dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx>]

Including the browser as part of the install is trivial. Making it
launch, without making it the default browser, is the issue really we
are discussing and that will require modification to the DHIS2 tray
app.

I have currently three different installers in trunk. 1) Windows
bare-bones installer that just installs H2 and DHIS2. 2) Windows
installer with the H2 Sierra Leone DB 3) A console based installer for
Linux. It would be simple enough to produce a fourth, and include a
browser of choice. Still working on the postgres installer, but for
Zambia, I was planning on distributing FireFox/Opera/Chrome or
whatever the devs say is best along with the installer. I did not
really want to make this browser the default, unless the user did this
theirselves, which most browsers will try and do anyway, which is a
bit of  a problem. If this feature of "Me first, Me first!" could be
disabled for the SSB, then it sounds like a very good plan to me.

Regards,
JP


On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 10:42 AM, Ola Hodne Titlestad
<olatitle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I would still like us to pursue the idea of distributing a portable browser
> with DHIS2 live to make it easier to get started with DHIS.
> At least check whether this is doable or not.
>
> This would cater for DHIS training and the "I want to see what this is"
> scenarios when the users are offline or on poor connections making online
> demos difficult to use.
>
> The installer/production scenario is a bit different I think, but also very
> important.
>
> 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 23 April 2010 10:31, Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>> My suggestion would be to keep it very simple.
>>
>> If the environment variable exists, and is of the form "C:\program
>> files\dhis2\ssb\firefox.exe" then launch it. This would mean that this
>> would only cater to the situation where someone has installed the
>> program with the installer (which will likely be the case for many
>> production installations) but not always.
>>
>> Otherwise, just fall back and do what is already in the code.
>>
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 10:18 AM, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx>
>> wrote:
>> > On 23 April 2010 09:04, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >> On 23 April 2010 08:54, Jason Pickering <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>> I somewhat agree with Bob, but I also see good reasons why packaging a
>> >>> browser is a good idea. There seems to be pretty wide variation
>> >>> between different browsers, and while it is a good idea to support
>> >>> many different ones, it is also a lot of work. If we could focus on
>> >>> being sure that all the browser-related bugs are not present, for
>> >>> instance in Chrome or Firefox,  for a particular release, this would
>> >>> ensure that the app is going to work properly in a production
>> >>> environment.  I have seen a lot of problems in the field with people
>> >>> installing toolbars, browser hijacking, etc that really is going to
>> >>> complicate deployments unnecessarily.
>> >>>
>> >>> After looking at the code, it seems that setting an environment
>> >>> variable might be the best solution, perhaps.
>> >>> This could be set as part of the installation process. If the
>> >>> environment variable exists (DHIS2_BROWSER) for example, then it would
>> >>> attempt to open up DHIS2 with this. Otherwise, it would default to the
>> >>> current Desktop.getDesktop().browse( URI.create (getUrl() ) ) ); which
>> >>> will simply launch the default browser.
>> >>
>> >> I guess this could work with an exec.  I'll take a look.
>> >
>> > Though I am reluctant to depend on the environment variable for the
>> > out-of-the-box experience.  The nice thing about dhis-live is that you
>> > can drop it in and run it.  It is this zero-install-fiddling which
>> > people like.  Setting environment variables is the next level of
>> > customisation and sophistication for users.  Other possibilities:
>> >
>> > (i)   check for the existence of a "portable-firefox" folder.  If
>> > available use that.
>> > (ii)  open a dialog on first invocation requesting users to pick a
>> > browser (I have no idea at this stage how to list them).  But that
>> > choice would have to be persisted somehow.
>> > (iii) .... ?
>> >
>> >>
>> >>>
>> >>>  Of course, this could be made as an option of the installer, whether
>> >>> to install one of these site-specific browsers or not, but I think the
>> >>> advantages outweigh the disadvantages. It is certainly worth testing I
>> >>> think.
>> >>>
>> >>> Regards,
>> >>> Jason
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Fri, Apr 23, 2010 at 9:46 AM, Ola Hodne Titlestad
>> >>> <olatitle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>>> On 22 April 2010 23:28, Bob Jolliffe <bobjolliffe@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On 22 April 2010 19:35, Jason Pickering
>> >>>>> <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>>> wrote:
>> >>>>> > I think it should probably be a blueprint and  I think it is a
>> >>>>> > good
>> >>>>> > idea.
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> > It is certainly  a problem on many machines I have encounterd in
>> >>>>> > the
>> >>>>> > field. We need to install FireFox, Chrome, Opera or something, and
>> >>>>> > ideally make it the default browser. This seems to be a good idea
>> >>>>> > to
>> >>>>> > me, but can seem a bit drastic to some users.  Ideally, the
>> >>>>> > installer
>> >>>>> > would come prepackaged with this browser. When DHI2 Live is
>> >>>>> > launched,
>> >>>>> > instead of making a call to the default browser (which in most
>> >>>>> > cases
>> >>>>> > in IE), assuming that this was installed as part of a special live
>> >>>>> > package, then this browser would get opened instead, thereby
>> >>>>> > launching
>> >>>>> > DHIS2. I am not so sure about the DHIS2 live part, as it simply
>> >>>>> > launches the default browser. Bob?
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> I don't think its very easy to coax dhis2-live to open anything
>> >>>>> besides the default browser.  Not that its impossible, but probably
>> >>>>> very messy.  I'm also not sure we want to get into the browser
>> >>>>> packaging business.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Could the portable firefox package be of any help here? We could put
>> >>>> it in a
>> >>>> standard location DHIS2Live/firefox/ and start it from there? I have
>> >>>> used it
>> >>>> for the PHIT and DHIS seems to run fine there. It is set up with all
>> >>>> relative paths which should make it easier to distribute as no
>> >>>> installation
>> >>>> is needed.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Ola
>> >>>> --------
>> >>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> > On Thu, Apr 22, 2010 at 6:32 PM, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>
>> >>>>> > wrote:
>> >>>>> >> Given that DHIS2 runs best in Chrome (especially the Mapping
>> >>>>> >> module),
>> >>>>> >> and also ok in Firefox, it might be a good idea to make sure
>> >>>>> >> people
>> >>>>> >> have access to one of these browsers.
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >> One way to do that is to package things with Prism (Firefox) or
>> >>>>> >> Chrome
>> >>>>> >> (or Fluid for Mac http://fluidapp.com/)
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >> http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1842277/chrome-application-shortcuts-mozilla-prism-installer
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >> What do you guys think?
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >> Knut
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>> >> 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
>> >>>>> >>
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> > --
>> >>>>> > --
>> >>>>> > Jason P. Pickering
>> >>>>> > email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>> >>>>> > tel:+260968395190
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>> > _______________________________________________
>> >>>>> > 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
>> >>>>> >
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> _______________________________________________
>> >>>>> 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
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> --
>> >>> --
>> >>> Jason P. Pickering
>> >>> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>> >>> tel:+260968395190
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> --
>> Jason P. Pickering
>> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>> tel:+260968395190
>
>



-- 
--
Jason P. Pickering
email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
tel:+260968395190