
qml: Timed out downloading weather data - aborting attempt. Retrying in 30 seconds time.
qml:

qml: ****************************
qml: * loadingDataComplete:true *
qml: ****************************
qml:

joekm Dec 29, 2025
Author

wait, I didn't paste all of it...
[jk_mooney@jkmooney-ms7c96 ~]$ plasmawindowed weather.widget.plus
Loading default layout
kf.plasma.core: Unknown containment type requested: "" "" check Plasma::Containment::Type for supported values
kf.svg: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.svg: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.core: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.core: The theme "Sweet" uses the legacy metadata.desktop. Consider contacting the author and asking them update it to use the newer JSON format.
kf.plasma.quick: Applet preload policy set to 1
qml: [kate weatherWidget] places count=6, placeIndex=0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] placeIndex now: 0
qml: [kate weatherWidget] setting provider OpenWeatherMap
qml: [kate weatherWidget] cacheKey for 2644668 is: cache_fde0a958fded910a843c042b82fd23d4
qml: