If at first you don't succeed...

CRASH

My team has been relentlessly working on adding this feature to OpenMRS (https://tickets.openmrs.org/browse/TRUNK-256).  On the second day of working on this, tragedy struck.  I lost access to my Ubuntu install.  At the time, I was using Ubuntu via Wubi. Wubi does not really create a separate partition for Ubuntu to run on.  It actually stores the data on the Windows partition and creates the appearance of a dual boot system.  This is good for testing out Ubuntu, but is not recommended for serious use.  Also, it has proven to cause problems.

I am still not 100% sure of what happened but I have a theory.  This problem began after my laptop battery died in the middle of my doing work on my Ubuntu install.  After failing to gain access to my Ubuntu install, I logged into windows and perused the Ubuntu folder that Wubi creates.  I noticed that root.disk was missing.  This file - as I understand it - serves as the data storage for Ubuntu.  So, it seems like, due to my laptop dieing in the middle of my session, a disk error occurred which caused this file to disappear.  I attempted to run chkdsk and checked for the file in Windows 7's hidden C:/found directory.  But it was gone for good.

So what was left to be done? I installed Ubuntu on its own partition.  This actually was kind of tricky because apparently HP computers with Windows 7 come preinstalled with four partitions already in use.  So that leaves you with.....that's right....ZERO partitions to use as you please (seems like someone is trying to discourage dual booting other OSs onto computers).  Nevertheless, I fought back against this tyranny on my hard drive by liberating one of the partitions.  I wiped the HP Tools partition.  After some research, I came to the conclusion that this partition was unnecessary and that I could do without it. (I backed it up though of course)

REDEMPTION

After again going through the process of setting up my Ubuntu install to be ready to develop for OpenMRS, I was back in the game of implementing our feature.  In short, we have been successful.  It's amazing how complex it was to just make sure that a user clicks on a radio button.  In adding this feature, I researched java-script as well as the Java Spring Framework MVC.  Learning about this framework felt like learning a new language.  We needed to find where the validator was for the patient submission form and edit it to reflect this feature.  We also needed to modify the model (the Patient class) and create a new error to be thrown if the radio button was not selected.  The functionality of the page now matches the feature request.  If the user does not select a preferred ID then when the user attempts to save the form, an error will be given to the user which tells him/her that he/she must pick a preferred ID.  My team still needs to figure out how to submit this code for review.  I plan on emailing the dev list today.

To conclude today's blog, my team is technically behind schedule.  But honestly, I could not be more happy with our progress.  My team picked a challenging project that was outside of our comfort zone.  This has required us to do a large amount of research and work in order to contribute. We are now making tangible progress, and we are learning a lot.

"Sine labore nihil"