Hello Community!
Content packages are now available in the dev3 environment and you can test it in the main branch of the distro repo! This new feature significantly enhances our ability to share and manage metadata across different OpenMRS instances.
What is a Content Package?
In the context of OpenMRS, a distribution encompasses both the OpenMRS platform and its various modules. Essential to these components is metadata, which includes a wide array of elements such as:
- Concept dictionaries
- Form schemas
- Encounter types
- Visit types
- Reports
- Programs
Content packages offer a streamlined way to share this metadata, allowing configurations to be packaged and transferred between different OpenMRS distributions. For example, a content package could include forms specifically designed to capture disease-related data, such as for HIV or COVID-19. Along with these forms, the package would also contain the necessary concepts and configurations to effectively display them in the EMR.
How to Use a Content Package
Content packages are distributed as ZIP files available in Maven repositories, making them easy to integrate with distributions managed by the OpenMRS SDK. To include a content package in your distribution, simply modify the distro.properties file by adding the relevant line. For example, to use reference application content package, you would add:
content.referenceapplication=1.0.0-SNAPSHOT
Ex: this is how the content package is defined in the distro.properties file of the reference application: distro.properties
How to create your own content package?
Feel free to use this repository as a starting point. Just follow the directory structure and add your own configuration files. Once you’re done, you can publish it as a Maven artifact.
After making these additions, rebuild your distribution as usual, and the content will be at your fingertips!We have also migrated a set of metadata from the Reference Application to OpenMRS Content Reference Application content package. The dev3 environment is already utilizing this content package. And you can use multiple content packages as well.
Learn More
For more detailed information, check out our documentation here: OpenMRS Content Packages Templates. Special thanks go to @ibacher, and everyone who worked on making this a reality!
And for a fun twist, I recently created a podcast discussing content packages using Google Notebook LLM! You can give it a listen: