Here is a summary requested by many of you.
It turned out that the topic recently has been discussed on the ammrl
(http://www.chem.unl.edu/ammrl/archives/) , a summary from one of the
members of this group was kindly provided and is included as the top
portion of this posting:
-----------------------------------------------------
>Frode,
>
>The netscape calendar server should be able to work for you.
>I haven't run it yet, but plan to try this winter. This subject
>is of interest to many managers and is discussed from time to
>time on ammrl. The latest discussion included the following
>posts:
>
>Date: Thu, 24 Sep 98 14:05:50 -0700
>From: allan@KERSHAW.usc.edu
>What you are seeking is very possible. Check out my page at
>
>http://nmrnet.usc.edu/
>
>Click on the instrument signup links and you will see my solution. What I
>have is probably a lot more than you described, but you can see what is
>possible. Now, how to do it. First you will need access to a web server.
>Most web administrators will not give you access to their servers due to
>some very real security concerns. There is a server available as freeware
>which will run on many platforms call APACHE. Check out their page at
>
>http://www.apache.org/
>
>Setting up a small server system is not too difficult. That is what you
>connected to at my site. Mine is running on OS/2. Next you will need to
>set up a script program. These may be written in several different
>programming languages, such as C or PERL. I use REXX which is the OS/2
>scripting language. From here on you will need to set up your data base
>and the programs that will access it. Permission protocols will probably
>need to be established to prevent unauthorized access.
>
>This is the basic system. Implementing it can be more complicated depending
>on your ability to write your own programs. I can give you more details
>about how my system works if you would like, just let me know.
>
>Allan Kershaw
>Director of NMR Instrumentation
>University of Southern California
>213 740-6376
>email allan@kershaw.usc.edu
>WWW http://nmrnet.usc.edu
>
>
>From: "John A. Anderson" <art@uic.edu>
>Subject: Re: HTML-script and Spectrometer Time Table
>
>I have developed a web-based solution for scheduling instruments.
>I have one for scheduling a walk-on atomic absorption (AA) spectrometer
>and have almost finished the one for our NMR spectrometers.
>You can check out the one for our AA spectrometer at:
> http://www.rrc.uic.edu/FACILITIES/AASL/
>
>The AA schedule is fairly simple. It has NO software enforced signup rules,
>all the users are trained to change atomizitation sources (furnace, flame,
>atomic vapor accessory) so there are no probe changes to worry about, and
>it is password protected for modifing but not for viewing. All the users
>have their own "login" names and passwords. They can change their
>passwords on-line.
>
>The NMR schedule software is more complicated by having to accommodate
>probe changes, signup rules (not implimented), more signup slots,
>when to post the schedule, etc... It has a seperate NMR lab manager's web
>page for doing these things.
>
>If you want to roll your own... As Alan said you will probably
>have to have your own server as most web managers will usally not allow
>their server to do CGI scripting. We use a PC running LINUX and the
>Apache web server. I have done most the CGI scripting with Perl. You will
>need to learn a programming/scripting language if you don't already know one.
>You will also need to learn about HTML tags, HTML tables that are created
>on the fly, HTML forms, HTML parsing of form input, e.g. POST and GET and
>a lot of other things.
>
>Feel free to contact me if you need more info.
>
>--art
>Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1998 18:23:50 +0200
>From: Matthias Findeisen <findeis@rz.uni-leipzig.de>
>Hi everybody,
>
>I got a lot of answers concerning my question for booking software
>(thank you all !!).
>In my oppinion this gives me two hints: many labs are interested in such
>an solution, and many attempts were made for solution.
>That's why I believe to public some answers (sorry, without permissions
>of the owners, but address and contents shortened - flames to my
>address!) by attachment of a text file.
>The first 3 proposals are commercial ones, the other self made
>solutions.=20
>As far as I understand it is an basic demands for all programmes to have
>an own web server (i.e. you should have root permissions on that host).
>And: to configure you must something understand of higher level
>languages (at least by the non commercial programmes).
>
>My be that one of you develope an easy-to-use software for noncommercial
>free use. Let us know.
>
>Greetings !
>
>It seems like a calendar server (Netscape has a free one) would
>be ideal for this.
>
>----------------------------------------------------------
>I have used claris filemaker pro to do this. version 4 has built in web
>support for this.
>
>------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>Check out the www based calander called ICAL from Brown Bear Software:
>
>http://www.brownbearsw.com/ical/
>
>( !!! very good hint !! M.F.)
>
>---------------------------------------------------------------
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> --------------------
>
>
>I'm currently tidying up and annotating our web-based NMR spectrometer
>scheduling software, and I plan to make it available by Sept 27 or the end
>of the month (depending upon how the weekend goes). I've had a fair
>number of others ask for a copy of this, but I wanted to make it more
>user-friendly before offering it to anyone. If you're interested, I can
>send you an email when I get this done.
