1. REDCap External Modules
Kyle McGuffin
Senior Application Developer
Vanderbilt University Medical Center

2. External Modules Overview
Concept was to make a GUI-based tool to enable and configure REDCap plugins at both a system and project level.
Features included access to all REDCap hooks, ability to add links to REDCap sidebar and data dictionary-like configuration page.
Initial prototyping was done by Mark McEver and Kyle McGuffin and has been expanded upon the rest of the Vanderbilt Data Core team and Rob Taylor.
Original Requirements Development:
Kyle McGuffin, Andy Martin, Kevan Essmyer, Bhargav Adagarla, Mike Prittie

3. Control Center – External Modules3 2 1 4 5

4. Control Center – External Modules
External Modules link appears in control center sidebar
External Modules page shows all currently enabled modules on this REDCap installation
Enable a module button allows any modules currently installed on the server to be turned on
Download new module from repository will soon allow admins to install new modules on the server from approved module repository

5. Control Center – Enabling a Module
When enabling a module, if multiple versions of the module exist, they will appear on the version dropdown.
After selecting to enable a particular module, it will request a list of permissions (similar to a mobile app)
External Modules framework will prevent module from accessing any hooks that it has not requested permission for

6. Control Center – Checking Project Usage
View Usage button shows all the projects a particular module is being used on with links to the project

7. Project Sidebar – External Modules Configuration2
Enable a module button only shows modules that have previously been enabled on the system level
Only system admins can enable a module, but those with project design rights can configure previously enabled modules
Description and author must be set for each module. Link to the developer appears with each module 1

8. Configuration Example
config.json is a required file for each module
Contains:
Module name
Description
Author
Permissions list
List of any project links being added by the module
System level configuration settings
Project level configuration settings

9. Configuration Example
Project and system level configuration page is built automatically by the External Modules framework from configuration settings in config.json
Settings json is data dictionary-like, containing label, field name, field type, enumeration list, etc
Framework supports the following field types
Text
Text area
Dropdown
Checkbox
File Upload
Rich text
Project list
Field list
User list
User role/DAG list
Arm/event list
Form list
Sub-settings (Grouped settings)
Repeatable flag for every field
Custom (calls specified javascript function before loading configuration page)

10. Configuration Example

11. External Module Examples
At Vanderbilt, we’ve currently built out or are working on external modules for these use cases:
Custom PDF Modification
Form/survey support for languages that are read from right-to-left
Country code validation for phone numbers
Address picker using pin dropping on a map
Address autocompletion
Automatic triggers
Inline popup messages for clarifying medical terms
PDF export to EMR/FTP server
Multi-user survey invitations
PDF logging/verification of survey responses
Census tract data import from Lat/Long fields

12. PDF Modification Module
Upload PDF template to project configuration
Specify form(s) that redcap_save_record hook will run on
List of fields with x,y coordinates on template
List of Boolean checks with x,y coordinates and text value
PDF template is modified and saved to a REDCap file upload field when form is saved

13. Right-to-Left Language Module
Flips column ordering of various pages in REDCap to support reading from right-to-left

14. Country Code Phone Number Validation Module
Creates custom action tag with country code to validate phone numbers

15. Map Address Picker Module
Adds google map insert onto form and pipes latitude/longitude of map pin marker onto specified fields

16. Address Autocompletion
Address autocomplete field is selected during configuration
Sub-fields can be specified where street number, street name, city, state, zip code and country name can be auto-populated from selected address

17. Inline Text Popups
Link Text can specify a medical, legal or other term that may need additional clarification
Pop-up is populated with rich text field allowing links, images, bold text, etc
Also tied into dictionary.com API to provide audio clips for pronunciation of various medical terms

18. Trigger Example
Uses a REDCap sidebar link to point to a separate configuration page
Configuration allows predefined fields to be piped into to/subject and body fields

19. Trigger Example
Each alert can be triggered off of the completion of a different REDCap form
Can include Boolean logic to limit sending of the alert
can include static attachments or dynamic attachments based on REDCap file upload fields

20. Trigger Example
Buttons pipe in the predefined fields from the initial configuration.
Buttons can also be used to pipe in survey links to the message
Message is a rich text field and can include images, links, etc.

21. Epic PDF Push using On-Base
File path to an FTP/mapped network drive where pdf will be exported with a metadata file
On-Base reads the metadata file to determine where to push into the EMR
Configuration sets the location of First name, last name, DOB and MRN number so that the proper patient is located

22. Epic Hyperspace Survey Starter
On configuration, a form ID is generated by external module
Form ID is saved in Epic in order to launch a survey
Data is pushed from Epic through an HL7 XML packet and saved to specified location in the record

23. eConsent Module – Goal: Part 11 Compliance
eConsent storage project is setup at the system level
All registered projects push PDF copy of any consent forms to the central project with metadata
Goal is to setup outside FTP storage of consent documents with write-only access by REDCap

24. What’s Next?