Rob's Musings

Google NYC Office tour finally happens!

2011-06-08T00:35:00.006-04:00

After three years of attempting to organize a Google NYC office visit -- we finally had that happen! The above picture is the Google NYC Reception area.

I must say that the Google NYC office is amazing! There are many places to eat and take breaks scattered throughout their office spaces on many floors -- one of which is Lego themed! They have the usual conference rooms, a computer museum -- with the usual vintage systems placed around. Did I mention the view from one of their kitchens is absolutely breath-taking? Well, it is -- just look for yourself!

I enjoyed the tour very much -- and I am sure that my fellow Google Summer of Code students did as well! For me, Google Summer of Code has been largely social -- meetups are a big component of this program in my opinion -- sure we have to produce code -- but why not have some fun mingling with students who were fortunate enough to get selected in this very selective program? This was a very successful meetup indeed.

Google Summer of Code 2010: Code merged!

2010-09-03T09:11:00.004-04:00

Been a bit since an update, most of my updates were sent to the mailing list.

My code has been since merged into sahana eden trunk.

The code in its current state is very buggy and has issues, but most issues were fixed prior to being pushed to trunk. Those issues are mentioned in the user guidelines. It needs to be updated to reflect current issues, those that have been fixed and those that are still outstanding.

Development will continue in my branch and once I feel the feature is complete and stable, it will be merged to trunk.

Weekly GSoC Survey Tool meeting summary

2010-05-31T23:32:00.005-04:00

The weekly meeting was held in the #sahana-eden IRC channel on irc.freenode.org. Present were: Mark, Gavin, Michael, and of course whatever spectators:

What was discussed:

We removed some of the question types from the functional specification to simplify things
Discussed how michael did the ADPC _next stuff and how it can be applied to this project
Gavin suggested localization -- a suggested implementation is specified -- this is a "Nice to Have" as it's outside the scope of this project for GSOC.
Will discuss on the mailing list how best to generically support "wizard" like uis within S3 elegantly.

What's on the agenda for the next couple weeks (this week will be scarce):

Noodle over ways to generically support "wizards" in S3 elegantly
Implement the "Template" stage (page 1 of the wizard) [first milestone as per my project plan timeline]

Resources relevant to this meeting for the purpose of this summary:

The functional spec
The project plan timeline
Meeting log [meeting ends at 0109 as per the timestamp in the logs]

Cheers!

Introducing the Task Module for Sahana Eden

2010-05-21T00:08:00.006-04:00

Hey Folks,

I needed something simple to get up to speed with Sahana Eden and a Task Manager is simplest. I was able to bang it out in a few days from start to finish. Web2py is an easy framework to work with, and many code examples exist within Sahana Eden that I was able to copy/paste.

You can mosey on over to the demo site and play with it yourself. Just register and you should be set. Do not worry, you won't be spammed and your information will be sold.

I faced one small problem once I saw everything was setup: I couldn't figure out how to get the widgets to select a user (who both started and finished the task -- these could be two different users). The gears were spun and spun and spun until an ah-hah moment occurred: the following function in 00_tables.py in the models directory:


def shn_user_represent(id):

  if id:
      user = db(db.auth_user.id==id).select()
      if user:
          user = user[0]
          name = user.first_name
          if user.last_name:
              name = "%s %s" % (name, user.last_name)
          return name
  return None

Helped me to see where I needed to be and once I read this code and understood it, it all made sense to me. The following is how you render a drop-down box containing all registered users:


table.started_by.requires = IS_NULL_OR(IS_IN_DB(db,db.auth_user.id,lambda id : shn_user_represent(db.auth_user.id)))
table.finished_by.requires = IS_NULL_OR(IS_IN_DB(db,db.auth_user.id,lambda id : shn_user_represent(db.auth_user.id)))

Where table represents the database table for your model and started_by and finished_by are the fields; the rest is validation. That's it! It was that simple.

Now next week on Monday, May 24 -- the official start of the program begins. At that point and time, this project will take a back burner and I will attempt to post AT LEAST a weekly -- if not every other week about all progress that is made throughout the duration of the program.