>
>An older demo version of our scheduling software is available on our web
>site at http://nmr.chem.indiana.edu. This version is older, and the new
>version has a few extra features and some bugs that are fixed. I also
>plan to update the demo version by next week.
>
>Thanks,
>
>Marty Pagel mpagel@indiana.edu
>
>-----------------------------------------------
>
>ask the folks at www.ccrc.uga.edu
>thay wrote something like that in java, but I dont know if they are giving it
>away for free.
>roushan@ccrc.uga.edu is the person you should contact.
>
>-----------------------------------------------------
>
> We have a web-based scheduling system that is working reasonably
>well; try www.ccrc.uga.edu, go to 'Analytical Services', then 'NMR
>scheduling' to take a look . We are working on a more graphical system
>using java which will be ready in a few months. If you want to discuss
>the methods, contact Saied Roushanzamir at roushan@ccrc.uga.edu.
>
>--------------------------------------------------------
>
>You might want to take a look at kshSchedule , located at
>
>http://members.xoom.com/dfrench/kshschedule.html
>
>It's written in Korn shell of all things, but the source code is available
>and the pac
>kage is free. It has a few things that would probably have to be modified
>for your
>(or at least my) needs, such as: the passwords are not encrypted, anyone
>can create a
> new database, and just basically assumes that everyone is friendly and
>there's
>no need of much security. On the up side it should run on almost any UNIX
>box and the
> problems I mentioned are easy to fix if you have a few hours and some
>html experience.
>
>--
>Karl Vermillion Director, NMR Facility
>
>----- -------------------------------------------------
>
>If you are using sun computers, you can create an account for each
>spectometer and permit authorized users to change appointments. This is the
>system we were using until recently. There is even software for a PC that
>lets you access the sun's calendars.
>
>We recently started migrating to PC's for all but NMR data processing and
>have found that Microsoft Outlook is an excellent way for groups to share
>calendars.
>Much more convenient than sun's calendar manager.
>
>Email: PeterRinaldi@uakron.edu
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> About your request into whether anyone has an HTML system for
>reserving
>time on the spectrometer. Here at UC Davis, we have a combination of .cgi
>and .html files set up to do this job. The program itself is a modified
>version of a calendar program, but it does the job well. Users can go in
>and select a day and see all the people who are signed up to use the
>machine. They can then select an open time slot and reserve a time. I
>just setup a demonstration page of what the program looks like. You are
>welcome to reserve times and see how the system works(that's what I set up
>this page for). The address of the page is
>
>http://www-chem.ucdavis.edu/cgi-bin/nmr/demo/app.cgi?pass
>
>If you like what you see, let me know and I can send you the .cgi and .html
>files that run the program. Or if you have any questions feel free to ask.
> Hope this helps
>
>Ben Palmer
>UCD Chemistry Help Desk
>chemweb@chem.ucdavis.edu
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> As I promised at the AMMRL meeting in Asilomar, I have prepared a copy
>of my NMR reservation software for anonymous ftp. This package is now
>available as
> ftp.tamu.edu:/pub/Tools/NMR/reserve.tar.gz
>Steve Silber s-silber@tamu.edu
>
>David Vander Velde (University of Kansas, dave@kunmr.chem.ukans.edu) has a
>very nice package (KISS) running in his lab. Written in Pascal, requires a
>DEC-VMS workstation, networking involved VT-100 emulation. The program is
>freely available.
>I think this has been rewritten for other platform.
>
>dave scott
>iowa state university
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>I was forwarded your e-mail concerning a reservation system by our NMR
>manager. We have recently implemented a web-based time table. It was
>written using C, but users access the program by using forms on a
>HTML web-page. It has a user database, so you have to have a username
>and password to add or remove time (this could of course be set-up
>for groups or individuals). The general use only allows reservations
>a day in advance, though our manager can make reservations as far ahead
>as he likes. The program is also set-up to handle multiple machines,
>with a separate reservations for each NMR.
>
>If you want to take a look at how our system works, you can access it via
>"http://nmr-central.chem.uh.edu/". Follow either the QE or the AMX links
>and then the "view reservation times" submit button.
>
>If you like how this works, I can send you a copy of the source code with
>some documentation. You would have to modify the code to suit your needs,
>but it might be a useful start, especially the code for parsing the html
>forms sent to the program.
>
>John Hazelrigg
>---------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>I have developed a web-based solution for scheduling instruments.
>I have one for scheduling a walk-on atomic absorption (AA) spectrometer
>and have almost finished the one for our NMR spectrometers.
