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Tim Chater

2006-Oct-16 10:39 UTC

Double data entry

I''m developing database systems for clinical trials using Ruby on
Rails.
Some trials require ''double data entry'' as a form of
validation; I need
to incorporate this into my system and am having difficulties. My plan 
would be to have it work as follows:

- Once a new record has been created, alongside the usual
''edit'' option
there would be a ''second data entry'' option.
- On clicking this, a ''blank'' record would appear (as if a new
record) -
but when submitted, this form data would be compared with the existing 
record on the database.
- If any differences were found this form would be displayed again with 
the relevant fields highlighted (à la validation, with the accompanying 
text showing the previous values) and the user asked to confirm.
- After confirmation (or if the second input exactly matched the first 
initially) the reocrd would be saved and a flag will be set in the table 
that double data entry has been performed for that record.

Hopefully this could be handled in the same (edit) method by passing a 
parameter (data_entry_mode or something). Ideally the second version 
would not involve creating a new record in the database; any changes 
would simply be written over the top of the first (perhaps the second 
data entry values would be stored as session variables??).

Does anyone have any ideas on how best to accomplish this?

I apologise for the long and unusual nature of this query. Thank you for 
any thoughts.

-- 
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_Kevin

2006-Oct-16 12:03 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

On Oct 16, 6:39 am, Tim Chater
<rails-mailing-l...-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:> I''m developing database systems for clinical trials using Ruby on
Rails.
> Some trials require ''double data entry'' as a form of
validation; I need
> to incorporate this into my system and am having difficulties. My plan
> would be to have it work as follows:
>
> - Once a new record has been created, alongside the usual
''edit'' option
> there would be a ''second data entry'' option.
> - On clicking this, a ''blank'' record would appear (as if
a new record) -
> but when submitted, this form data would be compared with the existing
> record on the database.
> - If any differences were found this form would be displayed again with
> the relevant fields highlighted (à la validation, with the accompanying
> text showing the previous values) and the user asked to confirm.
> - After confirmation (or if the second input exactly matched the first
> initially) the reocrd would be saved and a flag will be set in the table
> that double data entry has been performed for that record.
>
> Hopefully this could be handled in the same (edit) method by passing a
> parameter (data_entry_mode or something). Ideally the second version
> would not involve creating a new record in the database; any changes
> would simply be written over the top of the first (perhaps the second
> data entry values would be stored as session variables??).
>
> Does anyone have any ideas on how best to accomplish this?
>
> I apologise for the long and unusual nature of this query. Thank you for
> any thoughts.
>
> --
> Posted viahttp://www.ruby-forum.com/.
Hi Tim,

First off, I have an interest in this sort of application myself.
Please contact me off-list if you would like additional help.

The proper way to do double entry rather depends on your workflow.
* Do you have the same person enter the data twice?
* Does the second entry happen at a different time, or do you want to
do it all in one form?

As a general rule, double entry makes for a bad user interface, but
there are times when it is necessary (password verifications show up a
lot).

In any event, one way to implement this would be through an
''edit'' like
action.

- record has been entered
- user invokes the ''verify'' action on the record.
- ''verify'' generates a blank form (much like a new item form)
but
passes the id of the record in a hidden field
- on submission, load the original object in memory
- cycle through all the attributes of the record looking for
differences.  Ignore at ''created_at'' like attributes.
- If all the relevant columns pass, then update the
''verified_at'' with
the timestamp of  when it passed the test.
- If not, then assign the ''errors'' for the record and
re-render the
form with the discrepancies highlighted.

_Kevin
www.sciwerks.com


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Tim Chater

2006-Oct-16 12:54 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

Hi Kevin
> First off, I have an interest in this sort of application myself.
> Please contact me off-list if you would like additional help.
Thank you. I expect I shall do so soon!
> * Do you have the same person enter the data twice?
No.
> * Does the second entry happen at a different time, or do you want to
> do it all in one form?
A different time. (The idea being that double data entry can be used as 
an extra for some forms in some studies - and perhaps only for a sample 
of the records, with a status flag to indicate if a given record has 
been entered twice.)
> In any event, one way to implement this would be through an
''edit'' like
> action.
> 
> - record has been entered
> - user invokes the ''verify'' action on the record.
> - ''verify'' generates a blank form (much like a new item
form) but
> passes the id of the record in a hidden field
> - on submission, load the original object in memory
> - cycle through all the attributes of the record looking for
> differences.  Ignore at ''created_at'' like attributes.
> - If all the relevant columns pass, then update the
''verified_at'' with
> the timestamp of  when it passed the test.
> - If not, then assign the ''errors'' for the record and
re-render the
> form with the discrepancies highlighted.
This is exactly the sort of process flow that I''m after! Now I just
need
to work out the code. I shall have a go, but any help on these pages 
would be appreciated (especially as, ideally, this might end up as a 
plugin so that there wouldn''t be the need to write the same code in 
every edit method!).

-- 
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Jonathan Viney

2006-Oct-17 04:53 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

Just a thought, my acts_as_modified plugin may be of use to you when looking
for differences between the records.

You could assign the new values to the original record then use
record.modified_attributes see any differences.

http://svn.viney.net.nz/things/rails/plugins/acts_as_modified

-Jonathan.

