Developers

For outside developers who wish to learn our organization and internal programming policies, this page can help. It can also be useful when creating a Plug-in.

Warning!! Code downloaded using methods listed on this page is NOT suitable for use in a live setting. A database using such code will be unable to upgrade later to a newer version. Specifically, any database version with a "0" build will NEVER be able to be upgraded to any newer version.

IDE - Most developers work in Visual Studio on MS Windows computers.  Many developers also use C# Express version with no problems. A few developers work in Mono and compile using NAnt. Any of the above methods will work.

DirectX - Open Dental won't compile unless the DirectX SDK version 9 is installed.  Use the one from August 2009.

Disable MDA debugger - (probably no longer applicable) Visual Studio has a bug when working with DirectX 9.  The symptoms are that the program will compile, but will then crash when loading the 3D chart with an error about a LoaderLock detected.  The solution is to disable the MDA debugger like this:  Main menu, Debug, Exceptions, Managed Debugging Assistants, Loader Lock, uncheck.

Subversion - You'll need to install the TortoiseSVN http://tortoisesvn.net  Subversion (SVN) client (or any other SVN client of your choosing).

Simple Subversion Instructions
If you've never used Subversion before, please read some documentation (see the basic concepts chapter).  Some very basic guidlines to get you started:  Tortoise commands are accessed by right clicking on folders and files from within Windows Explorer.  So first, create an empty folder on your computer named OpenDental4_7 (for example).   Then right click on the new folder

and select SVN Checkout.  The following window will come up, and you'll need to copy and paste this URL into the first box:
https://70.90.133.65:23793/svn/opendental/head. Change "head" to "opendental4.7", "opendental4.6", or "opendental4.5" to download those versions. You can also browse older versions at https://70.90.133.65:23793/svn/opendental/

Click OK and then accept the security warning.  This will fill your folder with the current source code ( 8 MB ). From then on, you'll perform an "update" whenever you want to update your folder to the most current version that everyone else is using. You can do this frequently. 

Coding Style

Boilerplate Code

Bug Tracker - We now have our own bug tracking software that we built. http://70.90.133.65:1942/ODBugTracker/BugList.aspx  It's actually just a different interface for our Previous Versions page.  The bug tracker is for our own internal use, although everyone can view it. We heavily manage the bug database to keep it very current.

Consider using such features as Display Fields and Custom Patient Field instead of doing customized programming.