User Manual Interface Application

Document Version 1.0.0

(Application version Interface 1.9.18 onward)

Table of Contents
User Manual Interface Application ......................................................................................................... 1
Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 2
Directory structure:............................................................................................................................. 2
comreader.xml ................................................................................................................................ 3
dbparameters.xml ........................................................................................................................... 3
Main screen: ....................................................................................................................................... 5
File menu (Main menu: 1)................................................................................................................... 5
Test Administration (Main menu: 2) ................................................................................................... 6
Test Editing...................................................................................................................................... 6
Test management ........................................................................................................................... 8
Specimen types ............................................................................................................................... 8
Instrument Configuration (Main menu: 3) ......................................................................................... 9
Result administration (Main menu: 5) .............................................................................................. 10
Check Result Table ........................................................................................................................ 10
Bulk Operation .............................................................................................................................. 10
Specimen administration (Main menu: 6) ........................................................................................ 10
Specimen Maintenance ................................................................................................................ 11
Troubleshooting: ............................................................................................................................... 12
Introduction
Interface program is a portable application designed to Interface Laboratory Instruments with
existing Laboratory Information Systems. Interface is highly configurable & is designed to co-exist
with most of the Laboratory / Hospital Information Systems.

Directory structure:
As mentioned earlier Interface is a portable application having a specific directory structure. Figure 1
shows the directories and files needed to run the application.

Figure 1

Log: Directory that holds the log files / traces of the communication between instruments and LIS/
HIS. In general program maintains 4 different types of log files
1. astm.log: It contains the astm protocol information traces between connected instruments.
2. db.log: It contains the database transaction information between LIS and application.
3. gen.log: It contains application traces
4. hl7.log: It contains hl7 protocol information traces between connected instruments.

Figure 2
dataFiles: This directory holds the instrument test mappings in the form of one or more Microsoft
Excel Files.

Figure 3

comreader.xml
This is one of the major files that contain connection information about instruments.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<comreader>
<device>
<name>CobasC311</name>
<description>CobasC311</description>
<port>COM5</port>
<handler>com.naqvi.interfacing.inst.astm.CobasC311</handler>
<portSettings>9600,n,8,1,NONE</portSettings>
<misc>ETX</misc>
</device>
</comreader>
Figure 4

dbparameters.xml
This file holds connection information between application and HIS/ LIS database. It generally has 2
xml stanzas having local h2 database information that holds the local database while the second
stanza contains database information between LIS and application.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>

<dbparamHandler>
<db>
<name>h2 db</name>
<url>jdbc:h2:file:./db/generic6/generic6;IFEXISTS=true</url>
<user>sa</user>
<pass></pass>
<driver>org.h2.Driver</driver>
<schema>public</schema>
</db>
<db>
<name>IDC Sql server</name>
<url>jdbc:jtds:sqlserver://192.168.1.14:1433</url>
 <user>sa</user>
<pass>abc123</pass>
<driver>net.sourceforge.jtds.jdbc.Driver</driver>
<schema>Medicubes</schema>
</db>
</dbparamHandler>
Figure 5

Figure 6 below shows two windows of application i.e. the main windows and a command window
which runs all the time in the background. Backend window can be used for troubleshooting and
most of the error information immediately available through the command window.

Figure 6
Main screen:
Main screen contains Menus and the received results. Following are the details of each area

Figure 7

File menu (Main menu: 1)

Figure 8
Exit: Will close the application
Login Window: will allow to login to access specific configuration options such as test mappings or
instrument configuration. Instrument configuration can be directly manoeuvred through text file
comreader.xml however it is not recommended.

Figure 9
Test Administration (Main menu: 2)

Figure 10

There are 3 main windows pertaining to test administration i.e. editing of tests, test management of
bulk of tests through excel files and specimen types.

Test Editing
Through this window we can edit individual tests and their mappings.

Figure 11
 Figure 12
Figure 12 shows the different parts of Test editing.
1. Select the instrument through the drop down list to configure mappings.
2. Test name, machine code, software code, format, factor and method can be selected in area
2. Test name only appears on the screen and is not used in mapping. Machine code is the
test code that is sent and recognized by machine. This code can be found on the machine or
through the astm.log file. Software code is the mapping in HIS/ LIS which needs to be
provided by software team. Format, Factor and Method will be provided by lab staff which is
used to bring the result in desired format. This normally is used on the haematology tests
where certain multiplication factors are applied on the results for reporting.
3. Select the test that needs to be edited through the table and it will appear in area 2 of
screen. After editing press the save button to record the test in the database. Similarly,
delete button will remove the test from database.
4. Specimen type is used to select the instrument specimen type e.g. HBa1c uses whole blood
while most of the other tests require serum.
Test management
Test management screen is used to import and export tests through excel files. It can be accessed
through Test administration > Test management.

