customise messages

Hello team,

I’m currently trying to customise an OpenMRS installation so that it is usable within the aged care sector. Within the aged care sector, we utilise different terminology, such as referring to a patient as a client. I’d like to customise the application to reflect these changes. However, it’s unclear to me how I can do that as:

  1. I’ve not been able to find the messages.properties file.
  2. The Custom Message Module shows “There was an error starting the module: Custom Message,” and on the line within the “manage modules” table, there is simply the message “Error starting! Click for details” without a link.

Any assistance with this would be appreciated.

Fyi I am using Last Build: 2024-06-18 15:43 Version: 2.6.6 Build 2aeebf of the reference application

Thanks again.

Regards Olie

The @ICRC has done something similar where the word “patient” is changed to “HSU” (health services user) all throughout OpenMRS.

Hopefully someone from their team will be able to share the steps to make this happen? The tips and tricks will apply to O2 and O3.

Hi Olie,

Regarding your question on customizing OpenMRS for the aged care sector, here’s a detailed guide based on our experience at ICRC:

  1. Messages.properties File:
  • For OpenMRS 2.x, you typically locate the messages.properties file in your distribution package and update it with the new values, label by label. This file will override the labels from other modules.

    Core Module Example: If you want to change a label initialized in the core module, find the label key here:

Extract the key and add it to your messages.properties file in your distro. It will override the original.

  1. Concepts: To change concept labels, locate the concept and update the label, e.g., in the reference application:
  1. OpenMRS 3.x:
  • For changing labels in the front-end modules, use the translation overrides property for that module. Here’s an example:
  1. Ampath Forms Schema: Create an ampathformstranslations file if you need to change a label in the Ampath forms schema, similar to this example: openmrs-distro-referenceapplication/distro/configuration/ampathformstranslations/Ampath POC adult return visit form_translations_en-core_demo.json at 5e4f2c8a1333261d86ef37a2b60f33bdd76cc6ea · openmrs/openmrs-distro-referenceapplication · GitHub

I hope this covers most of the scenarios for customizing your OpenMRS installation. Let me know if you need further assistance!

Kind regards,

ICRC Team

CC: @frederic.deniger @icrc.psousa @luis.oliveira

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thanks Team - i’ll have a crack at it