dhis2-devs team mailing list archive

[Lars Helge Øverland <larshelge@xxxxxxxxx>]

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>
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> Required note: As long as we don't call it REST :) REST imples a
> hypermedia-driven application, so let's stick to calling it what it would
> probably be: a simple web api.
>
>
Hey be a bit more visionary:) I think this is a great thought. We are
getting more and more requests from people who want to use their own
presentation layer (Ifakara folks in Tanzania will "make a web-based query
tool on top of dhis2", Uganda folks are integrating dhis2 with a CMS etc).
I'm envisioning methods for:

- getting all data elements/indicators with (a bit extended) DXF and HTML
format responses with embedded links to URLs pointing to a method giving you
the full details for each as HTML or PDF.
- getting all indicators with DXF/HTML responses with links to URLs pointing
to a PNG chart giving the aggregated vales for the 12 last months.
- getting all report tables as DXF/HTML with links to URLs pointing to
SDMX-HD/HTML/PDF/Excel representations of the table.
- getting all orgunits for a given parent as DXF/HTML with links to URLs
pointing to GIS PNG images, and so on...

There you have your *hypermedia-driven application that moves from one state
to the next by examining and choosing from among the alternative state
transitions in the current set of representation*s.

This kind of stuff will give potential users an elegant way of integrating
dhis2 data into whatever tool they prefer and avoid hacking into the
database or fumbling with the source code. If don't want your users to
leave, make it easy for them to do so:)


Lars