>You can check out the one for our AA spectrometer at:
> http://www.rrc.uic.edu/FACILITIES/AASL/
>
>The AA schedule is fairly simple. It has NO software enforced signup rules,
>all the users are trained to change atomizitation sources (furnace, flame,
>atomic vapor accessory) so there are no probe changes to worry about, and
>it is password protected for modifing but not for viewing. All the users
>have their own "login" names and passwords. They can change their
>passwords on-line.
>
>The NMR schedule software is more complicated by having to accommodate
>probe changes, signup rules (not implimented), more signup slots,
>when to post the schedule, etc... It has a seperate NMR lab manager's web
>page for doing these things.
>
>-------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> My daughter has worked out a data submission page by which the local
>Yach Racing Committee's can enter date into a HTML table and then go
>back and edit this table if mystakes were made or changes need to be
>done.
>
>These are a collection or PERL scripts that work off of two or three
>HTML pages with tables.
>
>You can contact here via email at lisa@nitrogen.nmr.hawaii.edu. Her
>name is Lisa and she would probably be willing to email you those
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1998 13:55:45 +0200
>From: klaas dijkstra <M.F.J.Dijkstra@chem.rug.nl>
>Organization: Univerity Groningen, The Netherlands
>
>In response to the question of Matthias Findeisen concerning available
>booking systems on NMR spectrometers we have just finished tidying up
>our web-based scheduling system.
>
>It runs now for a few years and it works very well.
>The author of the program is Henk Druiven. (H.C.G.Druiven@chem.rug.nl)
>
>All the programs are writen in Perl5 and placed in one directory.
>We have tested the booking system on a Silicon Graphics Iris
>machine, a LINUX machine and on a PC running with the Sambar
>4.1 web server.
>
>A demo version can be run at:
> http://www.nmr.chem.rug.nl/service
>
>A copy of the software can also be download from this site.
>-----
>Klaas Dijkstra
>
>--
>klaas dijkstra Biophysical Chem.
>email: K.Dijkstra@chem.rug.nl Nyenborgh 4
>tel : (31)50-3634328 9747 AG Groningen
>fax : (31)50-3634800 The Netherlands
>
>
>hth,
>
>dave scott
>iowa state university
>515-294-4057
-------------------
-------------------
Other responses to my question:
-------------------
I have an intranet based booking system which uses PERL, and runs on an
old sgi. It would need some changing to add permissions to it, but if
you get no further responces (I do believe there are quite a few systems
around now) get back to me, and I can discuss it further.
Paul Graupner
Dow AgroSciences
Indianapolis
Tel (317) 337 3496
prgraupner@dowagro.com
-------------------------
hi Frode,
we have an on-going project that fits your needs, unfortunately, and
due to the time our programmer has to devote to alternative military
service tasks, it has got delayed altough it should be completed by
early next year (I seem to remember that the due date for the
submission of projects is some time next February...).
Briefly, all information is stored in a SQL database (mSQL) that can
be remotely/locally accessed via Netscape or any other web browser,
at a certain web address. The program is being written in Java, obvious
choice for the applets, and uses JDBC to access the database daemon.
Access is restricted by means of username/password, and data transfer
is encrypted (or will be ;-) for privacy&security reasons.
The program will (should) handle,
1. users administration (I thinks it's finished)
2. booking time at the different spectrometers (finished?)
3. accounting and invoicing (almost finished?)
and, should be easy to adapt to your needs.
Last, we will probably make it freely available under the GNU license,
though the last decission hasn't been taken as of now. In any case,
if you are interested in it, it could contact the author and his
supervisor to clarify the license terms and to know what's the current
status of the program (and a tempative date for the final release)
> From frode.rise@kjemi.uio.no Mon Nov 9 15:37:00 1998
>
> We are currently considering making an "electronic" booking system for
> our NMR spectrometers...
already in our project
> We would also have a terminal/monitor close to the entrance of the NMR
> lab(s) displaying all lists simultaneously and the lists should be
> updated in real time when someone does a change to any of the lists.
should be easy to implement, though it's not in our TODO list
> Certain restrictions would of course apply, minutes and hours and total
> booking time in a certain time interval as well as how far into the
> future you are allowed to book the routine instruments.
some restrictions already implemented (some users aren't granted access
to certain spectrometers), others could/should be easy to implement
> Our computing people/programmers wants to know if this task already has
> been accomplished somewhere in the world. They would of course prefer
> to copy of an already existing solution if possible.
whenever it's finished
> Thanks for all and any suggestions!