Regular updates will be posted to the Sahana Eden mailing list.

You can follow progress via the launchpad bazaar branch.

Accepted to Google Summer of Code 2010: HAT TRICK!!

2010-04-26T16:54:00.008-04:00

I have been accepted to Google Summer of Code 2010 for the third year running! This summer I will be working with Sahana Eden.

The Sahana Free and Open Source Disaster Management System was conceived during the 2004 Sri Lanka tsunami. The system was developed to help manage the disaster and was deployed by the Sri Lankan government's Center of National Operations (CNO), which included the Center of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA). A second round of funding was provided by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA). The project has now grown to become globally recognized, with deployments in many other disasters such as the Asian Quake in Pakistan (2005), Southern Leyte Mudslide Disaster in Philippines (2006) and the Jogjarkata Earthquake in Indonesia (2006).

The project is now being ported to Python as ~~an experimental fork~~ a replacement for Sahana Agasti so that the software can be extended. Sahana Agasti is written in PHP.

I will be working with Sahana Eden to create a tool to create, enter, and manage surveys. This should be a lot of fun!

Facility Data Module v1.0 released!

2010-03-28T08:32:00.002-04:00

It is with great pleasure that I announce the release of version 1.0 of the Facility Data Module.

It is available for downloaded via the OpenMRS module repository.

Feedback is appreciated!

Google Summer of Code 2010 is a GO!

2010-01-27T20:22:00.003-05:00

Great news! Google Summer of Code 2010 is a GO!! Read the initial e-mail and the follow-up e-mail for more information!

Be sure to subscribe to the Google Summer of Code Discussion list to keep yourself informed about the program and to receive updates as they become available.

Cheers!

Facility Data updates

2010-01-18T22:47:00.005-05:00

It's been a while since I last updated on the progress of the Facility Data Module. So without farther adieu here we go:

The relation between the FacilityDataFormSchema and FacilityDataFormSection is now Many to Many meaning that sections can now be re-used between several form schemas (or reports).
It now runs without errors on OpenMRS 1.5.x

The first item was a big problem that was a sore spot for this project since it wasn't too intuitive, ideally a user should be able to re-use a section. The second item was a freebie since the errors were likely all due to the incorrect modeling.

What's next on my list is the following:

Allow for sections to be re-ordered within the schema (this is currently not possible and is a show-stopper.
Fix up the calendar management pages -- those are horribly ugly, but this is after all a first pass, so that is to be expected right?
Currently, it does not validate inputs for Numeric data types -- It need to.
There still needs to be the ability to analyze the data that exists in the system to submit to funding sources; those pages need to be implemented but that is phase two of the project.
There are likely other sore spots that exist that I do not see at this point and time that will be fixed at a later date.

That is all for now.

Google Voice tips & tricks: Send free international text messages!

2009-12-30T20:46:00.008-05:00

Just throwing this out there in case anybody wants it.

You can SMS an international number such as one from the UK to their UK number (+447xxx) using Google Voice, then once they reply you get a special Google Voice number(406-###-####) and once you get this you can SMS them as you would any number and it will relay through google voice at no cost to you!

Caveat: Calling this 406 number *WILL* cost you at the Google Voice rate for calling the UK (or whatever country you are SMS'ing to).

Happy texting!

Google Summer of Code 2009 wrap-up

2009-08-19T05:56:00.006-04:00

Google Summer of Code 2009 officially ended on August 17, 2009 at 19:00 UTC (12:00 PDT). I had an amazing time this summer. While stressful at times, it was well worth it.

I would like to thank the following people for my success this summer:

My mentor Mike Seaton for helping me throughout various misunderstandings surrounding the project's requirements. I probably made him work more than he had to. I attribute the success this summer to that one factor. This man is quite brilliant and knows his stuff.

My backup mentor Darius Jazayeri, for stepping in and helping at times and providing guidance when necessary. He is truly a brilliant man.

Ben Wolfe for answering any questions I had. He didn't have to help, but he did. I am very grateful.

