CWebLog for Palm OS

Installing Palm CWebLog

cweblogp.exe:
1. Download - or copy from your CD - this file cweblogp.exe to your PC Desktop.
2. Run it there (double click on it), and choose to put the contents on your "Desktop". This will put a "cweblogp" directory on your desktop where you can view its contents. You should see in that directory the cweblog.prc file, the Mail.prc file and a directory for each clerkship. A minimum install set includes cweblog.prc, Mail.prc (if it isn't already installed on your palm device), and all of the *.pdb files in one of the clerkship directories. These directorys are:
  eme (emergency medicine),
  fpr (family practice),
  fye (fourth year elective that is not neurology),
  gen (general, this is not a clerkship and you may never use it),
  gsg (general surgery)
  icm (intro to clinical medicine),
  inm (internal medicine),
  neu (neurology),
  obg (obgyn),
  ped (pediatrics),
  psy (psychiatry),
  ssa (surgical subs anesthesia),
  sso (surgical subs orthopedics),
  ssu (surgical subs urology).
  Why so many separate directories...because Palm Desktop, at least in all of the versions I've tried, is limited in the number of files it can handle at one time. So you can't install all clerkship files at once. Go figure. If you don't install all of the databases, keep in mind that you will get an error message if you try to submit data from a clerkship that has not been installed.
  To install a minimum set:
3. Start up Palm Desktop on your PC.
4. Click on the Install icon in the lower left hand menu.
5. Click on the Add button.
6. Change to the cweblogp directory (double click on it).
7. Click once on cweblog.prc .
8. Click on Open on the lower right.
9. Click on the Add button again.
10. Change to a clerkship directory. (Choose the clerkship you are entering.)
11. Select all of the files there by left-clicking once on the first file followed by a Shift + left-click on the last file. You should see all of the files selected (highlighted).
12. Click on Open on the lower right. Don't open any other clerkship directories yet. The Palm Desktop can't handle installing all at once.
13. If you have a Palm OS 5 device such as a Palm Tungsten T or E, you will need to install Mail.prc on your Palm, and the mail conduit on your PC Desktop. If you are are in this group (that needs Mail.prc) click here now to branch to those instructions. If you don't know whether you already have Palm Mail or not click here to see an explanation . Otherwise continue on here. If you already have Palm Mail installed, you may not have the mail conduit installed. In this case you will install the conduit later (not now). Palm Mail is not the same as VersaMail that comes pre-installed on recent devices, so don't confuse them. VersaMail will continue to work fine after Palm Mail is installed.
14. If you do not need to install Palm Mail.prc, click on Done on the right of the Palm Desktop - Install window.
15. Now you must transfer these files to your palm device. You shouldn't try to transfer all of the clerkship database files at once. Install other clerkship databases later, one at a time. Put your Palm device on the cradle and synchronize.
16. You can repeat this process for clerkship directories and install all of them, or you can install only those where you have clerkships.
17. If you have a Palm OS device such as a Palm Tungsten T or E, your Palm Desktop software (that runs on your pc) is probably missing the Palm E-Mail conduit. You have two alternatives:
  1. You can download the Palm Mail conduit by clicking here. Agree to the license, download EmailUpd304En.exe, and install it on your PC. If you are not sure if you have the Mail conduit installed or not, follow the conduit configuration instructions below before installing the conduit. If it's not there, you will see that it is missing from your installed conduit list. Configuration of the E-Mail conduit is described here.
  2. You can use the synchronization stations in the LRC (Library), or obtain a commercial conduit for Groupwise for $40. at www.quartzdevelopment.com/smartSYNC.html.
  You must configure the email client on your pc so that it will receive mail from the Palm conduit. That procedure is described in the instructions to configure the E-Mail conduit on your Palm Desktop. The instructions are here. If you choose the smartSYNC Groupwise conduit, further configuration of your Groupwise client is probably not necessary.
  Then you will be ready to send your patient entries to the database. You can test your system by making a dummy entry in Palm CWebLog and then syncing. Before you do this you may want to configure your Palm Mail to "Send Only" so that mail on your pc won't be loaded onto your Palm. To do this, open Palm Mail, tap on the top dropdown menu to set options: (Mail->Options->HotSync Options->Send Only). If you do this test, use the name "test" as the student name.
Alternatives and Notes
cweblogp.zip Microsoft Windows...
contains all of the separate databases and the cweblog.prc and Mail.prc files. Normally you wouldn't use this to install CWebLog on your palm, but it can be done as described below. Note however that this install description is not well maintained and may be missing information. The cweblogp.zip archive unpacks into a directory containing the executable programs cweblog.prc, and Mail.prc, and a large number of pdb files. You can get a free unzip file at http://www.info-zip.org/. Each pdb file is small, so an installation of this large set of files will not require substantial space on your Palm OS device, but it may take some time to install.
All of these files can easily be un-installed by tapping on the "Delete Databases" selection under the "Options" dropdown menu for PalmOS CWebLog, but this option has been buggy and it is not clear yet that it is fixed. You can use CFPro, a Palm program available for the TRG Pro (www.handera.com). CFPro allows you to select all files, unselect the files you need to keep, and delete all selected databases. This is tedious and a bit dangerous if you miss unselecting an important database. The best way to delete all of the CWebLog databases is to install TomCatalog.prc (tcatalog) and use it to filter for all database names containing the underscore character "_". There should be no other databases with underscore characters in their names. Then you simply and quickly delete all of those selected databases. Sources for tcatalog: http://galileo.spaceports.com/~aufische/tomcatalog.html or http://pcexpress.kewlhair.com/TheToolBag/CoolAdons4PalmOS/ For those interested in customizing and rebuilding CWebLog, these files can be packaged into the CWEBLOG.EXE self extracting installer using an inexpensive shareware program "My Pocket Installer" available at www.comcul.com/MyPocketInstaller/. Alternatively, the CWebLog .prc and .pdb files can be packaged into a single .prc file that is unpacked on the Palm OS device using the Handera ImagePro product available at www.handera.com/products/imagepro.asp. If you want to try ImagePro, try an evaluation copy first. I've had problems.
cweblog_pda.tgz for Linux or Unix...
contains all of the databases and the cweblog.prc file as desribed above form MS Windows. This set can be installed easily using Linux as described below.

