The CCB Meeting Scheduling Repository

This repository contains the Meetings class based on the python timeboard project to create the CCB weekly meetings schedule. It also serves as a template repository for python projects that need a docker container complete with a python development environment and tests. This repository is also set up to run tests via GitHub actions.

Install locally with docker

1. Install Docker on your machine.

2. Clone the GitHub project repository to create a local copy of the repository:

git clone git@github.com:ccb-hms/cadence.git

3. Navigate to the repository's directory and build the docker image:

cd cadence && docker compose build

This image will include all the specifications from the Dockerfile based on the official python 3.11 docker image and all dependencies described in the project's Pipfile.

4. Run the docker container:

docker compose up

This creates a container and starts a jupyter server which can be accessed through a web browser.

5. Access the jupyter lab server from your browser by clicking on the link that starts with localhost:8888.

Install without docker

For installation in a local programming environment we use Pipenv to create a pure, repeatable, application environment. Mac/windows users should install pipenv into their main python environment as described by the package installation instructions. Pipenv is a packaging tool for Python that solves some common problems associated with the typical workflow using pip, virtualenv, and the good old requirements.txt. It combines the functionalities of pip and virtualenv into one tool, providing a smooth and convenient workflow for developers.

Pipenv manages dependencies on a per-project basis. To install this package, change into your project’s directory and run:

# Install the package. This assumes that Python version 3.11 is set as the current global python interpreter. 
pipenv install -e .
# Next, install the dev dependencies
pipenv install --dev
# Lastly, run the jupyter lab server in the new environment
pipenv run jupyer lab

Install with other Python versions

The package was written for Python 3.11.8 as defined within the project's Pipfile. However, it comes with compatibility libraries to ensure that it can be used with lower Python versions. To install this package with a different version of Python, let's say Python 3.10, use the --python flag:

# Install the package using python 3.10 instead of the version defined in the project's Pipfile
pipenv install -e . --python=3.10

It is also possible to install the package using a local Python interpreter that is installed in a specific directory, for example, in a virtual environment created with Miniconda:

pipenv install -e , --python=/home/.../miniconda3/envs/pipenv-test/bin/python

Where pipenv-test is the directory that contains the executable Python interpreter created by Miniconda.

Create a meeting schedule

For a detailed example, refer to the scheduling_example notebook. Here you can see how easy it is to create a meeting schedule with just a list of names:

from cadence.mscheduler import Meetings

# Let's start with a list of some names
name_list = ['Andreas', 'Eva', 'Matthias', 'Manuela']

# And we need a start date and an end date for the meeting schedule
start_date = '2024-11-13'
end_date = '2025-1-30'

# We also want the grop to meet once per week on every Wednesday
meeting_day = 2

# Now we create the meeting schedule
meeting = Meetings(name_list=name_list)
schedule = meeting.create_timeboard(start_date=start_date, end_date=end_date, meeting_day=2)

This is it. The output of the create_timeboard method is a dataframe which can be saved and imported into other applications, like calendars.

Run tests

Pytest is a popular testing framework that makes it easy to write small, readable tests.

The pytest framework scales to support complex functional testing for applications and libraries. Pytest will automatically discover and run all the test files in the ./tests directory that follow the naming conventions (i.e., files starting with test_ or ending with _test.py). You can also specify the test directory explicitly by running pytest tests/ if your test directory is named tests. Pytest will execute all the discovered test cases and provide a detailed summary of passing and failing tests.

To run the tests for this project, simply run the pytest app inside the docker container:

docker compose run app python -m pytest