Yesterday I was notified that my project application got accepted into Google Summer of  Code. I can't wait to begin! I'll be working for OpenMRS, a web based medical record system primarily focused on developing countries. During the summer I will make a medical image viewer with several features for studying and annotating images, typically X-ray photos.

My original application proposed to implement the image viewer as a Java applet. The plans have since been revised, and the plan now calls for an AJAX web app instead. I will be using the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and  the Google Maps API during development, something I'm really looking forward to.

The change from Java applet to AJAX will lead to much better performance in low-bandwith scenarios. It will also move much of the image processing workload from the client side to the server, enabling better performance on low-end hardware but probably stressing the server somewhat more.

I will keep this blog updated with my progress during the summer, posting at least once a week.

As posted earlier that OpenMRS is participating in Google Summer of Code as a mentoring open source project. Working with OpenMRS will be highly rewarding knowing that you are single-handedly affecting the lives of people in developing nations ravaged by HIV/AIDS. If you are a student (undergaduate/graduate) you are eligible! So go apply for summer of code with OpenMRS! Student applications opened up yesterday and will be accepted up until Monday, March 31^st 2008.

Stop by #openmrs on irc.freenode.org for more information -- ask for docpaul or burke.

Hey guys,

OpenMRS is an open source medical records system that is used in many third-world developing countries where HIV/AIDS is an epidemic. Now here's where you can make a difference: They are participating in Google Summer of Code. You can make $4500 this summer while making a difference in the lives of people ravaged by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in developing third-world countries. Here's how it works: at the beginning you will get $500; after the mid-term evalations you will get $2000; at the end you will get the final $2000. Check out the projects you could potentially work on! For an overview click here.

Apply here.

Drop by #openmrs on irc.freenode.org for more information. Ask for docpaul, burke or bwolfe

As I was perusing the Google Code site, I came across a really cool tool called FindBugs™. FindBugs™ is an open source Java debugging tool that scans through all of your Java class and source files to find programmer-error bugs. From their fact sheet:

"FindBugs looks for bugs in Java programs. It is based on the concept of bug patterns. A bug pattern is a code idiom that is often an error. Bug patterns arise for a variety of reasons:

* Difficult language features
* Misunderstood API methods
* Misunderstood invariants when code is modified during maintenance
* Garden variety mistakes: typos, use of the wrong boolean operator

FindBugs uses static analysis to inspect Java bytecode for occurrences of bug patterns. Static analysis means that FindBugs can find bugs by simply inspecting a program's code: executing the program is not necessary. This makes FindBugs very easy to use: in general, you should be able to use it to look for bugs in your code within a few minutes of downloading it. FindBugs works by analyzing Java bytecode (compiled class files), so you don't even need the program's source code to use it. Because its analysis is sometimes imprecise, FindBugs can report false warnings, which are warnings that do not indicate real errors. In practice, the rate of false warnings reported by FindBugs is less than 50%."


You can use FindBugs as a standalone Java WebStart application, or as a (very handy) plugin to Eclipse. Very cool. I wanted to test this out on something, and what better source than the OpenMRS codebase? I grabbed the current alpha branch and tested both the WebStart application and the Eclipse plugin. The Eclipse plugin found 985 bugs and proved itself to be quite useful.

Here are instructions for using the FindBugs Eclipse plugin on the OpenMRS codebase (although this will work for any Eclipse project).

Install the FindBugs Plugin

1. Fire up Eclipse. Go to Help > Software Updates > Find and Install.
2. Select "Search for new features to install" and click Next.
3. Click "New Remote Site" and enter "FindBugs update site" for the Name and http://findbugs.cs.umd.edu/eclipse/ for the URL and click OK:

4. Make sure "FindBugs update site" is checked and click Finish.
5. Expand the trees in the next window and check "FindBugs Feature" and click Next.
6. Accept the license and click Next.
7. Click Finish, follow any prompts that may come up, and restart Eclipse when prompted.

Using FindBugs on Your Project

1. If the Java files you want to debug aren't already added to Eclipse, create a new project via File > New > Project.
2. Once your project is in Eclipse, right click on the project name and go to Find Bugs > Find Bugs:

3. Let FindBugs work its magic. When it's done, all of the bugs found will be listed as Warnings in Eclipse's Problems view.
4. Opening FindBugs' view is much more useful than the Problem view. Go to Window > Show View > Other, then expand the FindBugs tree and select Bug Tree View:

5. This creates a nifty little view with all of the bugs found, categorized by bug type:

6. And now the really cool part: Click on an individual bug, and it will jump to that line of source where you can fix your code:

7. Impress the world by debugging all of your code, and then debug all of the world's as well.


I hope this is useful!