Problems with Windows port

sankar1234 wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

I am a new user and potential contributor to this forum.  I am excited to become part of this group. 

I downloaded the previous versions  and the current version, I ran into many problems in the windows port.   I am not sure if the problems are specific to my machine windows2000.  Some mysql related, some session variable related, some function returning variables related.  After making changes to some 8-10 files with around 30 corrections,  I made it to work.   It looks very good so far.

My windows configuration is :
apache 1.3.31
php 4.3.9
mysql  4.1.7

I tested on FireFox and IE6.

I am not sure if other developers test the application on windows platforms.  I appreciate if someone can answer.

andres_paglayan wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

The whole thing is designed to work in Linux, as most of the group are GNU fans.
Other ‘plug-ins’ such as SQL-Ledger for the accounting part won’t work under Windows (mostly due to postgresql).
Or hylafax to send prescriptions.
I am assuming that’s there will be no such thing as a windows port.
A good recomendation might be: instead of expending $100 plus just in the operative system alone, buy a Linux friendly PC, you can do it for $55 at ebay:
http://search.ebay.com/compaq-deskpro_W0QQfkrZ1QQfromZR8
And load any Linux distro in that box.
If you need some help with linux check if there’s any user group in your town, they’ll be more than happy to help you with your first setup.
You are more than wellcome.

sankar1234 wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

I want to provide solutions to practices and Docs. 
Having said that, how do we setup a Windows system with OpenEMR and Free-B and what other softwares does he/she have to buy to operate.

andres_paglayan wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

I am assuming that when you are talking about ‘solutions’ in such tonality you are referring to the problem that may be teaching Linux stuff to some doctors. Please correct me if I am wrong.

A Linux Server will work in any windows environment and will serve all your windows browser clients, as it does most of the www without the users being aware that they are using Linux more than they use Windows.

All production OpenEMR system installed I know of are running in a Linux intranet server that serves any client browser in the LAN.

Since you want to provide doctors with solutions you have to consider other things, such as HIPAA compliance. It is not HIPAA compliant to have a desktop  holding your medical records (why else would you like it then on top of Windows?). Your server should be also in a locked room.

Said that, and as I said before, you are more than welcome to write a windows port and have it sent to repository to be evaluated and included in the contrib folder as long as you want to support it.

tekknogenius wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

Try this link from the old forum:
http://www.openemr.net/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=177

markleeds wrote on Wednesday, April 20, 2005:

I had a situation where I wanted to test OpenEMR and other Linux friendly programs on  Windows laptop.  The laptop could run Linux, but I like to be able to hibernate and suspend, which only Windows could do on this model.  My solution was to buy VMWare, a virtual machine that runs all kinds of Linux and other OS’s under Windows.  It runs fast enough to possibly even use it as a server in real use.  It’s a great way also to test under different Linux distributions on the same machine.

I have since replaced that laptop with an iBook and life is much easier.

If you are setting up a server for someone, I recommend following the exact specifications recommended by OpenEMR (Mandrake 10.3 etc…)

Good luck

Mark

drbowen wrote on Thursday, April 21, 2005:

Yes, we know that a large majority of doctors run Windows.

OpenEMR really does run on a lot of platforms, including Windows.

I run Windows clients, linux (uh, 3-4 kinds), FreeBSD.  All successfully run the client portion.  It works well in IE6, Netscape, Firefox, Konqueror, Mozilla, Galeon and likely others.

The choice of what server you want to run is more a matter of personal preference (and experience level).  Setting up OpenEMR to run on a Windows server has been done.  We also have a setup manual if you would like to see it.

I for one am trying to free myself and my business from the golden shackles of Microsoft.  Every three years, Bill needs some more money, You have to buy a new version of Microsoft (x however many computers you have).  Then you find that you have to but a bunch of new programs ( x a license for each computer you have).  After about 6 years, Microsoft abandons support for the versions you have used successfully for so many years.

And yes,  there are the 60,000 - 70,000 viruses you have to protect your system from (one new virus an hour). Well, you have to buy new anti-virus software every 3 years or so because that old sucky stuff won’t run the new engine.  And most are customized to check for Outlook or Outlook Express.

And every hacker/cracker in the universe thinks its great fun to going after all the easy targets of unpatched and frequently unmaintainable operating systems.  And well, Microsoft has always been very honest about how secure their systems are.

I am a linux user by choice.  I saved a huge amount of money just in Software licensing fees, new programs, and new-antivirus software.  I do get evangelical about linux from time to time, but I can support my position.

In the mean time, back at the ranch, we encourage you to install on Windows and give us much needed feedback.

Using CYGWIN, PostgreSQL does run in WIndows and SQL-Ledger will likely do so as well. 

We use SQL-Ledger out of convenience to avoid having to write an accounting program from scratch.  In a Windows, environment it might make more sense to develop "hooks" into QuickBooks,

sankar1234 wrote on Thursday, April 21, 2005:

I did install the server on the Win2000, though It mentioned about 5-7 errors.  They were uninitialized variables ie session related ones.  But the rest of the installation were fine on the server.

  Then I accessed the server from the same machine with http://localhost/openemr/index.php and then the errors kept on coming even now, though I fixed some of them.  For instance,  the return variables should be declared such as
function function_name {
.
returnval = array(""); // was not declared in the code
.
.
return returnval;
}

The session related ones are still there and the $time variable is undeclared in calendar_nikki.inc file.

I didn’t dwell too much. 

I do understand the linux is the best option.  But at least I would like to see what it means to install on windows. 

Please forward the windows installation guide. I greatly appreciate it. 

sankar1234 wrote on Friday, April 22, 2005:

I installed WAMP on a new laptop windows XP. 

I installed the new 2.7.1 OpenEMR.  But the problem is it took 15 minutes to load the database file after I tweaked the php.ini file.

The server seems to have installed fine.

The client still has problems. 

1. I have to declare the Iterator function as Abstract. Then more errors after I logged in such as this :

Fatal error: Using $this when not in object context in c:\wamp\www\openemr\interface\main\calendar\modules\PostCalendar\pnincludes\Smarty\plugins\function.eval.php on line 23

2.  After I clicked the reports link, I got this :
Fatal error: Cannot redeclare sqlconnect() (previously declared in C:\wamp\www\openemr\library\sql.inc:12) in c:\wamp\www\openemr\library\sql.inc on line 15

3.  The main page still shows Pennington Firm copyrights.   Am I downloading the right file ?

drbowen wrote on Friday, April 22, 2005:

The original copyrights are held by Synitech.

Pennington Firm kinda "took over" the project.  from about 2003 - through 2004 and early into 2005.  This included putting their logo and copy right info all over the system.  They did make substantial contributions to the code.

Pennington Firm moved all the source code and forums to SourceForge on March 8, 2005.  (With little warning and no explanation.)

So, yes, you are downloading the correct program.  We are changing the logo and copyright information to reflect the more open community at SourceForge.

If you would like to have these changes I would downlod the "current" version by CVS. We have made no plans to migrate the code to PHP 5.0 at this time.  Your life will be much easier if you revert to PHP 4.3.11 (or similar).

Sam Bowen, MD