After toying around during sleepless nights between call-outs I think I have found the future platform for an EHR system:
http://rubyonrails.org/ It solves so many problems we had in the past: - far less complexity in code - much faster development - reduces complexity of database interaction by at least one order of magnitude - feature rich Ajax UI elements (server-side autocompletion text boxes, drag'n'droppable lists, in-place editing, image manipulation ...) In fact, it allows to create rich responsive desktop-app like web applications accessible by any standards compliant web browser - with a fraction of the code necessary, with a fraction of maintenance work neccessary, zero client side installation hassle, very easy server installation (less than an hour for novices to install and configure everything needed from scratch on the server!) In combinaton with newer generation WYSIWYG browser editing widgets there would be no need for linking up with external applications (eg word processors) Only problem that would remain would be efficient printing on multiple printers/print trays as well as using scanners - both can be solved via network accessible orinters and scanners (the former via ordinary print servers, the latter via SANE) - the web service simply drops the print document into a "print queue" table, the database backend notifies a print daemon which then sends the converted print data directly to the networked printer I think this really would be the holy grail of EHR development environment that woudl fulfill alll criteria incl ease of end user installation and end user support Horst _______________________________________________ Gpcg_talk mailing list [email protected] http://ozdocit.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/gpcg_talk