Bulk Installs

If you have a lot of bulk installs to do, let's say you are installing CWebLog on all of the student PDAs, then I recommend one of these two approaches:
- Use Linux with the "palm-xfer --install *" command line tool.
- Install onto a flash card and then transfer from that card to each PDA using CFPro or similar flash card copy program.
Check that the version of your Palm Desktop software is greater than or equal to 3.0.1 (click on the top menu bar "Help->About Palm Desktop".) Version 3.0.0 (and earlier) is broken in a way that makes installing the large number of cweblog databases very difficult. You can use version 3.0.0, but you must move only about 20 files at a time into your Palm install directory, uuuggg. If you have one of these older versions, get a new one from the palm download site (wherever that might be by the time you read this.)

Linux Install

Create a new directory, say ... ~/cweblog_palm.
Download cweblog_pda.tgz to this directory.
Unzip it with "tar -zxvf cweblog_pda.tgz".
Put your palm device in your cradle and start up (tap) "HotSync".
On your Linux command line, type "pilot-xfer --install *.pdb *.prc", assuming that you have the "pilot-link" package installed.
Tap the hotsync icon on your PDA and go have a cup of coffee. The install process over a 9600 Baud line takes 35 minutes, unless you are installing only a subset of files. The minumum subset is: cweblog.prc and a full subset of the pdf files for a particular clerkship, *_psy.pdb for example.
Linux has several utilities for sending mail from your Palm OS mail. Pilot-mailsync is a powerful command line utility you can obtain from master.penguinppc.org/~hollis/palm. The very nice graphical pilot desktops for Linux, kpilot and jpilot also sync and send palm email.
If you use a MS Windows system to send your PalmOS email, you will need to have a properly configured Palm Desktop and Email Client (Eudora or MS Outlook) - at each station that you wish to synch from - before you can synchronize your Palm mail.

Configure your Palm Desktop and email application.

