Sahana Vesuvius Portable App

A portable application for Sahana Vesuvius platform can be deployed into a portable device (typically application files will be stored on a fast flash drive) which is not necessarily connected to the Internet. A user can directly launch the portable app without any pre-configuration or installation of any software (Apache, MySQL, PHP). The user will be able to work on Vesuvius in offline mode (no Internet connectivity). This portable app is essentially a portable AMP stack and Vesuvius PHP code deployed to ‘www’ root in the portable app. It acts like a local server in a host device and if WiFi/Bluetooth support is enabled in this device (which is the usual case for portable devices), other nearby WiFi/Bluetooth enabled devices within the communication range are able to connect to the host device which runs a local instance of Vesuvius (let’s call it child instance). One of the important features of the portable app is the data synchronization of missing/found persons with the statically deployed Vesuvius instance (let’s call it parent instance) whenever a stable network connection is established between the child instance and the parent instance.

Download Portable App

User Guide

You can view video tutorials on how to use Vesuvius Portable App

Why do we need a portable version of Vesuvius?

Sahana Vesuvius can be deployed on a server which is connected to Internet to support disaster preparedness and response in family reunification and hospital triage, enabling capture of photos, exchange of data across facilities for use in catastrophic situations. However, a major limitation is that web based applications are inherently dependent on the Internet connectivity and thus requires a stable end-to-end network connection to function properly. But unfortunately once a particular area has been struck by a disaster, the public communication infrastructure (Internet, mobile operator networks, land-lines) is the first go offline or be non-responsive (or least responsive) due to physical damages or mainly because of over flooded traffic. This challenging situation poses a serious problem for field officers working on disaster relief operations that rely on Vesuvius platform to coordinate their efforts effectively and efficiently.

The portable app for Vesuvius aims to tackle this problem by providing the ability to deploy local Vesuvius instances dynamically on (WiFi/Bluetooth enabled) portable devices. Once a portable instance has been deployed, users can work on Vesuvius without having the need for global connectivity which is ideal for field officers to carry out their tasks during the initial stage of disaster. Also any nearby WiFi/Bluetooth enabled devices are able to connect to the local instance and work on Vesuvius without any Internet connection. This feature allows field officers to exploit opportunistic contacts with the public and also to set up small groups of task forces that work on a local Vesuvius instance.

Tools Used

  • PStart version 2.11 for Windows
  • Uniform Server version 7.1.15 for Windows
  • MySQL version 5.5.18
  • PHP version 5.3.8
  • Apache version 2.2.20
  • phpMyAdmin version 4.03
  • Notepad++ Portable
  • AutoHotKey version 1.1.10.01 for Windows

Development Environment

Another objective of the Vesuvius portable app is to create a quick development environment for developers. We have included several tools for developers as well. We have bundled Notepad++ Portable which can be used as an IDE with some useful plugins.

  • DBGp plugin

You can debug your PHP code using this Notepad++ plugin. When you set a breakpoint on the IDE, the IDE sends a ‘breakpoint_set’ command to XDebug/Web Server, the server responds with a XML response. Click here for more information.

  • SnippetPlus

Code snippet and Surround With plugin for Notepad++. Write snippet name and replace it with real code or select some text and surround it with something like IF,TryCatch,Table,Div or whatever.Will give you hint if you don't remember the snippet name.

  • Git plugin

This is a convenient way to commit files from notepad++ itself.

Screenshots

Further Help and Suggestions

If you need any further help or suggestions for improvement of the portable app please mail the Sahana users mailing list or contact ravihansa3000[at]gmail.com. However for general Sahana application queries please use the respective mailing list.


QR Code
QR Code agasti:vesuvius:portable_app (generated for current page)