OxMAR Files

Readme file

OxMaR 
OxMaR performs online randomisation and minimisation (minimization) for allocating participants of clinical trials to a control or experimental (intervention) group. This can be done via the web and uses a series of Perl scripts. It can be accessed from anywhere using any device which can look at a web page such as a PC, tablet or mobile phone. The result of the allocation procedure is stored in a textfile, is archived to an additional textfile, is outpt to a webpage and is emailed to the user and study administrator.

To use OxMar 
1. Put the oxmarform.html file in a public_html directory with appropriate permissions on a suitable server so that it can be accessed using a standard web browser from any location. 
2. Put the oxmarallocation.cgi file in a cgi-bin directory with appropriate permissions on a suitable server so that it can be run from any location. 
3. Put the oxmarconfirmallocation.cgi file in a cgi-bin directory with appropriate permissions on a suitable server so that it can be run from any location. 
4. Create an empty textfile named allocationstemp1.txt in a directory with appropriate write permissions on a suitable server. Alternatively copy the allocationstemp1.txt file provided to the appropriate directory and delete the contents.
5. Create an empty textfile named archiveallocationstemp1.txt in a directory with appropriate write permissions on a suitable server. Alternatively copy the allocationstemp1.txt file provided to the appropriate directory and delete the contents.
6. Edit the contents of the oxmarform.html file according to the requirements of the study allocation process.
7. Edit the contents of the oxmarallocation.cgi file according to the requirements of the study allocation process.
8. Edit the contents of the oxmarallocation.cgi file according to the requirements of the study allocation process.


For OxMaR to function fully, five files must be available for full OxMaR function. 

oxmarformhtml.html 
This file encodes a simple html page that will typically be hosted on a standard webserver in a public_html directory or folder.
This html file can be modified by the user or its contents incorporated into another webpage, but in essence contains a form to capture content that is then submitted to oxmarallocation.cgi . 

oxmarallocation.cgi
This is a Perl script that generates a summary of the data that was submitted on the form and requests confirmation of this information.It generates a simple html page which itself contains an option to confirm that the information is correct. If the user confirms this, the information is sbumitted to oxmarconfirmallocation.cgi . This file will typically need to be in a cgi-bin directory. No libraries or packages are required. 

oxmarconfirmallocation.cgi
This is a Perl script that computes which group the participant should be allocated to. It then outputs the result of the allocation to a simple webpage and emals this information to the user and the study administrator.It also writes the result of the allocation procedure to a textfile , is archived to an additional textfile, is outpt to a webpage and is emailed to the user and study administrator.The email to the study administrator contains all previous allocation information so providing an additional backup of the allocation information. This file will typically need to be in a cgi-bin directory.  No libraries or packages are required. 

allocationstemp1.txt
This simple textfile contains the results of the allocations process for all study participants. This is in the form of lines with fields delimited by 'zz'. 

archiveallocationstemp1.txt

This simple textfile is an additional archive of the allocations and contains the results of the allocations process for all study participants. This is in the form of lines with fields delimited by 'zz'.