dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 7:16 PM, Jason Pickering
<jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Thanks for testing. i will check out prism and the embdeed JRE.

I'm not 100% sure about Prism - did try it today and it works fine,
but not sure if it gets all the FF updates (perhaps it does). We
really want recent browsers with fast Javascript engines, especially
for GIS.

Perhaps the best is Chrome Portable:
http://portableapps.com/apps/internet/google_chrome_portable

For Prism, some (easy) configuration seems necessary (I did not do it fully):
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla-labs-prism/browse_thread/thread/b60ff86c51482348?pli=1

> I am thinking that this may be
>
> 1) Check for a DHIS2_BROWSER variable, which should be a path to a
> browser which has either been set by the user or been set during the
> installation process. If this exists, and is valid, launch DHIS2 in
> this browser.

I don't think this is a good idea. We dont want to depend on envar.

> 2) If no variable exists, test for a directory (at this case,
> FireFoxPortable) and use this browser. I think this is going to be
> required when the application is launched from a USB key, and has not
> been installed on the system at all. We cannot guarantee that a
> browser envar has been set, or that a suitable browser exists, or that
> even a JRE exists. So, we can try and make it as self-contained as
> possible.

YES. Self-contained. We are pretty much there, just need to set the FF
portable mode to run alongside FF.

> 3) If none of this works, just use the default browser.

Sure.

Knut

> I am testing this code now, and will provide it to Bob for comments.
> Other comments are welcome.
>
> I think that this implementation should not affect those already using
> the DHISlive.exe file, as if the envar is not set, and the
> FireFoxPortable (or prism or whatever we feel is best for a browser to
> distribute with DHIS2) then the default browser will get launched
> anyway.
>
> Regards,
> Jason
>
>
> On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 4:39 PM, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> For comparison, I've uploaded a plain 7z file (after removing the db
>> and the 55 MB rollbackBackupDirectory) here:
>> http://hispkerala.org/older_downloads/DHIS-2.0.4.7z
>>
>> It may be nice to have both the installer and the zipped file for
>> different use cases?
>>
>> The zip file is convenient in that the webapp and database can be
>> updated easily, without installing and running Bitrock.
>>
>> The installer is better for "profiling" (not in the technical sense of
>> that term) in that it looks more professional, has logos and
>> highlights licensing etc.
>>
>> The question is wether we also need installers with Tomcat, Postgres
>> and Mysql. Perhaps this is only needed in countries that choose LAN
>> setups (i.e. local installs serving multiple users), but I think even
>> in these cases a "DHIS appliance" hardware box that  has everything
>> installed on top of Linux (or a Linux CD or virtual machine "DHIS
>> distro") is usually a better way to go.
>>
>> Knut
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 4:08 PM, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> A few more comments:
>>>
>>> 1) For some reason, the installer hung at the end when I tried to
>>> install on a USB stick. I then installed on my harddrive and just
>>> copied the resulting folder to the USB stick (as we usually do for
>>> DHIS Live), and things worked fine.
>>>
>>> 2) We could consider Prism instead of FF portable
>>>
>>> 3) I notice there is also JRE portable, not sure if that gives us
>>> anything: http://portableapps.com/news/2010-06-19-_java_portable_6_update_20
>>>
>>> 4) You did not include the demo database - and that's fine. We have
>>> discussed before the desire to augment DHIS Live with functionality to
>>> easily swap databases - though the manual operation is of course also
>>> very simple, if we document it well.
>>>
>>> 5) The final README is a bit cluttered and may be confusing to many
>>> users. I think we could cut it considerably.
>>>
>>> Knut
>>>
>>> On Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 11:24 AM, Knut Staring <knutst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> On Mon, Jun 28, 2010 at 8:30 PM, Jason Pickering
>>>> <jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>>> Hi Knut,
>>>>>
>>>>> I have created an installer for DHIS2 which includes a JRE and
>>>>> embedded browser. Thanks to long Scandinavian days and fresh air, I
>>>>> was able to take this off my to do list for now.  I have uploaded it
>>>>> to hispkerala.org
>>>>>
>>>>> /home/hispkera/home/hispkera/DHIS2-2.0.4-windows-lite-usb.exe
>>>>
>>>> I moved it here:
>>>> http://hispkerala.org/older_downloads/DHIS2-2.0.4-windows-lite-usb.exe
>>>>
>>>>> So with this edition the JRE and the Firefox portable browser are
>>>>> included, which is launched by default when DHIS2 is opened. So no
>>>>> need to install Java and no need to use IE, even if it is not the
>>>>> default browser.
>>>>
>>>> I just tried it after first removing Java from my machine for testing
>>>> - will also test with Java installed, should not make a difference.
>>>>
>>>> Since I had FF running, I got the following message: "Another instance
>>>> of Firefox is already running. Please close other instances of Firefox
>>>> before launching Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition."
>>>>
>>>> Ideally, we would also detect whether FF is running, and if so just
>>>> open a new tab? Otherwise, it seems we can configure FF portable to
>>>> run alongside FF:
>>>> http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=523037&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a
>>>>
>>>> Knut
>>>>
>>>>> I have hacked up Bob's DHIS live app to achieve this and will be in
>>>>> touch with him separately about how to fix it properly.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,
>>>>> Jason
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ---
>>>>> Jason P. Pickering
>>>>> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
>>>>> tel:+260968395190
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> Knut Staring
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Cheers,
>>> Knut Staring
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Cheers,
>> Knut Staring
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> --
> Jason P. Pickering
> email: jason.p.pickering@xxxxxxxxx
> tel:+260968395190
>



-- 
Cheers,
Knut Staring