Ladvien's Lab

This is an R function written to split a dataset into particular sized sets, then write them as a CSV.  Often, our office is need a quick way to split files for uploading purposes, since our HMIS software doesn't handle large uploads well.

For example:

splitDataAndWriteFiles(df, 500, "My_Data")  

Will produce X number of files named "My_data_X.csv"

options(java.parameters = "-Xmx14336m")  ## memory set to 14 GB
library("XLConnect")

# Function to split files.
splitDataAndWriteFiles <- function(df, chunkSize, nameOfFiles) {
  success <- FALSE
  count <- 0
  while (!success) {
    # If you want 20 samples, put any range of 20 values within the range of number ...

Continuing to explore R and SQL's usefulness when it comes to HMIS data I decided to start posting HMIS problems and R and SQL solutions.

Problem:  Our HMIS implementation has had three shelters entering data into one partition.  This has been a lot like mixing three different colors of sand into one bucket--much easier to put in then sort out.  It is also a problem since HUD requires Emergency Solution Grant (ESG) recipients to provide an annual standardized report, known as the CAPER, on data defined by the HMIS Data Dictionary . These data elements are referred to as Universal Data ...

Continuing to explore R and SQL's usefulness when it comes to HMIS data I decided to start posting HMIS problems and R and SQL solutions.

Problem: One of our Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) funders requires the subrecipients to produce a report of all the participants which receive services from the shelter.  This requirement was written into the contract the ESG funders have with the subrecipient.  This worked somewhat in 2011 when it was implemented, however, it is 2016 and the data which is queried against to produce the report is well over 1.3 million entries.  These data are generated ...

Hacker Introduction

I'm a hacker .  If you find errors, please leave comments below.  If you have an opinion I'll hear it, but I'm often not likely to agree without some argument.

Joins (Merging Data)

Probably the best part of R and SQL is their ability to quickly combine data around a key.  For example, in HMIS CSVs the Client.csv contains a lot of demographic information and the Enrollment.csv contains a lot of assessment information.  This makes it difficult when needing a count of the total participants who are veterans and disabled, since the veteran information is in Client ...

"I love our software, I love our software."

I'm a HMIS Database Manager for a living.  It's a dream job--all the nerdy stuff, plus, there is a possibility I'm helping people.  Currently, one area our software really lacks is quickly generating complex reports. It has the ability, but the servers are laggy, it crashes often, and a project which should take 20 minutes will take 50 minutes to 40 hours depending on the "report weather."  These issues are probably caused by the reporting platform being web-based and calculations done server-side.  Regardless, given the amount of time the staff are eating ...

1. Unwrap SSOAuthToken.  Else, handle error.
2. Create request from webservice and SSOAuthToken.
3. Make a GET request.
4. Async-wait for response
5. Unwrap response data.
6. If GET request returned 200-299, request was success. If failed, handle.
7. When successful, convert the return JSON data.  If failed, handle.
8. Get Enterprise Names and enterpriseGUUID string from JSON data.
9. Add the enterpriseGUUID string to a Dictionary using the Enterprise Names as the Key
10. Call completion callback meothd with parameter "Success"

public func getListOfEnterprisesAvailable(currentSessionInfo: SessionInfo, completion: @escaping (_ response: ReturnInfoWithDictionary) -> Void){

    let SSOAuthToken = currentSessionInfo.SSOAuthToken!

    var returnInfo = ReturnInfoWithDictionary()
    var enterpriseDictionary = Dictionary<String, String>()

    let GetSSOEnterprisesService = "https://services.etosoftware ...

Logging in to ETO

This code base has become a bit of a pet project.  It uses Alamofire to create GET and POST requests against Efforts to Outcomes REST API. This enables native applications to interact with our Homeless Management Information System ( HMIS ) database.  I've been coding it to practice the craft.  Also, there are a few operations in our continuum of care which could be improved by creating native applications, as opposed to using webapplications.  For example, street outreach teams are often without their computer, given the bulk.  But rarely is a street outreach specialist without a mobile device ...

Some HTML

Why the Hell?

Wow, it's been awhile since I've actually written anything in Drupal based text editor.  Feels like home.

Honestly, I'm not going to go into the "Why" of building this site.  Maybe I'll do that later.  Let's just say, there was an impetus to recreate the home we were forced to leave.

How the Blink?

Spinning Up a Server:

The first thing was deciding on a server.  I didn't have much (um, any) experiencing in spinning up a server.  But after a bit of reading, checking the bank account, and finding what would work for Drupal ...

Update 3/29/2016

I've begun re-writing the entire program as a Windows App. Not really my choice. It seems the BluetoothLE API Microsoft has thrown together (for-real-doh, it's super bad) is most easily adopted under the Windows Universal App toolchain.

Anyway, here's the resting space of the new projects

Lumi

Lumi for Desktop

Where I come from they having a saying: "Video or it didn't happen." I've always liked that saying. It means we have to put our work where our typing is. Here is a video of the uploader I wrote to interface with the TinySafeBoot AVR two-wire ...

Revising Board

This is an extension of previous work. I had finished a LED driver for the lab, hooked it up, and found it was a fire hazard. For the amount of lumen I wanted out of them I was having to set the current resistor to .47ohm. This was pushing nearly 2amps of current through the little FQP40N06L . The LEDs were bright, but immediately the TO-220 became too hot to touch. Two choices, either redesign or use less current, resulting in dimmer LEDs. Easy choice, redesign.

The first thing I realized was I need a heat-sink. Ironically, I had ...