We assume here that you have already installed your Palm Desktop software on your PC. If you haven't, do so, and in this case you may wish to install the latest version (see next step).
(Optional) Palm Email configuration is easier if you have the latest version of Palm Desktop installed. Go to http://www.palmone.com/us/support/downloads/index.html#windowsdesktop to download and install the latest. If they have changed the link (again), google it (Palm Desktop).
Start your Palm Sync Manager program if it is not already running. The Palm Sync Manager normally starts when you start up Windows, but - it can crash so check for the little sync icon in the lower right hand corner of your PC display.
Start your Palm Desktop program. Click on Tools->Users->New User, and set up your account with the same username that appears at the top-right of your PDA display when you tap on your HotSync icon.
Click on Hotsync->Custom->Select your user ID. (if there is more than one on your PC). Then select Mail->Change->Synchronize the files.
You will have a choice of email client programs: Eudora or Microsoft Outlook (Express), (at least some of the other listed options don't really work, such as Netscape Communicator) or - if you opt to purchace the conduit for Groupwise available for $40. at http://www.quartzdevelopment.com/smartSYNC.html - Groupwise. When you choose to use either of the Eudora or Outlook options, you must set that email client to be the default email application on your PC. This means that Groupwise will not be the default email application. This is OK. You will have no problems using either of these email programs with the Groupwise mail server at USUHS. Simply configure for POP3 email. Alternatively, the commercial smartSYNC conduit, used on the LRC sync stations, requires less attention to these configuration details.
Eudora Option: If Eudora is installed on your system, I recommend it. Eudora can be easily installed by browsing to http://www.eudora.com/ and clicking on the icon to download the software. Start Eudora and configure MAPI to "always" be on. You must also set Eudora to be your default email client. You will need to have your own account on Eudora with your own email return address, and the SMTP server (outgoing email) should be properly configured. At USUHS the outgoing (SMTP) server is mx.usuhs.mil and your incoming address should look something like s1rwilliams@usuhs.mil. You should ensure that Eudora is running whenever you synchronize your email.
Outlook Express Option: You may be forced to choose Outlook Express, in which case you should also ensure that MAPI, your own return address, and SMTP are configured, and that Outlook is running when you sync your pda mail. To configure Outlook Express, click on Tools->Options and set Outlook to be your default email client. You may not see a button to set MAPI on, depending on the version of Outlook that you have, in which case you can ignore the MAPI setting.
Configure your Outlook Express account thus:
If you don't already have your Outlook Express set up:
Click on Tools->Accounts->Add->Mail and set "Outgoing mail (SMTP) server" to "mx.usuhs.mil". Don't use mxa,mxb,mxc...etc.usuhs.mil here, just "mx.usuhs.mil". You don't need to configure incoming mail unless you want to use Outlook Express for this purpose, and remember that Microsoft incoming mail is insecure and may subject you to a virus infection.
If you do have your Outlook Express configured, Click on Tools->Accounts->Mail, select your account, click on "Properties->Servers", and ensure that "Outgoing mail (SMTP)" is set to "mx.usuhs.mil". You don't need to have incoming main configured (as above).
Groupwise SmartSYNC Option: Just install the smartSYNC conduit (assuming you already have Groupwise installed), and configure your Palm Desktop (HotSync -> Custom) to ensure that SmartSYNC Mail is set to "Synchronize the files."
Linux Option: A Linux workstation is a good platform of choice for a synchronization station. Separate Palm Desktop and Email client accounts are not required, the Linux platform is far less likely to be subjected to virus attacks, is more stable, and can be easily configured as a firewall to restrict the kinds of access both in and out. Simply install the pilot-mailsync package (included with the source distribution of CWebLog) and make a KDE or Gnome desktop icon pointed to the execution of /usr/bin/pilot-mailsync.

How It Works

We think the Palm OS CWebLog is intuitive enough that instructions for making entries are not required. When entries are submitted, they are put into the Palm Mail application Outbox where they remain until you synchronize your Palm to a Palm Desktop (yours or one in the Library). When you synchronize your Palm to a Palm Desktop, your Palm Outbox is emptied into the outbox of your Desktop Email application, if it is configured properly. This email can be sent automatically from there to the CWebLog server.

Do you already have Palm Mail installed?

To determine whether or not you already have Palm Mail installed, inspect your Palm device top menu looking for an application labelled simply "Mail" (not VersaMail or any thing else). Tap on "Mail" and then on the top dropdown menu->Options->About Mail. You should see the name "Mail" and a version v.3.5 or higher. The version we supply here is v.4.5PT. Once you are sure about your need for Mail.prc, click Here to return to your install instructions.

Palm Mail.prc

If you have a Palm OS 5 device, such as a Tungsten T, you do not have Palm Mail.prc installed and you must install it separately. Installing Mail.prc will not interfere with any other email application. Mail.prc is included in cweblogp.exe.

If you have Palm OS 5 or a Tungsten, you can install Palm Mail now. In Palm Desktop-Install click on Add and then on Mail.prc, Click on the Open button.

Click on Done on the right of the Palm Desktop - Install window and then return to the install instructions above by clicking here. You can read about this version of Palm Mail at http://www.pumatech.com/intellisync_products/palmos5.html and you can download it from http://www.pumatech.com/intellisync_products/Mail.prc if you don't want to use the one in cweblogp.exe. This version of Palm Mail is required to store and send cweblog data entries.

You will also probably need to install the Palm E-Mail conduit for the Palm Desktop. We cannot provide this program and you must download it from http://www.palmone.com/us/support/downloads/emailupd.html and install it yourself. This is an easy install. Just agree to the licence question, download, and run. Configure the E-Mail conduit as described here.