The problem
The project required collecting data from a Japanese weather website. The team had no cloud infrastructure for the short-term assignment, and analysts needed an interface they could configure themselves.
What we built
We built an Electron desktop application that loaded the website, exposed the settings analysts needed, and automated the data collection.
- Delivered a tool that ran on the analysts’ laptops.
- Built a graphical interface for configuring the collection.
- Handled the website’s JavaScript and Flash-based data loading as it existed at the time.
What changed
Hundreds of hours of manual work saved.
The project’s original account reports hundreds of hours saved over the assignment. The team could collect the data without setting up a separate cloud environment.
The technical decisions
Fit the tool to where the team works.
A desktop application met the short-term project’s constraints. There was no need to introduce hosting infrastructure the analysts would then have to operate.
The website technology shaped the choice.
The source site used JavaScript and Adobe Flash at the time. Electron gave the project a browser environment that could load that content. This describes a past implementation, not a recommendation to use Flash today.