Transparency Toolkit is a web app where journalists can chain together tools to get data (via scrapers and APIs), filter/extract from documents, analyze documents, and generate visualizations all without coding.
To setup-
1. Clone git repo
2. Make sure you have rails 4, ruby 2, and postgresql installed
3. bundle install
4. rake db:migrate
5. rake db:seed
6. rails server
There also might be some additional database setup required, but the exact procedure for this depends slightly on OS.
If you are interested in adding tools, it is relatively simple to do so.
1. Add Info to Database: Edit db/seeds.rb with the info on the tool
a. plugin_list: Add a tool to the plugin_list by providing ["Name", "Description", category #]. Category 1 is for data sources,
category 2 is for filtering/combining tools, and category 3 is for visualization and analysis tools.
b. plugin_call_list: These are the different methods for the tool (some tools have a collection of related but different methods
). They are formatted as ["Name", "Description", plugin id]
c. plugin_call_field_list: These are the inputs for the tool ["Field Name", "field_type", if input is required, plugin_call id]
2. Make Tool Class: Make a class for the tool in app/helpers. This should inherit from PluginClass and this is where the tool (either a gem or another separate program) is called.
3. Make Tool View: Add the views needed for the inputs and showing the results.
a. Add Inputs: In views/form_handlers, add a file with new input types as needed. Currently, the types are text_field, check_box, text_area, file_field (list of fields in JSON), step_field (list of output of previous steps), upload_field, and preset_field (add preset list via app/steps_helper)
b. Add any view needed for the tool to app/views/recipes. This should be a partial and is where the javascript for javascript visualizations goes.
4. Add to StepsHelper: This switches between the tool views and classes.
a. Add to switchTool: In the switchTool method, add a case to the case statement of the form-
when TOOLNUM then $recipehash[recipeid].addstep(stepnum, TOOLCLASSNAMEPlugin.new(usedmethod, input, stepnum, recipeid))
Some tools might require additional parameters.
b. Add to switchView: In the switchView method, add a case statement of the form-
when TOOLNUM
render :partial => 'recipes/TOOLPARTIAL', :locals => { :output => $recipehash[recipeid].getoutput(stepnum) }
5. Reset/reseed the database and add gems to the gemfile if necessary to run the tool.