Paul Biondich and Burke Mamlin for believing in me and giving me a second chance this summer. Did I mention these guys are doctors? Burke, an internist and Paul a pediatrician. Sorry for clumping you guys together.

Finally, without Leslie Hawthorn, Cat Allman, and Ellen Ko from Google, this program would not exist. They deserve a huge thank you. These three women are amazing. Thank you so much!!

Facility Data Module User Guide

2009-08-17T06:36:00.006-04:00

The Facility Data Module is a tool to collect non-patient centric aggregate data for reporting to external funding sources.

To download it use the svn version: do a checkout:
svn co http://svn.openmrs.org/openmrs-modules/facilitydata

To create a report:

1) Create all your questions

2) Create all of your form sections

3) Finally add all the sections to your form schema

I'll go into detail how to do each:

Creating/Managing questions

From the admin screen: select "Manage Questions."

Now, once on the question management page you will see a list of existing questions. under the "Action" column is a garbage can image -- this deletes the question from the database and is irreversible.

Once created, a question's data type cannot be changed, this is due to the design.

Now, once on the "Add New Question" page there are several properties. Most of which are required.

1) name - required
2) question data type - required
3) aggregation method - required
4) description - optional

Question Data Types are as follows:

NumericQuestion - a question that has a numeric answer (optionally has a min/max value and whether or not to allow decimal values.) -- these fields show only if you select "NumericQuestion."

BooleanCodedQuestion - a coded question with 3 answers: "t","f","not applicable"

StockQuestion - a question that tracks stock of vaccines, supplies, etc. This is a special coded question with the following answers: "not_stocked_out", "stocked_out", "expired", "not_applicable" and the comments field used to track the numbers of days stocked out and reason.

To add more questions after you save a question -- click "Add New Question" link above the form box.

Creating/Managing Form Sections

Once you have created all of your questions -- it's time to organize them into sections. You can easily navigate to the "Manage Form Sections" page from the "Add New Question" page.

Now, once on the section management page -- you'll see a list of all sections saved and the associated schema. Next, you'll want to click "Add New Form Section"

Now, once on the add questions page: you'll enter:

1) Display Name - required
2) Description - optional
3) Form Schema -optional (can be deferred)

Mentioned seperately is questions you're adding to the section (these are referred to as form questions by the system).
1) Name
2) Question Number
3) Question
4) Description
To add a question: click "Add New Question" to remove a question, click the "Remove" button next to the button (see image after the one below).

The section below is a section that was defined programmatically in a mock schema that was designed and used throughout the summer.
As you can see, there is a "Remove" button next to each Form Question in the section.

Creating/Managing Form Schemas

From the Section creation page: click "Manage Form Schemas"

After clicking that link you will see the page below. It allows you to delete a schema, and information relevant to te form schema.

Now, after clicking the "Add New Form Schema" link you will see the page below. The following information is needed:
1) Display Name - required
2) Data Entry Frequency -required
3) Validity Period -optional
4) Description - optional
5) Sections specified in this form schema (and the ordering) -- just drag them into the left-side of the pane.

Now, for the shortcomings:

Ordering of questions cannot be changed once saved
Sections cannot be associated with two schemas at once.

Viewing and Entering Data

Will be completed at a later date.

Project Update

2009-08-04T06:51:00.004-04:00

So we're in the home stretch folks! 13 days to go until the "Pencils Down" date! Hope everybody's project is going well. Here's how mine is going:

Reports can be saved and reloaded (with all relevant data filled out (fields etc -- reports can be viewed in editable or "view only" mode).
Each component of the report (Questions, Form Questions(allows a question to exist on multiple reports), and Sections can be created in isolation
A page to view the status of a report (complete, partially complete or incomplete) is done for reports that are to be entered daily in a monthly calendar view; monthly still needs to be completed.

Overall, i feel the project is progressing well -- I expect to finish either on time, or early. (Let's hope for early!)

Cheers!