Figure 13
1. Restore Tests: Press the read sheets, which will bring the file selector windows 4 to select
the desired excel file. Sheets in the selected file will bring the combo box; restore tests from
selected sheet will import all the tests and will issue a success message dialog (Figure 14) if
the tests are restored properly. After finishing edit tests screen will automatically pop up to
edit any individual tests if required.

Figure 14

Specimen types

Figure 15
Normally specimen types are not required because mostly instruments are handling only one
specimen type but if the instrument is handling more than one sample types e.g. in case of hba1c
which is using whole blood while other tests on the same instrument are using serum as sample
type. Instrument type defined here will be used in the test editing screen for individual tests.
Instrument Configuration (Main menu: 3)
Instrument configuration screen is used to configure instrument communication parameters with
the application. Instrument combo box is used to select the desired instruments. Port No is used to
configure the port number e.g. COM1, COM2 etc for the RS-232 serial communication while 5000,
6000 etc for the TCP communication instruments. This combo box is editable i.e. if the desired port
is not available in the drop down it can be edited to add a new port type. Normally, TCP port
numbers are not available in the drop down list. Port settings drop down is used to set the port for
communications. In case COM port type is selected in the Port No combo box then port settings such
as 9600,n,8,1,NONE type settings are used. These settings should be exactly the same as are
configured on the connected instruments otherwise garbage will appear in communications. In case
numeric Port No is used e.g. in case of TCP communications, then an IP address should be selected
as in Port settings. There are two possibilities
a- 127.0.0.1 where instrument is working in client mode while application is set as server mode
and an IP address of the host computer is defined on the instrument.
b- 192.168.1.x which is the IP address of the instrument when instrument is working in server
mode while application is set as client mode and no IP address for host computer is defined
on the instrument.
In case of TCP communication, this is to remember that instrument must be on the network and an
IP address of the instrument is already defined in instrument in the corresponding Ethernet setting
screen.

Figure 16
Result administration (Main menu: 5)
Result administration main menu comprises of 2 main sub menus i.e. Check Result Table and Bulk
operations to check the tests registered in the LIS and batch processing of Results.

Check Result Table

As shown in figure 17, lab id should contain the barcode number of the individual tube, while
pressing the search button should return the tests registered against the lab id of the desired
sample. This is useful in the case if test results are not being uploaded in the LIS or the instrument is
not performing any tests while reading from the barcode in the query mode.

Figure 17

Bulk Operation
Is used to bulk process the results i.e. validate and upload to the LIS.

Figure 18

Specimen administration (Main menu: 6)

Specimen administration is used to manage samples registered in the application database.
Normally application is configured to purge the samples every two days but in case high number of
sample results is added in database then it is a good idea to purge the database to avoid slowness.
Specimen Maintenance
This screen is used to delete individual samples or wipe off the entire database results. Condition
drop down list represents the number of days of samples needed to view. Delete Selected Specimen
will delete the selected specimen only. In case purge of all samples is required then “Delete all
Specimen” button can be used which will pop up a message and here “All” needs to be typed to
clear up all the results stored in the local database of application.

Figure 19

Test selection
This screen is self-explanatory and is used for testing purposes i.e. new samples can be registered in
the local database to test the bidirectional communication, in case LIS connectivity is not available or
the tube ids are not registered in the LIS.

Figure 20

1. Specimen ID: Barcode id of the tube

2. Instruments: Configured instruments in the application which is required to run tests on.
 3. Selected test table: Currently selected tests
4. Clear selection: to remove all the currently selected test
5. Tests table: Available tests for the selected instrument
6. Save Tests: This button is used to register the sample with selected tests in the local
database.

Troubleshooting:
No communications from instrument
First check the background black screen to see any messages. Check the log files to find any
messages e.g.
1. Invalid license where no license is present contact lab administration for license file
2. Invalid license for instrument means license is not signed for the selected instrument and it
is required to get the proper license file
3. COM port is not present in the computer

Garbage in communication
Port parameters are not selected properly

Communication is ok but tests are not being registered in the local database
Check that machine codes are configured with the particular instrument. In the log files a message
such as “null test code is not allowed” will appear.