dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>]

Maybe throwing unwarranted cats amongst pigeons here as it is not code
I am directly working on (well I am sort of with import), but it
bothers me to see all of this business of display sort order being
some sort of structural characteristic of the data (set, section or
what have you).  I have expressed this opinion before, but the way
things are displayed should really be determined by (and persisted
with) a form object of some sort.

Dataset to me seems to be quite a confused platypus  (well it makes me
a confused platypus anyway ..).  Here are a few of my reasons:

(i) before I get jumped on for getting anal about names again I'm
going to throw this one in - its not really a set of data at all.  If
anything its a set of datelements though dataelementset sounds a bit
clumsy I know.  Now one could say "whats in a name" and does it really
matter, and it doesn't until you want to find an abstraction for
really representing a dataset - ie a set of datavalues which has been
collected off a form or imported in one go.  I guess one could always
call that a datavalue set but things start to look silly. Having such
a concept is not really an off the wall blue-sky requirement.  The
concept of dataset as a set of data is out there in the world we want
to interact with - eg sdmx, xforms etc.

(ii) it is kind of unclear whether dataset (as we currently understand
it) is a component of the model or the view.  I think we use it as a
kind of bridge between the two which can become confusing.  Mostly it
seems there is a 1-1 correspondence between datasets and forms or
collection instruments.  It would be better to make that relationship
more explicit.

(iii) we can take some inspiration from xforms where a considerable
amount of time, expertise and review has, one hopes, distilled some
nuggets of best practice around the representation of forms and form
data.  Xforms identifies (1) the form, which contains (2) the model
and produces (3) the model instance data.  Rendering the form (via the
web, thick-gui or on a phone) is determined by the host language for
the form.  Our dataset strikes me as being analogous to the model for
a collection instrument.  So returning to the original question.
Where should one articulate the ordering of elements?  Within the
dataset and or its sections?  I don't think so.  Partly because one
can - and we do - export dataset (metadata) and import corresponding
data where the ordering of the datavalues is completely irrelevant.

Just saw Ola's mail re the blueprint ... I'll stop here and look there.

Cheers
Bob

On 20 April 2010 09:31, Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> This may actually be a problem due to the way that the data elements
> were sorted in DHIS 1.4. 1.4 allows you to specify both a sorting
> order in the dataelement table, as well as the equivalent of the
> datasetmembers table. A global (system) setting allows one to chose
> how they should be displayed in lists. Our data elements were sorted
> correctly according to the dataset,  but as far as I can tell,  DHIS2
> does not support sorting of data elements by data set (at least there
> is no field in datasetmembers that would support this)
>
> On  the datasetsection page, the ordering that is presented to me, is
> not in alphabetical order the SECOND time I enter the page. The first
> time, everything is ordered alphabetically (user setting), the second
> time around, the ordering is completely mixed up. I would expect it to
> follow the user setting (alphabetical) but this does not seem to be
> the case.
>
> I agree that it should probably be a system setting, similar to DHIS1.4.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 10:16 AM, Ola Hodne Titlestad
> <olatitle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> My understanding of this is that you can apply the system wide custom sort
>> order to data elements in a data set section.
>>
>> In user settings you can set the sort order to be custom and then go to
>> Maintenance>Data Elements and sort the elements in the full list there.
>>
>> Then the data elements in the data set section (or data set) will be sorted
>> according to their global sort order when listed in a default data entry
>> form.
>>
>> My only concern with this is that the sort order is a user setting and not a
>> system setting so different users doing data entry might experience
>> different sort order, which may not be desired in data entry forms.
>>
>>
>> Ola Hodne Titlestad |Technical Officer|
>> Health Metrics Network (HMN) | World Health Organization
>> Avenue Appia 20 |1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland | Email:
>> titlestado@xxxxxxx|Tel: +41 788216897
>> Website: www.healthmetricsnetwork.org
>>
>> Better Information. Better Decisions. Better Health.
>>
>>
>> On 20 April 2010 10:08, Hieu Dang Duy <hieu.hispvietnam@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>>> Dear Jason,
>>>
>>> Actually, this ordering is completely belongs to your action during on
>>> sorting data elements in the selected list.
>>> For example;
>>>
>>> Assuming that, there are five data elements such as: A, B, C, D and E in
>>> the available list. Then, if select each element following the ordering
>>> likes B, D, A, C in the selected list. So after coming back to edit that
>>> data section you will see the selected list of this one, which is not
>>> ordered alphabetically in expecting on.
>>>
>>> On Tue, Apr 20, 2010 at 2:12 PM, jason.p.pickering
>>> <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Public bug reported:
>>>>
>>>> When creating a data set section, there is no logical ordering applied
>>>> to the data elements. The first time I created the dataset section, they
>>>> appeared to be ordered alphabetically. When I saved and edited the
>>>> dataset again, the ordering is completely jumbled up.
>>>>
>>>> ** Affects: dhis2
>>>>     Importance: Undecided
>>>>         Status: New
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> dataset-section-no-sorting
>>>> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/567080
>>>> You received this bug notification because you are a member of DHIS 2
>>>> developers, which is subscribed to DHIS.
>>>>
>>>> Status in DHIS 2 - District Health Information Software: New
>>>>
>>>> Bug description:
>>>> When creating a data set section, there is no logical ordering applied to
>>>> the data elements. The first time I created the dataset section, they
>>>> appeared to be ordered alphabetically. When I saved and edited the dataset
>>>> again, the ordering is completely jumbled up.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Hieu.HISPVietnam
>>> Good Health !
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>> Post to     : dhis2-devs@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~dhis2-devs
>>> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
> --
> --
> Jason P. Pickering
> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
> tel:+260968395190
>
> _______________________________________________
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