Midterm Progress Update

2009-07-16T01:31:00.001-04:00

Progress has been slow and steady. I'm on track to finish however! What's done:

Reports can be entered, saved, and the values entered will be reloaded into the proper form fields. If edited and if the values have changed -- the old values are voided and new values are saved (retaining the old values in the database for auditing purposes).

What's left:

Management pages See this and this for what it will ultimately look like.
Still need to get the "View Only" pages working; in theory it should work. The "View Only" will be the answers but no form fields present.
The UI to create the report, questions, sections, etc.

Ultimately, I think this shouldn't be too bad.

The overdue progress report

2009-06-21T00:00:00.009-04:00

Apologies for not blogging as much as I should. I've focused on getting what needed to be done, done.

Tasks that have been completed thus far with a target milestone of using a mock Form, enable persistence of Questions and Values to the database:

Mock out a report form using the domain classes
Using the mocked up schema, generate a simple report form
Design the SQL Schema (for just FacilityDataValue and FacilityDataQuestion)
Write Hibernate Mapping files (for just FacilityDataValue and FacilityDataQuestion)
Write Data Access layer (for FacilityDataValue and FacilityDataQuestion)
Write Service layer (for FacilityDataValue and FacilityDataQuestion)
Refactor the rendering logic to use the JSP and write EL function(s) to check types using instanceof.
Allow a simple the mocked form from Week 1 to save the question answers.

Tasks that are are in progress, soon to be finished with a target milestone of removing the code used to mock up everything from the first few weeks; ability to use the saved schemas for rendering the report form:

Design SQL Schema for the rest of the domain classes
Write mappings for the rest of the domain classes
Support loading the previously saved values for a form/startdate/enddate/location into a page for viewing or editing
Write methods to save the rest of the domain classes in the data access layer
Write methods to save the rest of the domain in the service layer

Now that I have summarized work completed and in progress, let's explain the overall design:

FacilityDataFormSchema serves as the overall representation of the report form in the system.
FacilityDataFormSection is simply that, sections on the form, e.g., monitoring equipment status, stock status of vaccinations, number of people vaccinated, etc.
FacilityDataFormQuestion holds metadata regarding a question.
FacilityDataQuestion is the question itself; it specifies the datatype; it is subclassed for each question datatype; if not subclassed, then the question is considered to be "freetext" -- in other words: just simply a text-based question.

CodedQuestion is a question that has a coded answer. This too is subclassed for each coded question datatype.

StockQuestion is exactly as the name says, to track stock of items such as vaccinations. The coded answers are: "not_stocked_out","stocked_out","expired","not_applicable"
BooleanCodedQuestion is a simple "yes","no","not applicable" type of thing; e.g., "Was there mobile clinic today?"

NumericQuestion is a question which has a numeric answer, e.g., "Number of Adults Vaccinated."

FacilityDataValue is what holds the values entered in the report forms for each question.
FacilityDataReportFormData is a non-persisted class used for retrieving the answers for a specific report for a specified period.

Hopefully this makes up for my lack of updates.

The long overdue progress report

2009-06-12T14:39:00.006-04:00

This is gonna be short, sweet and to the point:

Week 1:

I wrote a mock report form with 10 questions (screenshots in a later post)
I then wrote up some code to render it approriately for each question type.

Week 2 (still ongoing):

Designed the SQL schema, and wrote the service/database layer classes for 2 of the classes.
Wrote in the functionality to save the report data to the database.

Will explain the design at a later date.

Ciao!

Open Everything NYC Recap

2009-04-21T00:11:00.010-04:00

I attended Open Everything NYC on Saturday. For those who do not know, Open Everything is an "un-conference" which is a conference where the participants run the show. There are several open sessions, and a few keynotes.

Some of the open session topics were on education, Open Source Software licensing, and even relationships! The Open Relationships talk was really interesting. I find it amusing how many people wind up creating alter egos to prevent employers from finding out things about them.

(Some of) the keynote speakers were amazing:

Schuyler Erle, a guy who wrote some code for UNICEF, utilized text messaging as a means to track distribution of Bed Nets to prevent malaria via a web application, among other things. If you want to research this it's all on the wiki.