> Frode Rise
Best regards,
Miquel
Miquel E Cabanas ---------------------------------------------------
Servei d'Espectroscopia de RMN (SeRMN) i Dept. de Bioquimica i
Biologia i Biologia Molecular (BBM) - Univ. Autonoma de Barcelona
Edifici Cs. Cerdanyola del Valles, 08193. Catalunya - Spain
(SeRMN) Tel: 34 93 581 1947 - 2291 Fax: 34 93 581 2291
(BBM) Tel: 34 93 581 1707 - 2154 Fax: 34 93 581 1264
e-mail: miquel@proton.uab.es
------------------------------------------o-oo--ooo---ooo--oo-o-----
Dear Frode, you might want to check out the scheduling system we have in
use at UCDAVIS, Davis California. IT has most of the features you asked
for except for an easy user erase of time already reserved. You can
actually try out this scheduling software since we have a sample program
running just for this purpose. Adress: http://www-chem.ucdavis.edu/ Paul
Bruins
----------------------
I have had a scheduling program running on a Sun computer for several
years. It is text-based, so only a telnet connection or directly
attached terminal is needed. It is written in c, and would need to be
compiled on another system; a few system-specific things are compiled
into the program (e.g., and names and numbers of the instruments, and
the maximum time ahead users can schedule time). It is a little
idiosyncratic, as it expects login names in the form we use, which
means a five or six letter code, the first three letters of which
identify the professor and the second two or three the individual
user. Anyone may reserve empty 10 minute slots, providing the
(configurable) rules permit it, and providing they are listed in the
users list for that instrument. Anyone may delete their slots (before
the time arrives) and also the slots of anyone in their group (same
first three letters). Our administrators have id's starting with
"nmr" and they can delete anyone's slots, can make reservations under
another name, and are not bound by the various restrictions on number
of slots and time ahead that affect other users.
Unfortunately, it is all fairly un-polished, but it is a pretty simple
program and anyone who knows c can probably follow it. I have only
had success in compiling it on Solaris (and earlier under SunOS);
efforts to run it with OpenBSD or NetBSD did not work (I got program
to compile, but not to run). Another Sys V would probably work
better. It has one bug, which I mean to fix sometime, but have never
gotten around to: the week after the shift to daylight savings time,
the file for that week gets the name of the previous Saturday, instead
of the Sunday (the normal name). This just means that I have to be
careful getting billing information for that period, and use the
Saturday name instead of the Sunday one for that week.
I have been thinking of converting the program to a perl script, so it
would be more portable and more easily modified, but it is not very
high on my list of priorities, since the present one works okay.
I would be glad to send the code to you as a gzipped tar file (mime
attachment); it might give you a starting point even if some aspects
of our setup were unsuitable for you. Let me know if you are
interested or have other questions.
-- Steve Philson philson@nmr.chem.umn.edu Director NMR Lab 612-626-0297 Chemistry Dept. University of Minnesota----------------------
About 6 months ago, an electronic booking system was implemented here at UCDavis. It is not perfect, but it does most things you ask for. The system does not have a realtime update feature, and it relies on the honesty of the users with regard to time limits and bookings in advance, but these work well (here at least). If you want to have a look at the site and a demo (the 'Recharge #' is the grant number of the user), look at http://www-chem.ucdavis.edu/nmr/index.html. You can contact me, or perhaps the maintainers of the site (chemweb@chem.ucdavis.edu) for any further info. Hope this helps, Roger -----------------------
I do not know whether this will help, Frode, but here is the website of Marian Buszko who runs NMR machines operated via internet. He even offered me to run an experiment on their machine in Florida, with me sitting right at my desk in Germany:
Marian Lech Buszko University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 department: microbiology & cell science,uf
http://www.ufl.edu/~arabian/ or http://www.ufl.edu/new-contact.html
Good luck,
Siggi
+----------------------------------- | Siegfried M. Schoberth (PhD) | Institute of Biotechnology 1 | Research Center Juelich (FZJ) | D-52425 Juelich/Germany | Voice: +49-2461-61-5568 | Fax: +49-2461-61-3870 | Email: s.schoberth@fz-juelich.de +-----------------------------------
> We have an automated booking system running in our department. Access > is via a web browser. You can access it yourself at > http://chem4823.usask.ca/booking.html. Using the name 'guest' you can look > at the setup but not actually do any booking. > > I was thinging of making this program generally available to the nmr > community in the near future but now is as good a time as any. The program > is written in perl and runs as a cgi program through the browser. As far > as I can tell all of the major bugs have been worked out (we have been > using it for almost a year now). > > If there is any interest please let me know and I'll make the source > code generally available. >
The source and instructions (such as they are) are now available via the web. Point your browser at http://chem4823.usask.ca/schedule.html.
Keith Brown Department of Chemistry University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
------------------------------------------------- As seen from the above messages several solutions to my question have been implemented: The following three solutions seems to be especially attractive for our needs in Oslo:
http://chem4823.usask.ca/booking.html
http://nmr-central.chem.uh.edu/
Frode
---------------------------------------------------- Frode Rise Department of Chemistry University of Oslo P.O. Box 1033 Blindern N-0315 Oslo Norway