Team Algol

Team Algol : Android Messenger application for DHIS2

Group members

• Vladislav Georgiev Alfredov <vladisla@ifi.uio.no>
• Tomáš Livora <tomasliv@student.matnat.uio.no>
• Mathias Ciarlo Thorstensen <mathiact@ifi.uio.no>
• Hans Fredrik Fahle <hansffa@student.matnat.uio.no>
• Jiader Chou <jiaderc@ifi.uio.no>

Summary of Requirements

1. Reduce data usage
   • Implement local data storage
   • Implement local data caching
2. Redesign user interface to follow Material design guidelines

Architecture

1. Android application
   • REST calls to DHIS2 for authentication and user information
   • XMPP messaging
   • Google cloud services communication ?
2. DHIS2 instance
3. XMPP server (previously: https://github.com/niclashalvorsen/DHISOpenfire and:https://github.com/niclashalvorsen/Openfire-DHISAuthentication)
4. Google Cloud services on DHIS2 server ? (https://github.com/niclashalvorsen/DHIS2-GCMSupport)

Project details

Importing to android studio:

1. Open android studio.
2. Click import project
3. Select Gradle project.
4. Find the "build.gradle" file inside the app folder and select it.

(This way you use the gradle plugin from android studio)

Details about how we will solve the task, and component-like view of it go here...

1. Go over the libraries and decide which is worth using: (time to implement the functionality ourselves + testing vs the resource cost of using the library + going over the library interface
   • asmack.jar (Xmpp code redesign to comply with maven): https://github.com/igniterealtime/Smack/wiki/Smack-4.1-Readme-and-Upgrade-Guide
   • reactiveX (Observables): https://github.com/ReactiveX/RxAndroid
   • butterknife (activities & ui): http://jakewharton.github.io/butterknife/
   • Material Design (UI ): https://www.google.com/design/spec/material-design/introduction.html
   • ormLite (sql orm for android): http://ormlite.com/sqlite_java_android_orm.shtml
   • DHIS2 Android sdk: https://github.com/dhis2/dhis2-android-sdk
2. Rest interface/layer redesign.
   • Rest Session storage? Use Persistance layer or Cache layer ?
   • How would the rest calls hit/miss the cache?
   • Is the DHIS2 api satisfactory ?
3. Persistance layer
   • Use the OrmLite library ?
   • Store data on app start/exit
   • Provide interface for the Rest Layer
4. Cache layer.
   • If requested object in memory return it. If not use persistance layer to get it. + pre-fetch bulk data from disk? If not on disk return null, informing that it is not cached.
   • Load chunks of cache in memory ? What happens if the app runs on really old android device that has very little ram ?
5. Go over all the ui and redo it to use Material design. Maybe use butterknife for activities as well ?
6. Test the app. Test all the corner cases.
   • Unit tests on android : https://developer.android.com/training/activity-testing/activity-unit-testing.html

Work schedule

1. Milestone (8th November)
   • Analysis of previous solution
   • Work planning according to the findings
2. Milestone (22nd November)
   • Use log in screen provided by DHIS2 Android SDK, update REST API calls to get users, use ReactiveX library and reduce the number of calls and amount of data transfered
   • Find suitable XMPP server and get it work
   • Update XMPP client library (Smack) and add support for offline mode
   • Design and implement a solution for local storage of user information and messages
   • Improve GUI by using Butter Knife and Material design
3. Milestone (4th December)
   • Write unit tests for every component of the application
   • Stabilize the application
   • Measure traffic usage

Group organization

• Source code
  • dhis2msg organization on GitHub
  • DHISmessenger repository forked from Niclas Halvorsen
• Weekly meetings
  • Group 1 Tuesday 10:15 - 12:00
  • Possible second weekly meeting if needed
• Instant messaging
  • Slack service for group comunication

Assignment text

Can be found at: https://www.uio.no/studier/emner/matnat/ifi/INF5750/h15/group-projects/messenger-app/index.html