Robert Steele, a former spy (yes a spy!) whose talk in my opinion was pretty much utterly useless! I saw diagrams which were well.. horrid. His talk had ZERO flow planning, it seemed to be a bunch of conspiracies, one after the other. Let alone the fact the guy is abrasive. After his talk, I went up to him to let him know that his site (which he linked in his talk), was down; his response was condescending and RUDE. I turned to some people behind me as I was leaving, and said that there was no way I could have summarized anything that guy said (I was writing notes for the wiki); they agreed. The consensus on Robert Steele was pretty universal: Conspiracy nutjob.

The final speaker, Leslie Hawthorne, a woman I have a lot of respect for gave a talk that was short, sweet, and to the point. She disussed how open source software development can be used in a common sense way to solve complex problems we face. OpenMRS, solving the problem of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the developing world; Sahana for the disaster relief management in areas devastated by floods and such. Amazing talk! Best part, she did not use any slides!

John Britton, the conference organizer gave the closing talk, and he took notes as to what should change next time. Longer open sessions etc came up. Additionally, we found out: it's possible to do this ongoing, I'd REALLY enjoy that. I met some freaking awesome people.

We were to screen RIP: "A REMIX MANIFESTO" at McFaddens Bar and Pub by the UN, but the owner didn't allow us to do it; which was stupid. We wound up sitting around half price drinks/appetizers and had some good conversations and fun.

Overall, I had fun and would do it again. I went into this not knowing what to expect.

Accepted into Google Summer of Code 2009

2009-04-20T17:05:00.012-04:00

For the second year in a row, I was accepted into Google Summer of Code!!! I will be working with OpenMRS on the Facility Data Module.

My project will focus on developing tools for collecting and ultimately generating reports for aggregate data from external sources.

Groovy Forms Module is NOT dead

2009-02-08T17:09:00.004-05:00

Hey folks!

I'm still alive and not dead. The Groovy Forms Module is not a dead project, and WILL be finished. I plan on getting work started back up on it soonish. School is back in session for me. I'm sorry for the long delay.

That is all.

GSoC wrap-up

2008-09-10T10:02:00.004-04:00

The program officially ended on August 18^th. I'm awaiting the arrival of my t-shirt!!

Now, I didn't quite have time to finish my project prior to that date since my uncle suddenly passed away on August 10^th.

The project itself is about 80 percent completed. All that is left is to get the rendering working and finish up the management page to edit the form metadata as it appears in the system.

My time is now limited since school started up again for me, so as much time as I can I'm going to devote to finishing up this project.

I'd like to thank the following:

Burke Mamlin for helping me and answering all the questions I had and guiding me when I was lost.

Ben Wolfe for putting up with me and helping me when Burke was MIA.

OpenMRS and its wonderful worldwide network of developers for making this project into what it has become.

Paul Biondich for encouraging me (along with Burke) to apply for summer of code.

Last, but certainly not least, Leslie Hawthorn for managing this program and every problem that popped up. She must have super human powers or something.

The list can only be so long, I feel like I'm accepting an academy award here. It was a great experience, and I will definately continue to maintain my project in whatever free time I can find.

GSoC 2008: We're in the home stretch

2008-08-10T21:20:00.003-04:00

Well folks, I can't believe it's almost over. What a journey. I never imagined I'd be able to do this. I have an (almost) working project. I have a few more things that need to be done.

Let's highlight what IS done:

GroovyForm and its related metadata is stored
Model class is interrogated for its properties and those are stored in a container class.
From the data collected in the container class, I generate markup checking for a predefined set of data types.
The view and its related controller is generated -- sneaking in some groovy magic of course!
GroovyForms are successfully saved into the system, along with their respective, model, view and controller.
Forms are persisted when the module is shutdown and reloaded when it is restarted

What's left:

Editing metadata related to the forms currently in the system
Writing the servlet which handles submissions
Create some sample forms
Documentation

I did plan to add a lot of other stuff such as the ability to create custom form widgets, however there were a few problems which caused me to redirect my focus. These will come in after I finish with Summer of Code.