On 10/17/06, Tim Chater
<rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:>
>
> Hi Kevin
>
> > First off, I have an interest in this sort of application myself.
> > Please contact me off-list if you would like additional help.
>
> Thank you. I expect I shall do so soon!
>
> > * Do you have the same person enter the data twice?
>
> No.
>
> > * Does the second entry happen at a different time, or do you want to
> > do it all in one form?
>
> A different time. (The idea being that double data entry can be used as
> an extra for some forms in some studies - and perhaps only for a sample
> of the records, with a status flag to indicate if a given record has
> been entered twice.)
>
> > In any event, one way to implement this would be through an
''edit'' like
> > action.
> >
> > - record has been entered
> > - user invokes the ''verify'' action on the record.
> > - ''verify'' generates a blank form (much like a new
item form) but
> > passes the id of the record in a hidden field
> > - on submission, load the original object in memory
> > - cycle through all the attributes of the record looking for
> > differences.  Ignore at ''created_at'' like
attributes.
> > - If all the relevant columns pass, then update the
''verified_at'' with
> > the timestamp of  when it passed the test.
> > - If not, then assign the ''errors'' for the record
and re-render the
> > form with the discrepancies highlighted.
>
> This is exactly the sort of process flow that I''m after! Now I
just need
> to work out the code. I shall have a go, but any help on these pages
> would be appreciated (especially as, ideally, this might end up as a
> plugin so that there wouldn''t be the need to write the same code
in
> every edit method!).
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> >
>

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Tim Chater

2006-Oct-19 15:20 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

I''ve had a go at writing a verify method...

  def verify
    @subject = Subject.new
    @subject.id = params[:id]

    if request.post?
      @subject_original = Subject.find(params[:id])  #load original 
record
      changes = [] #array to store changes
      @confirm = true  #when form is submitted, change button to 
''Confirm''
      @subject_original.attributes.each do |key, value|
        if params[:subject][key]
          @transaction = record_transaction(''subjects'', key, 
@subject_original.id, value, params[:subject][key], value.class.to_s)
          changes << @transaction if @transaction   #write any changes 
into array
        end
      end

      case params[''commit'']
        when "Next" then
          for change in changes
            @subject.errors.add(change.field, change.old_value.to_s)
          end
        when "Confirm" then
          @subject_original.update_attributes(params[:subject])
          @subject_original.save
      end
    end
  end

This uses a method called ''record_transaction'' from my
application
controller to only add to the changes array if there has been a change. 
Jonathan - I''m sure that your plugin would be useful here for doing the
comparisons and building up the changes array instead of using 
record_transaction - can you give me any help as to how I''d fit it into
the code above?

When the verification form is submitted, the page is currently 
redisplayed with any differences shown as if they were validation 
errors. (And the ''next'' button changes to
''confirm'' so that the next
form submission writes to the DB.) Rather than validation errors, is 
there an easy way for me to write something such that I can do 
@subject.verifications.add(...), which would work a bit like the 
Automatic Rails validation, but, as well as highlighting fields with 
differences, display the old values next to each differing field?

Thanks.

-- 
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Jonathan Viney

2006-Oct-25 03:25 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

The docs should be enough:

http://svn.viney.net.nz/things/rails/plugins/acts_as_modified/lib/acts_as_modified.rb

But just quickly, you can do:

@subject = Subject.find(params[:id])
@subject.attributes = { :name => "New name" }

@subject.modified_attributes # { :name => "Old name" }
@subject.name_modified? # true
@subject.original_name # "Old Name"

@subject.modified? # true

Feel free to email me off-list if you want more assistance with the plugin.

-Jonathan.

On 10/20/06, Tim Chater
<rails-mailing-list-ARtvInVfO7ksV2N9l4h3zg@public.gmane.org>
wrote:>
>
> I''ve had a go at writing a verify method...
>
>   def verify
>     @subject = Subject.new
>     @subject.id = params[:id]
>
>     if request.post?
>       @subject_original = Subject.find(params[:id])  #load original
> record
>       changes = [] #array to store changes
>       @confirm = true  #when form is submitted, change button to
> ''Confirm''
>       @subject_original.attributes.each do |key, value|
>         if params[:subject][key]
>           @transaction = record_transaction(''subjects'',
key,
> @subject_original.id, value, params[:subject][key], value.class.to_s)
>           changes << @transaction if @transaction   #write any
changes
> into array
>         end
>       end
>
>       case params[''commit'']
>         when "Next" then
>           for change in changes
>             @subject.errors.add(change.field, change.old_value.to_s)
>           end
>         when "Confirm" then
>           @subject_original.update_attributes(params[:subject])
>           @subject_original.save
>       end
>     end
>   end
>
> This uses a method called ''record_transaction'' from my
application
> controller to only add to the changes array if there has been a change.
> Jonathan - I''m sure that your plugin would be useful here for
doing the
> comparisons and building up the changes array instead of using
> record_transaction - can you give me any help as to how I''d fit it
into
> the code above?
>
> When the verification form is submitted, the page is currently
> redisplayed with any differences shown as if they were validation
> errors. (And the ''next'' button changes to
''confirm'' so that the next
> form submission writes to the DB.) Rather than validation errors, is
> there an easy way for me to write something such that I can do
> @subject.verifications.add(...), which would work a bit like the
> Automatic Rails validation, but, as well as highlighting fields with
> differences, display the old values next to each differing field?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --
> Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.
>
> >
>

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Tim Chater

2006-Oct-25 15:01 UTC

head link

Re: Double data entry

Thanks Jonathan.

This has saved me several lines of code and works a treat! What an 
excellent plugin.

Tim

-- 
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