Getting Started as a Newbie in OpenMRS community

Community
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Good morning, friends. Are you new to the OpenMRS community and eager to get started but feeling stuck? Kindly join the newbie meeting using this link https://meet.google.com/giq-msyx-orh from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EAT. See you there!

Note: The session is held every Monday and Wednesday from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM EAT.

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Kindly this is the agenda of the day Etherpad

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Hi Julie, how about today at 12pm? Do you have room for me?

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Oh, I am so sorry for the late reply! :yellow_heart: Kindly our calls are usually on Mondays and Wednesdays from 12 pm to 1 pm EAT. I really value having the whole team together during these times it’s such a great way to learn from each other and offer help when someone feels stuck.

I completely understand that the timing might sometimes overlap with our scheduled office work. To make sure no one feels blocked for too long, we can always use Slack to reach out for quick help from community members, or hop into the coffee break session for some support and friendly conversation. Otherwise hope to meet you in tomorrow’s session!

How to contribute as developer?
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Hello friends, our today Wednesday 13/8/2025 onboarding session is taking place on this link https://meet.google.com/ohz-jcxw-ktr . See you there!

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This pad contains what we discussed today. Kindly check by date.

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Hi dear, this is Ssekanyo Richard, am interested, please in case of any meetings please kindly inform me: ssekarich@gmail.com

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Hi @jwnasambu

Do you want us to add this to the events calendar? We can also have a designated zoom link so that we can record for those who cannot join and can watch later.

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Yes @beryl please add this to the events calendar. I am so sorry for not conducting you on time.

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Yes! Yes! . Good idea. I support it :white_check_mark:

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Kindly newbies our meeting will be on this link Launch Meeting - Zoom

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Good afternoon. please im new to openmrs. I just installed the version 2.5 but when i try to save any form (i.e. Vitals, admission, discharge etc. i get this error: Unexpected error, please contact your System Administrator. Can anyone help me out?

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Kindly “Unexpected error, please contact your System Administrator” is a generic catch-all. The real cause is usually in the OpenMRS logs.

Go to your OpenMRS server logs:

  • If you’re running with Tomcat, look in:

    <TOMCAT_HOME>/logs/catalina.out

    or

    <TOMCAT_HOME>/logs/openmrs.log

  • If you’re running via the SDK, check the log output in the console or in:

    ~/.OpenMRS/openmrs.log

  • Reproduce the issue (e.g., try saving vitals again), then immediately check the logs for the full stack trace. That’s where the exact error will be.

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Please this is the server log

root@bahmni:~# sudo tail -f /var/log/tomcat9/catalina.out [2025-09-10 21:47:01] [info] INFO - ChangeLogDetective.getUnrunLiquibaseUpdateFileNames(149) |2025-09-10T21:47:01,938| file ‘org/openmrs/liquibase/updates/liquibase-update-to-latest-2.5.x.xml}’ contains 0 un-run change sets [2025-09-10 21:47:02] [warning] Failed to restore the auto commit to true [2025-09-10 21:47:05] [info] Deployment of web application archive [/var/lib/tomcat9/webapps/openmrs.war] has finished in [754,683] ms [2025-09-10 21:47:06] [info] Deploying web application directory [/var/lib/tomcat9/webapps/ROOT] [2025-09-10 21:47:29] [info] At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time. [2025-09-10 21:47:29] [info] Deployment of web application directory [/var/lib/tomcat9/webapps/ROOT] has finished in [23,144] ms [2025-09-10 21:47:29] [info] Starting ProtocolHandler [“http-nio-8081”] [2025-09-10 21:47:30] [info] Server startup in [808291] milliseconds [2025-09-10 21:47:56] [info] WARN - OpenmrsJspServlet.rescanTldsIfNeeded(56) |2025-09-10T21:47:56,206| Rescanning TLDs [2025-09-10 21:48:23] [info] At least one JAR was scanned for TLDs yet contained no TLDs. Enable debug logging for this logger for a complete list of JARs that were scanned but no TLDs were found in them. Skipping unneeded JARs during scanning can improve startup time and JSP compilation time. [2025-09-10 21:50:48] [info] ERROR - PageController.handlePath(163) |2025-09-10T21:50:48,078| Couldn’t find a form

[2025-09-10 21:50:48] [info] java.lang.IllegalArgumentException: Couldn’t find a form

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Based on this error

OpenMRS is indicating the form you’re trying to open doesn’t exist in the database.

To fix this issue :

  1. Check the form table in the DB.

  2. Making sure htmlformentry and related modules are running.

  3. Importing or creating the missing forms Vitals, Admission, etc.

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please the form table is in my database and htmlformentry modules are running

mysql> SELECT form_id, name, version, published FROM form ORDER BY name; ±--------±----------------------------------±--------±----------+ | form_id | name | version | published | ±--------±----------------------------------±--------±----------+ | 3 | Admission (Simple) | 1.0 | 1 | | 20 | Admission Form (Custom) | 1.0 | 1 | | 4 | Discharge (Simple) | 1.0 | 1 | | 21 | Discharge Form (Custom) | 1.0 | 1 | | 22 | Transfer Form (Custom) | 1.0 | 1 | | 5 | Transfer Within Hospital (Simple) | 1.0 | 1 | | 2 | Visit Note | 1.0 | 1 | | 1 | Vitals | 1.0 | 1 | ±--------±----------------------------------±--------±----------+ 8 rows in set (0.00 sec)

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Thanks for the confirmation. That means the error isn’t because the table is empty, but because OpenMRS was asked to load a form by an identifier it couldn’t resolve. Have you tried confirming the form UUID or ID being requested?

Using this command select form_id, name, uuid from form; because the module might be calling a form by UUID, but your forms have different UUIDs hence the error.

Kindly if you are using Bahmni check in /var/www/bahmni_config/openmrs/apps/forms/ JSON files like vitals.json, admission.json to ensure the "uuid" matches with what’s in the Database.

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Please im not using bahmni,im using JAVA

mysql> select form_id, name, uuid from form; ±--------±----------------------------------±-------------------------------------+ | form_id | name | uuid | ±--------±----------------------------------±-------------------------------------+ | 1 | Vitals | a000cb34-9ec1-4344-a1c8-f692232f6edd | | 2 | Visit Note | c75f120a-04ec-11e3-8780-2b40bef9a44b | | 3 | Admission (Simple) | d2c7532c-fb01-11e2-8ff2-fd54ab5fdb2a | | 4 | Discharge (Simple) | b5f8ffd8-fbde-11e2-8ff2-fd54ab5fdb2a | | 5 | Transfer Within Hospital (Simple) | a007bbfe-fbe5-11e2-8ff2-fd54ab5fdb2a | | 20 | Admission Form (Custom) | 0dc8fa34-8d0a-11f0-8777-1062e5857bfc | | 21 | Discharge Form (Custom) | 59c88d21-8d0a-11f0-8777-1062e5857bfc | | 22 | Transfer Form (Custom) | ae4fbf9a-8d0a-11f0-8777-1062e5857bfc | ±--------±----------------------------------±-------------------------------------+ 8 rows in set (0.64 sec)

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  1. Check for the UUID the system is looking for at the URL in your browser when you try to open the form.

    /openmrs/htmlformentryui/htmlform/enterHtmlFormWithEncounter.page?formUuid=XXXX confirm if formUuid=XXXX exists in your table.

  2. Or, if you’re calling it from Java code, check the line where you call:

    Form form = formService.getFormByUuid(“some-uuid”);

    If "some-uuid" is not in your DB, you’ll hit this error.

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Please how do i do that. im not a programmer