Randy Pausch dies

2008-07-26T15:49:00.003-04:00

I learned via the Official Google Research Blog that Randy Pausch died yesterday. Randy Pausch is famous for delivering a lecture entitled informally "The Last Lecture: Really Achieving your Childhood dreams". Pausch was also a Computer Science professor at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU).

He will be missed greatly.

RIP Randy Pausch

GSOC 2008: Week 5

2008-07-02T02:47:00.017-04:00

So, it's time for an update. This week got off to a sketchy start, but it's gained momentum. Let me enumerate what I have done thus far with the project. First, I've added AJAX using jquery. I figured I would use jquery mainly because it provided painless AJAX goodness. Prior to even thinking of using jquery, I wrote my own AJAX code using a tutorial that I found while googling. I had to tweak it a bit, but for the most part, it seemed very standard. However, after I wrote the AJAX equivalent code, it didn't feel too elegant. So, first I'm going to show the AJAX code I wrote; then I'll show you the jquery version; finally, I'm going to show you the servlet which handles the AJAX on the server-side.

First, the AJAX I wrote:


function AjaxValidation(url, callback) {
    var req = init()
    req.onreadystatechange = processRequest

    function init() {
        if (window.XMLHttpRequest) {
            return new XMLHttpRequest()
        } else if (window.ActiveXObject) {
            return new ActiveXObject("Mircosoft.XMLHTTP")
        }
    }

    function processRequest() {
        if (req.readyState == 4) {
            if (req.status == 200) {
                if (callback) {
                    chkSyntaxCallBack(req.responseXML)
                }
            }
        }
    }

    this.doGet = function() {
        req.open("GET", url, true)
        req.send(null)
    }
}
function chkSyntaxCallBack(responseXML) {
    var res = responseXML.getElementsByTagName("result")[0].firstChild.nodeValue
    document.getElementById("out").innerHTML = res
}

function checkSyntax() {
    var target = document.getElementById("groovyModel")
    var url = "${pageContext.request.contextPath}/moduleServlet/groovyforms/createGroovyForm?groovyModel=" + escape(target.value)
    var ajax = new AjaxValidation(url, chkSyntaxCallBack)
    ajax.doGet()
}

I warned you that it wasn't too elegant. Understanding this isn't too hard. Here is the call sequence: init() -> doGet() -> processRequest() -> chkSyntaxCallBack(). Not that bad. Now let's see the jquery version.


$(window).ready(function () {
    $("#groovyModel").bind("blur", function () {
        $.ajax({
            type: 'POST',
            data: { groovyModel: $("#groovyModel").val() } ,
            url: "${pageContext.request.contextPath}/moduleServlet/groovyforms/createGroovyForm" ,
            cache: false ,
            success: function(data) {
                var res = $(data).find("result").text()
                $("#out").html(res)

            }
        })
    });
})

Okay, that's much better. A few things are still happening here. When the window is finished loading, I bind my textarea element which has the CSS id of "groovyModel" to the blur event (lost focus). Then you see the AJAX. Now this is very straight forward. We're using the POST method, we're sending whatever value is inside of the textarea at the time the event is fired, we're posting to a servlet, not going to cache, and when we're done, it's printed to the screen. Very straight forward.

Now, like I said, this is all backed on the server-side by a servlet, which is written in Groovy. So here we go:


/**
 * The contents of this file are subject to the OpenMRS Public License
 * Version 1.0 (the "License") you may not use this file except in
 * compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at
 * http://license.openmrs.org
 *
 * Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
 * basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
 * License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
 * under the License.
 *
 * Copyright (C) OpenMRS, LLC.  All Rights Reserved.
 */
package org.openmrs.module.groovyforms.web

import javax.servlet.ServletException
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletRequest
import javax.servlet.http.HttpServletResponse
import org.apache.commons.logging.LogFactory
import org.codehaus.groovy.control.CompilationFailedException

class CreateGroovyFormServlet extends HttpServlet {
  def classLoader
  static final def log = LogFactory.getLog(CreateGroovyFormServlet.class)
  private static final long serialVersionUID = 066373513262051L

