OpenEMR 3.0.1

OpenEMR Development
1

bradymiller wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

hey,

Wanted to know what the other developers thought (Rod, Jason, Mike, Sam, Mark, Joe, etc…)

I’m proposing we release a bug release version (3.0.1) this weekend or next weekend.  The bad bugs are now fixed, and I’m thinking we shouldn’t introduce any risky code changes until after this release.  It’s important to have a stable consistent release especially since two other project are gonna use it (The OpenEMR Appliance and the Openemr/XAMPP Windows Release).

-Brady

2

sunsetsystems wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

That’s fine with me, if everyone is done with their bug-fixing then.

Rod
www.sunsetsystems.com

3

markleeds wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

Any testing and bug reporting that can be done by all users is appreciated.  There are a lot of variables in testing which can be missed when code is developed for personal use.

We should test with:

Firefox 2 and 3. (other browsers don’t have to be supported?)
From a fresh installation.
Fresh registration/installation of forms
concurrent_layout = 0,1 and 2
magic quotes on and off (we recommend on but we should move to off, magic quotes are deprecated now)
Maybe newer versions of PHP, MySQL

This creates a lot of possibilities for bugs being missed.  Please add to the list if you can think of other conditions under which to test.

4

cfapress wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

I have committed a few upgrades and minor fixes to security since the v3.0 release. I don’t plan anything groundbreaking for today, so a weekend patch release sounds just fine.

Jason

5

rabbai wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

I am not a developer but can assist with testing. I noticed something on the new demo. After an encounter has been entered and then u select charge to carry out billing, when clicking on justify/save after selecting the CPT4 codes if u go to billing to generate HCFA 1500 forms, there would be no data for the encounter entered so that should be tested for too. I will do a fresh install from CVS on Ubuntu when i get home after work so I can test some aspects of it.

6

rabbai wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

Hello all I also noticed something while checking again, I am just suggesting that it would be better if the states are loaded into Open EMR by default than just having on CA as the state. Had to figure the solution out my own way. For newbies this could be a problem

7

bradymiller wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

Hey,

You don’t have to be a developer to test. Thanks for bringing it up.

A simple way to test is the CVS demo (updates to most recent development version daily).  Use every browser possible and try everything.  Don’t worry about breaking it and post any problems in our forums:
http://www.oemr.org/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=DemoCVS

We now offer an easy to download developer version of OpenEMR (updated daily) with instructions for both linux and windows.  Again install away and let us know of any problems.
LINUX:
http://www.oemr.org/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=LinuxGenericOpenEmrInstallCvsSnapshot
WINDOWS:
http://www.oemr.org/modules/wiwimod/index.php?page=WindowsGenericOpenEmrInstallCvsSnapshot

thanks,
Brady

8

rabbai wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

I will do just that Brady, I have been away from this project for a while due to I got a seasonal Job and now Its almost over, while I am looking for another Job I would have time to test it properly for issues. I will test on Linux and get back to the forum with issues noticed. Will test on Ubuntu, redHat, fedora and mandriva. But Please try to correct the State issue as It would make it easier for newbies

9

ideaman911 wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

Brady et al;

Knock me over with a feather when you refer to ME as a "developer".  I am better described as a mechanic; I find what needs correcting and model my syntax on what I find around it.  Creation from scratch - not a chance ;-)  But thanks for the compliment anyway.

Two comments;  I agree that the best approach is a single site for downloads with lots of links thereto, but I am unsure that "latest CVS" is always best.  By definition that implies "not yet tested by the community", which is scary for novices especially, and could be costly to our overall objective of increasing the community of OpenEMR users.  I suggest one each release available of "stable" and "latest" for each of Unix/Linux and Windows environments.  That they will be tar and zip respectively is presumed.  At this moment the 2.9.1dev seems to be far more "stable" than the 3.0 so far.

The other comment is about fixing the 3.0 to become a “stable”.  I think that is essential with all due haste, and avoid rolling in any added 'features" pending that.  Implicit in that path is verification  both of initial install and of upgrade from the last “release” version dataset being verified for each platform as well, especially as we need to protect current users from data damage.

With that "map", I should also add that we need robust instructions for 3.0 as a complete package.  So those with ability should try to make things as simple as possible for the widest community.  I suggest we put instructions into a similar "CVS" build approach so contributors could write in subsections, but with a "gatekeeper" who would assure the style was as common as possible before posting.  And I would certainly like it to use screenshots.  But I would suggest it be downloadable as well, and viewable with the browsers, which will work for either platform (and also Mac).

I think the SunsetSystems approach is an excellent start, but clearly needs updating, especially as relates to added features like CAMOS, GACL and the new Billing/EOB arrangements, but also that the screenshots MUST reflect what users will actually see.

I would suggest, though, that install and upgrade instructions be nearby, but kept separate, as users and installers are likely to be different people.  I will happily contribute in whatever part of the above the "owners" think I can best serve.  Thanks again.

Joe Holzer

10

tmccormi wrote on Friday, March 20, 2009:

Joe said … I will happily contribute in whatever part of the above the "owners" think I can best serve.

And I say: As will we at MI-SQUARED.  We are most interesting in contributing to the documentation of the billing and account cycle in 3.0

–Tony

11

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

hey,

One more week of testing or should we release this weekend?  I’m pretty much bugged/tested out at this point.  Mark, you ready, or should we wait another week for CAMOS testing?

