Research ways of submitting to GSA

[mgifford]

We are now basically at a stage where we can start accepting OPAT submissions.

There is more we would like to do, but the infrastructure we have built so far will allow anyone producing a ACR now to do so with greater accuracy. It will be much easier to integrate with other systems than Word based templates.

Formats

YAML

The core of OPAT is the YAML file. This is a simple text file that cam be emailed or attached to a proposal.

This provides the most flexibility for vendors, particularly those who are familiar with VPAT submissions.

Bundle with YAML, HTML, CSS

Vendors can display their ACRs on their website with their branding using HTML, CSS & custom images. These will not be part of the OPAT submission at this time. If vendors are free to include this information in their git repositories (see the next section).

git link

If the owner of an ACR wants to share it with the GSA in the public, they will be able to add their document to the public git repository list either through a pull request or an issue in the comments.

Also see #170

Operationalize process

For many users it may be easier to optimize this process by integrating it into the editor. Ideally the OPAT Editor will allow users to simply submit the OPAT directly to the GSA and get a unique hash to to verify the submission.

It could be as simple as including an email in the form for them to click on and attach the .yaml file. We would want to have that go somewhere other than [email protected] to make sure that it can be automated and included in some sort of repository. If it is under a creative commons license then that may be public. The form may need to be modified to specifically ask this question.

Form submit, ideally it would go right into an API upon approval and submission.

Also see - #118

[mgifford]

Looking at similar ways to address this challenge with Jekyll pages - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/24348223/send-email-from-static-page-hosted-on-github-pages

I think that we can customize this form to send the appropriate fields via https://formspree.io

It would be a new button that would simply submit the JSON object that we’re building. I think it is mostly about customizing this form:

<!-- Read the Formbutton docs at formspree.io/formbutton/docs. See more examples at codepen.io/formspree -->
<script src="https://formspree.io/js/formbutton-v1.min.js" defer></script>
<script>
  /* paste this line in verbatim */
  window.formbutton=window.formbutton||function(){(formbutton.q=formbutton.q||[]).push(arguments)};
  /* customize formbutton below*/     
  formbutton("create", {
    action: "https://formspree.io/f/SOME_RANDOM_LINK",
    title: "Submit your OpenACR document to the GSA repository?",
    fields: [
      { 
        type: "email", 
        label: "Email:", 
        name: "email",
        required: true,
        placeholder: "[email protected]"
      },
      {
        type: "textarea",
        label: "YAML File:",
        name: "opener",
      },
      { type: "submit" }      
    ],
    styles: {
      title: {
        backgroundColor: "gray"
      },
      button: {
        backgroundColor: "gray"
      }
    }
  });
</script>