Long overdue update to CRB

The Custom Reports Bundle (CRB) has been stagnant for a long time. Most of this is due to the fact that I no longer work at a single school and thus have less time as many schools need my time. But I've had the urge to do a major update for a while and I'm writing to let you know what that is. The CRB has been one giant zip file that was CPM friendly but could also be uploaded to the custom/web_root. If you upload into CPM you are stuck having to delete each file one at a time to get rid of it. No longer. When the new CRB comes out it will be as a plugin. Plugins can be installed and more importantly uninstalled, removing all the files that were part of the plugin at once. This means CPM users will have the same ability to mass delete as those of us who still use custom/web_root enjoy. If you are like me and still use custom/web_root then you can simply unzip the plugin and it's already in the correct folder structure for you, just as it always has been.

Another change is that each section of the bundle will be it's own plugin. There will be a base plugin and then a separate plugin for each piece you wish to install. This will give you the ability to add just the attendance reports if thats all you want to try or you can install all of them. It will also mean updating is easier from our end as we can update just the scheduling plugin without needing to update the entire thing. Plus if you customize one of the CRB reports you can still get the updates from the other plugins without worrying about overwriting your changes.

The new CRB utilizes page fragments wherever possible. This allows you to install the plugin without the fear that it will overwrite one of your custom pages. That has always been a problem of simply importing a customization into CPM, if any file is already customized the CPM import overwrites it. With page fragments you don't have that problem. This includes the new tabs. The custom tabs will now be injected in rather than updating your reporttabs.html file. This is important so that we can work with other customizations such as...

SQLReports will no longer be part of the CRB. This is so that that customization can be maintained separately. I've shared how I got the tabs injected with Matt Freund so that he can mimic for SQLReports if he chooses. For those of you in NYS its the same way state reporting has injected the "Contacts" tab on our home page. Its not efficient (the code exists on every page including the 1000+ pages that don't use it) but it works until Pearson gives us a page fragment in the reporttabs.html file.

Speaking of Matt Freund, he had a good idea when I showed him what I was doing. All of you using CRB on CPM right now would have to delete hundreds of files one by one by one in order to update. To prevent this I've moved all the reports to a subfolder called CRB. So attendance reports from the new CRB will be in /admin/reports/CRB/attendance. This makes it so that the files don't already exist and the plugin doesn't complain. Some script/images files may need to be removed but I'm trying to minimize that for the official release.

Finally, the look. Those tabs have not been working for a while now and the work around is confusing for some. So I've reworked the look so that it now looks like PowerSchool. Tabs use PowerSchool's tab structure. Filters use PowerSchool's filters. Basically make the reports feel more at home for the users. This part has taken the longest as each and every report is being updated. Once all the pieces are done I will post them.

A huge thank you to Computer Logic Group (http://clgeducationsolutions.com) for allowing me to do some of this on company time. There just isn't enough time in the evening to do this all and they came through for all of us.

I'll be updating soon so keep your eyes peeled. In the meantime thanks for your patience.

Jason
PowerSchool Customization Expert
Computer Logic Group

Comments

How can I update this code to accommodate my High School Schedule? My schedule uses two periods per class, e.g., 1st period in school is actually periods 1 and 2 in PowerSchool, 2nd period is 3 and 4 in PowerSchool, etc. What I need the report to show is periods 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. Can I do that?

Thank you for your expertise!

Jason - thanks and look forward to this..

Gary Warner
Adams Central Public Schools
Hastings Nebraska

Thank you Jason! You are awesome! So Glad your at CLG!!!!

Jo Morrissey
Pittsgrove Township Schools

Jo A. Morrissey
SIS Administrator/Technology Secretary
Pittsgrove Township Schools
(856) 535-1128

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