  @Override
  protected void doGet(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    def generateTemplate = request.getParameter("template")
    def generateController = request.getParameter("controller")
    def finalMarkup = request.getParameter("markup")
    def clazz = URLDecoder.decode(request.getParameter("groovyModel"))
    def name = request.getParameter("formName")
    def version = request.getParameter("version")
    def res = this.checkSyntax(clazz)
    if (clazz) {
      if (checkSyntax(clazz)) {
        response.contentType = "text/xml"
        response.setHeader "Cache-Conrol", "no-cache"
        response.writer.write "\n\t$res\n"
      } else {
        response.contentType = "text/xml"
        response.setHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
        response.writer.write "true"
      }
    } else {
      response.contentType = "text/xml"
      response.setHeader "Cache-Control", "no-cache"
      response.writer.write "\n\tPlease fill in the Form Model\n"
    }
  }

  @Override
  protected void doPost(HttpServletRequest request, HttpServletResponse response) throws ServletException, IOException {
    doGet(request, response)
  }

  @Override
  void init() throws ServletException {
    if (log.infoEnabled)
      log.info("Initializing...")
    classLoader = getClassLoader()
  }

  def getClassLoader() {
    def gcl = new GroovyClassLoader(this.getClass().getClassLoader())
    gcl
  }

/**
 * This method is used to relay errors to the user
 * @param clazz the class
 * @return the exception message or null if it was successful
 */
  def checkSyntax(clazz) {
    def sb = new StringBuilder()
    sb << "import org.openmrs.*\n\n\n"
    sb << clazz
    def res = null
    try {
      getClassLoader().parseClass(sb.toString())

    } catch (CompilationFailedException e) {
      res = "Exception: ${e.message}"
    }
    res

  }

/**
 * Check if it is result groovy code.
 * @param clazz the class
 * @return whether or not it is result groovy code
 */
  def isValidGroovy(clazz) {
    def sb = new StringBuilder()
    sb << "import org.openmrs.*\n\n\n"
    sb << clazz
    try {
      getClassLoader().parseClass(sb.toString())
    } catch (CompilationFailedException e) {
      return false
    }
    return true
  }
}

This servlet contains a lot of utility methods. One compiles, one initializes/returns the GroovyClassLoader, and of course doGet(), doPost() and init(). doGet() and doPost() both do the same thing, with doPost() simply delegating to doGet(). The code should be reasonably easy to understand. checkSyntax() returns null if it was parsed cleanly, otherwise it returns the exception message, the stack track wouldn't be useful in my case. It returns an XML tag <result> with "true" if it was successful, the exception message if it was not, and a message stating that the field must be filled in if it's empty or just not passed in. I implicitly import org.openmrs.* to allow for easier access to the OpenMRS domain model classes. The parent classloader for the GroovyClassLoader is set the servlet container's classloader. This gives me access to the classpath when loading Groovy classes.

I still have a bit to do, templating needs to be written in, for the most part it's done. Just have a few problems I'm facing, but I'll get through it. Too many people are relying on me succeeding. I feel that this project could help a lot of people, so i feel pressure to succeed. I still need to write in the "Edit" functionality of the "Manage Groovy Forms" page.

I'm definately making progress. More updates to come, that's for sure.

GSoC 2008: Groovy Forms getting some AJAX!

2008-06-21T18:48:00.010-04:00

No, not the cleaning product! The "Web 2.0" kind of AJAX! Now where will this goodness be placed? The pages for creating the forms and managing the forms.

