Developing a Web Application with Empress Framework with the Library Management System

Developers
1

Introduction

Welcome to our comprehensive, developer-centric guide on creating a web application using the Empress Framework. This guide will focus on the Empress Library Management System feature, a robust and intuitive tool that allows librarians to effectively manage articles and memberships.

Understanding the Empress Library Management System

The Empress Library Management System is built on the Empress Framework, utilizing technologies such as Python, JavaScript, and Redis, with support for MariaDB and PostgreSQL databases. The system leverages Jinja for the creation of Web Views and Print formats, and Redis for caching, maintaining job queues and realtime updates.

This system is built on five core models:

  1. Article: This represents a book or similar item that can be rented.
  2. Library Member: This represents a user who is subscribed to a membership.
  3. Library Transaction: This represents an issue or return of an article.
  4. Library Membership: This represents an active membership of a Library Member.
  5. Library Settings: These settings define values like Loan Period and the maximum number of articles that can be issued at a time.

The Librarian interacts with the system via an interface known as Desk, a feature-rich admin interface provided by the Empress Framework.

Getting Started: Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure that you have git installed on your machine as it’s essential for version control and update management via Bench. Familiarity with basic git commands will be beneficial.

Building the Web Application

Our goal is to create a web application where the Librarian can manage Articles and Memberships.

Let’s dive into the technicalities.

1. Create a Bench

The first step in building our application is to create a Bench. A Bench is a system that helps you manage multiple Empress / ERPNext apps. It’s a command-line tool that offers you commands to manage your applications and its dependencies.

bench init my-bench --frappe-branch version-12

2. Create an App

Next, we will create our application. In your terminal, navigate to the bench folder and run the following command:

bench new-app library_management

3. Create a Site

After creating the app, we need to create a site. A site represents a website containing your installed apps. To create a site, use the command:

bench new-site library

4. Create a DocType

Now, let’s create our models using DocTypes, which are the building blocks of Empress applications. Here is how you create a DocType:

bench --site library make-docType Article

Repeat this step for all the models (Article, Library Member, Library Transaction, Library Membership, and Library Settings).

5. Implement Role-based Permissions

The Desk provides many standard views like List view, Form view, Report view, etc, and many features like Role-based Permissions. Implement role-based permissions to control access to the various models in your application.

Conclusion

The Empress Library Management System is a practical feature that allows for efficient management of articles and memberships in a library setting. Leveraging the Empress Framework, developers can build intuitive and robust applications that meet the needs of the end-users. By following this guide, you can successfully create a web application with the Empress Library Management System, providing a significant contribution to the development and customization of business solutions.