Is there a repository of Custom forms created by other users of OpenEMR?
Ideally we would like to browse for what other practices have already created for themselves and select the forms that look applicable to our practice. We will also like to ‘post / publish’ what we have designed for others to use.
If there is no such facility, establishing such will really help share ‘Best Practices’ amongst all users. As the publisher, this site should track the downloads and most popular forms should be considered for adoption as a standard feature in future updates.
All the contributed forms are kept with the source code in the distribution. They can be found in openemr/contrib/forms. to use them copy the entire ‘form-name’ directory into the openemr/interface/forms directory and use the Administration->Other->Forms menu to enable them. I would do this in a test copy of openemr as removing them is a very manual process.
To contribute them you can use a github account or just tar or zip them up and post them in the Tracker under Code Review with a description of what they do.
Maybe no a repository, but there are about 75 forms, contributed by various people that come with the baseline OEMR installation. These forms are found in: Openemr\contrib\forms.
To use them, you will need to copy the selected form folder to “Openemr\interface\forms”, restart your browser and manage them via Administration>Other>Forms. Here, you will need to register the form, install it into database and enable it.
I am not sure about the procedure for getting your form to be part of OEMR.
I would suggest a forms repository modeled after Firefox Add-Ons.
If (hypothetically) we create a form useful for the new Medicare annual physicals requirements, it may not deserve to be released in Openemr\contrib\forms as a standard patch. However a small set of US based primary care practices will benefit if they come to know about it in a central place that describes in detail the custom functionality and are able to copy the code to ‘Openemr\interface\forms’ rather than receiving it as part of a broader support update that affects the entire product and thus requires lot more caution. The user will obviously have to weigh the inherent risks vs benefits as long as the product supports the add-in framework.
This is part of why I created the xml form generator for openemr. It was my hope that by separating the code of a form from the description of the form, it would allow for easy interchange of forms on this forum.
Unfortunately, I am too used to a mailing list, where we can actually attach files. thus far I have had limited success helping those who get confused using the form generator, because I first have to find a method other than this forum to get their .xml file. (I really need to write a DTD, but then i would be asking users to install a validator to check their work…)
By standardizing on the xml files instead of forms folders, we lose the flexibility of some of the wilder forms (image based forms, for instance), but gain the ability to use that xml to generate forms specific to the version of openemr the user already has installed, with a matching revision of xmlformgen. I think for a function like what you are proposing, that makes good sense, given that you’re targeting current 4.0+, or willing to maintain a xmlformgen revision for generating code in your openemr revision.
BTW, I would be quite pleased to see any additional forms others have developed, as well.
There is no reason that we couldn’t create a example/contributed form repository on wiki.oemr.org. It allows attached files and we could even include screen shot of the form (not matter how it was originated).
Then you just announce it here with a URL link.
I think we could (down the road) drop the contrib/forms dir all together and just post the contributions on the wiki.
How about a separate folder in Sourceforge Files section where I assume most new users get their installations with a clear warning about it not being part of the standard release?
The Sourceforge platform already tracks and shows the number of downloads giving everyone an idea about popularity of any custom form or code.
In my opinion Sourceforge it too limited as to who can post files. Anyone with contributions could post their stuff on the wiki for folks to try. And people could post feedback, reviews about the specific form contribution.
Can we try the Wiki? I guess we will need
1. A starting point that describes the 'unofficial nature of the content
2. Reference back to this forum in case the user faces issues
3. A prescribed standard for the content including
a. the documentation,
b. skills level required for installation,
c. detailed installation instructions,
d. specific configuration instructions and
e. if possible instructions for rolling back the changes.
I think it will really help the community and ultimately the product.
Hi, I wanted to jump in here and ask the question about taking out the custom forms that I have created. Are there any instruction that you can give me to package up the created form like the forms folder in the OpenEMR.?
Depends on what kind of forms they are: LBF forms are all just dumps of the appropriate SQL entries + any plugin you may have written, std forms would be a zip or tar file of the directory containing the form code (what would be placed in interface/forms/) . XML forms should be able to be just the XML source file, but could include the generated forms if you made changes after the generator was run.
-Tony
“Permitted file types (in the Wiki): png, gif, jpg, jpeg, pdf, txt, zip, tgz, gz, tar.”
For Layout Based Visit Forms, the .sql files are not acceptable according the above from the Upload page.
To enable insertion of the .sql files into a Wiki article, would zipping them first be advised?
Because Layout Based Visit Forms are easier to construct, we should consider encouraging their use by future contributors.
It would be more helpful to users to have future contributed forms in the Wiki where the visibility is higher. The present location of the Contributed Form is known mainly to developers and not to the larger audience, the users.
I will put a link in Supplementary Topics to highlight this valuable resource and list all the forms.