I made another thread regarding OpenEMR Documentation since it’s probably gonna be around for awhile:
https://sourceforge.net/forum/forum.php?thread_id=3124477&forum_id=202506

-brady

12

mike-h30 wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

I think another week of testing would be good.

-Mike

13

anojgoel wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

hi all

would you consider adding a step in the install sequence?

when asked create a new database or use existing database–
if existing database is selected–
warn to backup the database or automatically backup the database before creating new tables in case it was not empty.

or consider having a separate package /installer for upgrades and a separate package /installer  for fresh installs

thanks

14

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

  Yep, sounds wise to wait another week.

  Anoj Goel,

Thanks for the feedback; it’s always very welcome.  The setup.php install script is only for installations (not upgrades), which is stated on the intro screen (3rd bullet).  The step1 screen is there for users who need to create their own “empty” database and user via another mechanism, ie they don’t have mysql root priviledges (perhaps this should be made more clear).  Upgrades at this time need to be done manually with guidance provided in the openemr/INSTALL file and on the wiki.  It would be very nice to have an upgrade script also.

-Brady

15

ideaman911 wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Guys (there must be some women contributors out there ?);

Living in the Wndows world, I like the idea of a hard pause in the script if one selects the "upgrade" which prompts to backup via a separate window first, but holds the script while that occurs.  I wound up (probably ignorance, I freely admit :wink: having to completely remove and then re-install when I deviated from the "virgin install" steps as i tried to upgrade from 2.9.0 to 2.9.1dev (to begin, there was no sql_upgrade.php, and no script).

But if we are to be “ready for prime time” we have to presume that MOST users will not have a clue and will need the most simple process possible.  That’s what I have tried to do with the “batch” file and attachments I’ve sent Dr Bowen, which were the “as-distributed” files modified to include the fixes needed (like the “//” needed to eliminate the “COERCIBLE” error noted elsewhere) so the end user would simply never even know of the problem in the first place.  I was just about to create a VERY simple instruction set to do an install using that approach for Windows users when the 3.0 was announced.

We should try to make 3.0 as it is released when fixed (and I would delay that until it actually is and has been tested by us, even if it takes a month), and in the interim make a decent user instruction set.

One other thing for future ideas - a potential client asked if it was possible to have the meds listing from PDR 2009 be able to grab from it to post directly to OpenEMR, which would save a ton of “fill-out” steps in writing prescriptions.  I certainly do not think we want to make it into 3.0, but we should think about compatibility with that type tool which will be used by a substantial portion of potential users.  The more we do such things, the better we can “sell” OpenEMR.  BTW he was also VERY impressed with the ability of a tablet computer (I’m using Thinkpad X61 Tablets) to allow handwriting to post as machine readable in things like SOAP.  As both he and my first client note, for Psyche patients, having a screen open is a barrier, and especially anxious patients worry “what are you doing” on a screen they cannot see.  They seem to have NO RESISTANCE to using the tablet features.  That is worthy of inclusion in instructions as a suggestion.

Thanks for the SOAPbox :wink:

Joe Holzer

16

rabbai wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Hey all, I second anoj’s opinion to creating an install script to handle fresh installation from CVS repository. This should be able to handle, Mysql, PHP and Pache and also assist with proper directory arrangement and configuration. I thought of this and I am presently working on a bash script to do this for Linux (Ubuntu) but can be edited to work with redhat, suse and Mandriva due to the fact that the rot home directory for apache is different on them and I use Ubuntu. Well post it in the forum once I am done.

17

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Rabbai,
Depending on how far along you are, these following scripts may help you out (they power the OpenEMR CVS demo, which is on mandriva):
http://bradymd.com/StartupDeveloperAppliance2
http://openemr.cvs.sourceforge.net/viewvc/openemr/openemr/contrib/util/installScripts/cvsDemoInstall?revision=1.7

First scripts downloads the openemr from CVS and second one configures openemr.

-Brady

18

rabbai wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Brady,

Thanks for the links. Didnt know it was already done, I guess I would focus my attention to something else maybe modifying the script for Ubuntu/Debian users. as I feel it is very stable on Ubuntu Server edition. Thanks alot for the links they are very helpful. Is it possible to make that script into a .deb or a .rpm so it just runs automatically without stress, I am just considering newbies who are used to graphical way of life from windows and are going this way due to issues when installing on windows.

Rabbai

19

bradymiller wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

Rabbai,

Your pretty much answering my prayers.  I was hoping somebody would come along and use those scripts to make a ubuntu/debian package and/or other linux OS install scripts (I just don’t got the time). I agree Ubuntu would get the most bang for the buck.  You could basically modify my second script to ask user for required inputs, like mysql root user, and so on during install; it could also check/install required dependencies which it seems like is automated with the ubuntu/debian packages.  Oh, the day when a user types ‘sudo aptitude install openemr’ on ubuntu will be a great day.

-Brady

20

rabbai wrote on Saturday, March 21, 2009:

I got a documentation just now online so I would make it a .deb to see if it works and it should ask for dependencies that is MySQL, apache and PHP, i mean the second script after modification to make it ubuntu useable. Where can I post it after the modification???