The Open Source Logbook
Gary Hemming
European Gravitational Observatory
(gary.hemming@ego-gw.it)
KAGRA F2F, 31/07/14
This presentation
This presentation looks at the following areas:
• History of the application.
• Open Source Logbook (OSL) functionality.
• Technical requirements.
• Open-source libraries.
• Future developments.
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About the application
• 2005 – Virgo Logbook migration from Perl-based to
PHP-based web application.
• 2008 – Following requests for usage from outside
organisations, application developed into easilyinstallable open-source package. The Open Source
Logbook (OSL) is born.
• OSL, is made available under the General Purpose
Licence (GPL) open source licence. OSL is used in
Virgo, LIGO, EGO, LAL, LAPP, LMA, Aston University
and Glasgow University among others, both within and
without the Collaboration.
• Several updates have followed (current stable: v2r6).
• Updated version (v3r0) currently under development.
Release foreseen ~end of September 2014.
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OSL functionality – 1. Reports
• OSL allows Reports to be entered and associated to
specific Sections and Tasks, making it possible to track
the evolution of a project.
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OSL functionality – 2. Search
• Users can search on a range of fields, filtering search
results as required.
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OSL functionality - 3. Adding Reports
• Reports can be added using either a plain text editor…
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OSL functionality – 4. HTML editor
• …or an HTML editor (CKEditor)
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OSL functionality – 5. File upload
• Multiple files can be uploaded and associated to a
Report.
• On image file upload, thumbnail images are created, in
order to ensure large files do not slow the interface when
viewing multiple reports with many associated images.
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OSL functionality – 6. Preview
• Reports can be Saved and Previewed at any time during
their creation.
• Preview shows what the Report would look like if posted
to the Logbook in that moment.
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OSL functionality – 7. Drafts
• Reports can be Saved to Draft and then returned to at a
later date; retrieving them from the Drafts section.
• Old, unwanted Drafts can also be deleted by a user from
this section.
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OSL functionality – 8. L-Mail
• The L-Mail functionality enables a user to request e-mail
notification whenever a Report is entered under a
specific Section-Task.
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OSL functionality – 9. Administration
• The Admin section enables authorised
customise and configure their OSL instance.
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users
to
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OSL functionality – 10. Section/Task editing
• Sections and Tasks can also be added and amended as
required in the Admin section.
• The ‘Jump To on Task select’ option also makes it
possible to re-direct users to other areas or websites
when a specific Task is selected.
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OSL functionality – 11. User group management
• Users can be associated
Administrator access levels.
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to
Standard
User
or
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OSL functionality – 12. Customisation
• Customised sections can be added in the Extra section
of the interface.
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OSL functionality – 13. Help
• Detailed Help section also available.
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OSL functionality – 14. Authentication check
• In the event of a user being logged-out for any reason,
the interface handles re-authentication, in order to avoid
entered information being lost.
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Technical requirements
• Standard web server (Apache, IIS, etc.)
• PHP 5.1+ (inc. GD library for thumbnail image creation)*
• MySQL 5.0+ **
• JavaScript-supporting (i.e. all modern) browser
* 5.0+ would actually suffice, but up-coming version will use PHP Data
Objects (PDO) for database communication and prepared statement
execution, and is only available from PHP 5.1 onwards.
**
A MySQL management application, such as phpMyAdmin
(www.phpmyadmin.net), is recommended for easy management of
the database itself.
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Open-source libraries
Open-source libraries used in application and already
included in software package:
• CKEditor (ckeditor.com) – used as HTML editor in Report
creation. Available under GPL, LPGL & MPL licences.
• jQuery (jquery.com) - the widely-used jQuery JavaScript
AJAX integration library (v1.4.4+). jQuery is made available
to applications under the MIT and GPL v2 licences.
• Tigra (www.softcomplex.com/products/tigra_calendar/) The JavaScript Tigra Calendar v4.0, available under the
Tigra Calendar v4.0 licence is used in assisting user-filled
data HTML input fields.
• Simple AJAX Code-Kit (SACK) (www.twilightuniverse.com),
available under a modified X11 licence.
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Future developments – 1. General
• Allow Administrator to set length of time up to which a
User can edit a posted Report. (v3r0)
• Use prepared statements in the Data Access Object
code file. (v3r0)
• Enable the positioning of uploaded images within Report
text, rather than attached below. (v3r1)
• Link with Hardware Inventory Database and Document
Codifier applications; making one, single application.
(v3r?)
• Provide dedicated mobile interface. (v3r?)
• Provide dedicated source-file download website.
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Future developments – 2. Links with other apps
• e.g. Hardware Inventory Database (HWDB) (see image
below) and Document Codifier.
• Enabling creation of automatic linkages between content
entered in different applications.
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