First off, I used Direct Web Remoting (DWR) to provide a link between my backend java codebase and the front-end javascript! It's quite amazing. You can choose to publish/unpublish the forms with the tick of a checkbox and DWR will magically set the published attribute on the form to the proper state. I then decided to go one step furthur, and provide a mechanism to backup the forms via xstream to XML. Now, with the XML files, two files are maintained, one individual XML file for each form, and one global one, which makes up the model for the entire system. The rationale for having the XML file for each form is that you can just zip up the form folder, and unzip it into another OpenMRS install and you're good to go. Adding the ability to re-generate the XML files via the management interface is especially handle so that if you make a quick change on one system, then want to install it onto another you can.

Now, DWR will be used for creating the forms as well. This will be done mostly to easily relay errors, such as syntax errors in the Controller and the Model of the groovy form. Don't fear, I'm going to go overboard with AJAX! It'll only be used up until the point of where templates are generated. After that point, a Servlet will take over the bulk of the work (I am undecided on the Servlet bit.).

Now what's next? Several things need to happen.

First, creating the form:

We need to validate that form fields are not empty; also the input must be checked for validity.
The model's syntax needs to be compiled and syntax errors need to be relayed to the user.
We need to get the fields of the class and store them.
We need to generate templates like: <%= textArea(...); %> -- They will not be run it through the template engine immediately until the user has confirmed what they want,
After the view has been tweaked -- it is run through the template engine; at this point we will also run the controller through and generate that and present it at the same time the final view is presented.
The user will be presented with the HTML of the view and Groovy controller and given a final opportunity to tweak it before it is saved to the system.
The form is added to the system -- by default the form is not published.
Finally, to publish the form so that it can be used to enter data, they go to the management screen and tick the checkbox.
The form is now ready to be used for data entry.

Pictures are worth a thousand words so here we go: One and Two.

First one contains one form which is published, the rest are not. The second, no forms are published.

The user interface is intuitive and easy to use. It's a great design, of course I'm biased since It was was me who designed it.

GSoC 2008: Updates and such

2008-06-14T23:55:00.007-04:00

Okay, let's see what was accomplished in the past few weeks:

I tweaked the domain class interrogation code a bit. Basically, now there is a 1:1 relationship between a field and the domain model metadata storage container class instance.
I've started the templating work -- most of it right now is just methods which will be called like: <%= textField(...) %> -- that will generate a text field html form widget.

I know I haven't accomplished much, but there's a reason, I swear!

June 11th I went to Rockville, MD to the Hypoparathyroidism Association's 3rd Annual Hypoparathyroidism Conference. I just got home tonight.

Let me stray off a bit to explain what hypoparathyroidism is. Basically, the parathyroid is a gland in your neck, underneath the thyroid. Most people get it via surgical error, where the surgeon cuts out, or damages the parathyroid. When this occurs, the PTH (Parathyroid Hormone) is no longer produced. Now, this is responsible for regulating among other things, Calcium. Without this present, the calcium levels in the blood drop, and patients start to experience Tetnay, where their muscles involuntarily contract. It's not fun. If the levels drop low enough, you can go into convulsions, and ultimately seizures. Death is also a possibility, which is why it's important for patients with hypoparathyroidism to take their meds (Calcium Supplements, sometimes Magnesium, Vitamin D (usually D2 or D3), and a medication which is the active form of Vitamin D called Calcitriol.) Some patients also take other meds as well. These must be continued for the rest of their lives. I got Hypoparathyroidism idiopathically -- which means the origin nor the cause is known.

Back to the point: I was at this conference, and it's such a rare disease that I don't know many people. So I wound up talking with the people there. As a result, not much work was done. Monday, I plan to get the templating working, then probably do some Front end UI work.

Well, that's so NOT groovy

2008-06-11T00:04:00.005-04:00

So, I was working on my summer of code project, and I have groovy code along side my java code. I needed to add the groovyc ant task. While i assumed that groovy-all-1.5.6.jar, (note the all) contained everything that was needed, guess what folks, it doesn't! I spent the greater part of the evening tracking down this problem, and then i added the ant-1.7.0.jar and ant-launcher.jar jars, after that suddenly everything worked. That begs the question though, why isn't everything included in the groovy jar?

The problem: NoClassDefFoundError on MatchingTask class.

I figured I would put this out there for others in case they too experience what I did.