This is a Django web interface for pyxform (the xlsform converter for ODK Collect).

Installation

• Setup a Django server and project:

Some useful links:

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/intro/install/

http://www.robotmedia.net/2011/04/how-to-create-an-amazon-ec2-instance-with-apache-php-and-mysql-lamp/

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/howto/deployment/wsgi/

https://code.djangoproject.com/wiki/django_apache_and_mod_wsgi#dj_survey.wsgi

https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/1.4/ref/django-admin/#django-admin-startproject

In my case, using an apache server that was also running a php site, I ended up having to mess around with the httpd.conf file. This is what I ended up with.

• Install the dependencies:

apt-get install openjdk-6-jre python-setuptools git-core
easy_install pip 

• Additional dependencies:

These were not in the original instructions, but the pip install fails with many warnings if these are not executed. Furthermore, the development version of python seems to be required when working with the lxml extension:

apt-get install gcc
apt-get install libxml2-dev
apt-get install libxslt-dev
apt-get install python2.6-dev

• Download this repo and install the requirements:

cd [your Django project directory]
git clone git://github.com/UW-ICTD/pyxform_interface.git
pip install -r pyxform_interface/requirements.pip

• Make the following changes to setup.py:

  If 'django.middleware.csrf.CsrfViewMiddleware' is in MIDDLEWARE_CLASSES remove it. Warning: this can cause issues for other apps you are running.

  Add 'pyxform_interface' to INSTALLED_APPS

• Add this line to the bottom of urls.py (in your Django project directory):

urlpatterns += patterns('', url(r'^xlsform/', include('pyxform_interface.urls')))

• If using mod_wsgi add this to wsgi.py:

sys.path.append('Your Django project directory path here')

• When you are done reset the server:

#This path varies by server
/etc/init.d/apache2 restart

Maintenance

Forms are stored in the /tmp directory, and may need to be periodically removed to free up disk space. This doesn't need to happen very often. AWS instances come with an ~8GB drive mounted. tmpreaper can be used to remove older forms that are unlikely to be accessed.

Updating the underlying pyxform/xlsform library

To update the xlsform library follow these steps:

#cd to the pyxform_interface directory
cd ~/django/xlsform/xlsform/pyxform_interface
#install the latest version of pyxform from the repository listed in requirements.pip
sudo pip install -r requirements.pip
#restart apache for changes to take effect
sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 graceful

The UW-ICTD pyxform repository will be used for the update. This can be set to another repository in the requirements.pip file.

Additional Notes:

It is possible to configure Django to email error reports.