System Administration: Manage Apps

Overview:

The Manage App Definitions app allows implementers to add or remove applications to the system without having to build a module. This app is in it's first iteration and is a little rough around the edges. We hope this page provides a good understanding of available App Definitions. If you have trouble ask a question on Ask OpenMRS. This feature is available in OpenMRS v 2.2.

Steps:

• Navigate to System Administration>Manage Apps
  
  

  Open

  

• The table on this screen lists all apps that are currently installed in the Reference Application.

  • App ID: is the unique name of the app

  • Status: The status of the app (Enabled/Disabled)

  • Type: This describes if the app was built-in to the Reference Application or a custom definition

  • Actions: This allows you to start, stop or edit the app. Note, you can only edit the app if it's not built-in. This is critical if you wish to replace functionality in a particular app. For example, you can adjust the registerPatient app to allow your team to enter manual patient identifiers or to define a different redirect URL after registering a patient e.g the redirect URL could be to page where they can print an ID card of the registered patient. To do this, you would have to add the app definition, start it under actions and stop the referenceapplication.registrationapp.registerPatient App ID. (More on that below)

Common Uses

Implementers use the "Manage Apps" area to adjust configuration options differently than what is deployed in the standard installation of OpenMRS. For example, the app labeled "Register a Patient" has the ability to manually type in identifiers, as defined in the configuration options template. This is turned off by default in the reference application. The manage apps area allows implementers to quickly define a new "Register a Patient" app with that configuration option turned on and stop the default app to ensure users choose the correct app all the time. Additionally, implementers are able to define implementation specific permissions for each app.

Add App Definition

Background

Template Definitions:
OpenMRS utilizes app templates that standardize the configuration for apps. Templates are available in the source code of each app provider which is often available on the OpenMRS github page. We have tried to define templates on this page for ease of use.

The green button "Add App Definition" allows you to add your own app.

Open

App Definition Explanation

Each app definition has to have an App ID. This is the piece of information that differentiates your app from others in the system. Most apps have "Extensions" and "Configuration Options." Extensions define the app properties and the extension point so the system knows where the app will be placed. Configuration Options are available for some apps based on the team that created them. These configuration options are often available as templates found in the github repository of each app module. We have done our best to provide links on this page to each github repository with configuration options a well as examples of the active apps in v.2.2 of OpenMRS. Note that the JSON you enter is for a single app and not a collections of apps i.e DONOT wrap the JSON inside square brackets like their inbuilt counterparts.

Register Patient

The registration app can have basic version without Contact Info. You can enable this functionality going to System Administration>Manage Apps, in App ID  column you have registrationapp.basicRegisterPatient, in Action column click on  Enable triangle. You can also switch off this functionality clicking on Disable.

App ID: referenceapplication.registrationapp.registerPatient

The Register Patient App is found in the openmrs-module-registrationapp. The template definition can be found at this link, which describes the config fields. The code pasted in the following code block is what's currently used in the Reference Application app definition found here (note that the square brackets before and after should not be used). 

Register Patient Template