Hi Charles, Thanks for your positive comments about the code. I'm frustrated that it's falling into disrepair, but as you guessed, I have too many obligations to do anything about it. Apparently James is in a similar situation, although I'm disappointed that he hasn't recognized this and at least passed the project along to someone else.
To support a new HL7 version in HAPI, one has to first buy the HL7 database, which contains the message definitions. Not much code tweaking is needed, but typically the generated code doesn't compile due to database errors. These can be corrected manually, usually within a day or so (I used to also share the corrections with the DB maintainer). Forking might be problematic, because HAPI has special permission to redistribute the generated code, which is a derivative of the (non-free) database. However, anyone who wanted to get seriously involved would be most welcome to HAPI commit access at this point. Bryan On Fri, Feb 13, 2009 at 5:26 PM, Charles D. Fisher <[email protected]> wrote: > Apparently no one has answered your question. I have similar concerns. I > have built a major system around HAPI. Within a year or less I will need > to parse 2.5.1 messages. > > Your note was the first time I became aware that there was some progress > toward an 0.6. Seeing the "HAPI 0.6-SNAPSHOT API" posted there on the > website is a definite sign of progress, and the name "0.6-SNAPSHOT" > suggests that James and/or Bryan are making progress toward changing the > build to Maven, which I consider all to the good. > > The thing about HAPI is that, although it is open source, control over the > project is totally under the control of University Health Network of > Toronto, Canada, where it was written. More specifically, it is totally > under the control of Bryan Tripp, who seems to have created a lot of it > originally, and James Agnew, to whom Bryan has largely passed the torch. > Bryan wrote an excellent piece of software, and James seems to have kept > the quality up. But HAPI was, I gather, largely designed for use at UHN. > Further development, as far as I can see, depends on UHN's business needs > and priorities. James has said in an earlier post that he is planning to > produce a next release when he can get to it, but that is totally > determined by what UHN needs. > > James and Bryan seem to accept patches and contributions from the > community, but I believe that they are the only committers. > > In theory any of us could take the source and produce a version that would > add 2.5.1 and 2.6. However, HAPI has a particularly tricky architecture. > It involves having a set of Microsoft Access files from HL7 that define the > language releases, running a code generation phase with those files as > input, then running a second pass to compile the code generated by phase 1. > And lots more, I am sure. And I am sure that each new release from HL7 > requires tweaking the code generator for the additional releases while > maintaining backwards compatibility with the earlier releases. If you > could somehow successfully complete such a project, you would produce a > version that would work for you alone, because it would not be compatible > with the next official release from UHN. > > So I think we have no real leverage with James and Bryan except to be > appreciative of having such great software for free, and contributing bug > reports and fixes and documentation when we can. > > It would be great if James or Bryan would update us a little more > frequently, and give us at least a rough roadmap to the future. But they > are presumably as busy as the rest of us. So I keep watching this space > and crossing my fingers. > > Charles Fisher > Division of Epidemiology > New York State Dept. of Health > 518-474-2735 > > > > > Erik Gfesser > <[email protected] > g> To > [email protected] > 11/03/2008 09:40 cc > AM > Subject > [HAPI-devel] HAPI community? > > > > > > > > > > > Does anyone know the current status of HAPI development? Apparently, HAPI > version 0.6 was never officially released. In the meantime, HL7 2.x > continues to evolve. Past client solutions of mine were based in part on > HAPI, and I am wondering whether I need to begin looking for other > solutions in this space that are actively being supported by the community. > Please let me know. > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Moblin Your Move Developer's > challenge > Build the coolest Linux based applications with Moblin SDK & win great > prizes > Grand prize is a trip for two to an Open Source event anywhere in the world > http://moblin-contest.org/redirect.php?banner_id=100&url=/ > _______________________________________________ > Hl7api-devel mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hl7api-devel > > > > IMPORTANT NOTICE: This e-mail and any attachments may contain confidential > or sensitive information which is, or may be, legally privileged or otherwise > protected by law from further disclosure. 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Thank you for your cooperation. > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA > -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise > -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation > -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD > http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H > _______________________________________________ > Hl7api-devel mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hl7api-devel > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), March 24-25, 2009, San Francisco, CA -OSBC tackles the biggest issue in open source: Open Sourcing the Enterprise -Strategies to boost innovation and cut costs with open source participation -Receive a $600 discount off the registration fee with the source code: SFAD http://p.sf.net/sfu/XcvMzF8H _______________________________________________ Hl7api-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/hl7api-devel
