The Object blocks pair well with the Web API, Map and Location Sensor components which often send data in object format. The Spreadsheet component also requires data to be in object format for it to upload successfully
- Retrieving a single property from a data API
- Uploading a row of data into a Spreadsheet
- Understanding what properties are contained in a Location object
Often, when retrieving data form an API like Weather Underground, you will get a large data dump in JSON format like shown below.
{ "response": { "version": "0.1", "termsofService": "http://www.wunderground.com/weather/api/d/terms.html", "features": { "conditions": 1 } }, "current_observation": { "image": { "url": "http://icons-ak.wxug.com/graphics/wu2/logo_130x80.png", "title": "Weather Underground", "link": "http://www.wunderground.com" }, "display_location": { "full": "San Francisco, CA", "city": "San Francisco", "state": "CA", "state_name": "California", "country": "US", "country_iso3166": "US", "zip": "94101", "latitude": "37.77500916", "longitude": "-122.41825867", "elevation": "47.00000000" }, "observation_location": { "full": "SOMA - Near Van Ness, San Francisco, California", "city": "SOMA - Near Van Ness, San Francisco", "state": "California", "country": "US", "country_iso3166": "US", "latitude": "37.773285", "longitude": "-122.417725", "elevation": "49 ft" }, "estimated": {}, "station_id": "KCASANFR58", "observation_time": "Last Updated on June 27, 5:27 PM PDT", "observation_time_rfc822": "Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:27:13 -0700", "observation_epoch": "1340843233", "local_time_rfc822": "Wed, 27 Jun 2012 17:27:14 -0700", "local_epoch": "1340843234", "local_tz_short": "PDT", "local_tz_long": "America/Los_Angeles", "local_tz_offset": "-0700", "weather": "Partly Cloudy", "temperature_string": "66.3 F (19.1 C)", "temp_f": 66.3, "temp_c": 19.1, "relative_humidity": "65%", "wind_string": "From the NNW at 22.0 MPH Gusting to 28.0 MPH", "wind_dir": "NNW", "wind_degrees": 346, "wind_mph": 22.0, "wind_gust_mph": "28.0", "wind_kph": 35.4, "wind_gust_kph": "45.1", "pressure_mb": "1013", "pressure_in": "29.93", "pressure_trend": "+", "dewpoint_string": "54 F (12 C)", "dewpoint_f": 54, "dewpoint_c": 12, "heat_index_string": "NA", "heat_index_f": "NA", "heat_index_c": "NA", "windchill_string": "NA", "windchill_f": "NA", "windchill_c": "NA", "feelslike_string": "66.3 F (19.1 C)", "feelslike_f": "66.3", "feelslike_c": "19.1", "visibility_mi": "10.0", "visibility_km": "16.1", "solarradiation": "", "UV": "5", "precip_1hr_string": "0.00 in ( 0 mm)", "precip_1hr_in": "0.00", "precip_1hr_metric": " 0", "precip_today_string": "0.00 in (0 mm)", "precip_today_in": "0.00", "precip_today_metric": "0", "icon": "partlycloudy", "icon_url": "http://icons-ak.wxug.com/i/c/k/partlycloudy.gif", "forecast_url": "http://www.wunderground.com/US/CA/San_Francisco.html", "history_url": "http://www.wunderground.com/history/airport/KCASANFR58/2012/6/27/DailyHistory.html", "ob_url": "http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=37.773285,-122.417725" } }
You may just want to pull out one attribute (like temp_f or the temperature in Farenheit). To do so, you'll need to use the object blocks below:
For the Spreadsheet component, you will have to upload a row of data as an object similar to the blocks below:
The Location Sensor components returns a latitude, longitude and location object and it's not always clear which attributes are available. One way to troubleshoot is to print out the JSON from the object like below
This will output the following on your app
