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Clinical setting is a peculiar and complex environment.
Coming to web application for a collaborative project, we usually face problems like these:

unclear and ever changing data structure and application requirements
medical-informatics worlds "mismatch"
complex and rich data structure, semantic, and workflow
health professionals are far from being "power users": user-friendly interface and simple application model needed
fast-paced working environment and "offline" collaborative groups
security and privacy issues

Simplicity is a complex matter.

Traditional approach is based on a relational database model. This works pretty good when you have clear and stable data structure, for example an epidemiological database for statistical analysis. It soon becomes a maintenance nightmare when data forms change fortnightly. Cdata tries to address these issues and aims to be a simple and flexible tool to build a clinical content repository and a web collaborative workspace.

Modules

Cdata has been modelled thinking of "information objects" that can be combined together at will, in a way similar to a paper-based office. The application has a pre-defined set of content type that can be connected together in a tree-like structure: one object can have only one "father" but an unlimited number of "children".

Currently Cdata supports the following content modules:

Database

Simply a container for patient data

Patient

A basic registration form, container for any kind of patient-related data forms and documents

Forms

A user-defined, template-generated (web interface) data form.

Currently available fields: text, integer, float, date (with calendar popup), textarea with/without HTML Editor, single/multiple select box (dropdown list, checkboxes or radio buttons)

Current functionality: error control (required, integer, float, regular expression, min, max), help text, tabs

Default or user-defined editing/visualization page template

Project
A container for project information and tasks (todo).

Todo

User-assigned task

File

Any kind of uploadable document (images, referrals, excel spreadsheets, etc.)

Web Page

Html page with editor that can be used for discussions, comments, articles, etc.

Link

A link to another web page or internal object

Event

Appointments, meetings, etc.

Application features

Admin functionalities

Management of information objects, users, access permissions
Web interface to create and modify form templates

User functionalities

Personal profile
Personal Bookmarks
Resource Subscription for email notification when content is added or updated

Form features

Field types supported
- Text
- Integer
- Float
- Date (with calendar popup)
- Textarea with/without HTML Editor
- Single/Multiple select box, as a dropdown list, checkboxes or radio buttons
- Label
Tabs
Error control: required, integer, float, min/max, regular expression
Help text
Unit of measure
Codes for lists: manual list, global lookup table, database query

Technical information and requirements

Development platform: Php 4/5 and Mysql
Open Source Tools used
- Code Igniter Framework
- YUI - Yahoo User Interface (Ajax functionalities)
- TinyMCE WYSIWYG Web Editor

The only requisite is having an Apache-PHP-MySql platform (Windows or Linux). Currently it has been tested only with PHP 5.1+ and MySql 5+.