WVU Medicine Help Alert Web Client

A lightweight Tauri-based desktop wrapper for the WVU Medicine PinPoint HelpAlert duress alarm system. Built to replace the vendor's crashing desktop client with a stable, tray-resident application that brings alerts to the foreground automatically.

Why This Exists

The vendor's native desktop client crashes hospital workstations. The web version works but has two problems: users get logged out due to inactivity, and browser notifications don't reliably surface when the tab is backgrounded. This app solves both by wrapping the web client in a persistent Tauri window with native alert detection.

How It Works

1. The app loads PinPoint's web login page in a native webview
2. After login, the user clicks "Alerts" to navigate to the HelpAlert GWT page
3. Injected JavaScript monitors the DOM every 2 seconds for new alerts (identified by "Claim" buttons and "Elapsed Time" markers)
4. When a new alert is detected, the app calls into the Rust backend which unminimizes, focuses, and temporarily pins the window on top
5. Closing the window minimizes to the system tray instead of exiting — the app stays running and monitoring

Architecture

• Frontend: Vendor's HelpAlert web app loaded directly in the Tauri webview, no custom UI
• Injection: src/inject.js handles window.open() interception (alerts page opens in same window instead of a new tab) and DOM-based alert detection
• Backend: Rust/Tauri handles system tray, window management, and the alert_detected command that brings the window to the foreground
• IPC: JavaScript detects alerts → invokes Tauri command → Rust brings window to front

Prerequisites

• Rust toolchain (rustup)
• Tauri CLI: cargo install tauri-cli --version "^2"
• For Windows cross-compilation from Linux: x86_64-pc-windows-gnu target
• WiX Toolset (for MSI installer generation)

WRY Fork Requirement

This project requires a forked version of wry (Tauri's WebView library). The vendor's HelpAlert page uses GWT (Google Web Toolkit), which declares a global ipc variable. WRY also declares window.ipc for its IPC bridge, causing a collision that crashes the GWT page.

The fork renames WRY's ipc to __wry_ipc in src/webview2/mod.rs (line 897), resolving the collision.

The fork is referenced in src-tauri/Cargo.toml:

[patch.crates-io]
wry = { path = "../../wry" }

Adjust the path to match your local wry fork location.

Building

Development

cargo tauri dev

Release (Windows cross-compile from Linux)

cargo tauri build -- --target x86_64-pc-windows-gnu

The MSI installer will be in src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/bundle/msi/.

The installer bundles the WebView2 runtime offline, so target machines don't need internet access.

Standalone EXE

The raw .exe is also available at src-tauri/target/x86_64-pc-windows-gnu/release/ but requires WebView2 to already be installed on the target machine.

Project Structure

duress/
├── src/
│   ├── index.html          # Fallback loading page (shown briefly during startup)
│   └── inject.js           # Injected JS: window.open intercept + alert detection
├── src-tauri/
│   ├── Cargo.toml          # Rust dependencies (includes wry fork patch)
│   ├── tauri.conf.json     # App config: name, version, bundling, security
│   ├── capabilities/
│   │   └── default.json    # Tauri v2 permissions and remote domain IPC access
│   ├── permissions/
│   │   └── alert-detected.toml  # Custom command permission
│   ├── src/
│   │   ├── main.rs         # Windows entrypoint
│   │   └── lib.rs          # App logic: tray, window management, alert_detected command
│   └── icons/              # App icons (generated via cargo tauri icon)
└── README.md

Configuration

Adding the vendor URL

The vendor URL is set in lib.rs:

let url = WebviewUrl::External("https://helpalert.wvumedicine.org".parse().unwrap());

Alert detection tuning

Alert detection in inject.js looks for lines preceding "Geo:" in the page text. If the vendor changes their alert format, update the detection logic in the setInterval callback.

Polling interval

The DOM is checked every 2000ms (2 seconds). Adjust the setInterval delay in inject.js if needed.

Deployment Notes

• Target machines need Windows 10 or 11
• The MSI installer includes WebView2 runtime (offline) — no internet required
• The app installs per-machine by default
• Users should be instructed that closing the window minimizes to tray, and "Quit" in the tray menu is the actual exit

Known Limitations

• Alert detection relies on DOM text parsing ("Geo:" pattern preceding alert names). If the vendor updates their GWT UI significantly, detection may need adjustment.
• GWT class names are obfuscated and change between builds, so selectors are text-based rather than class-based.
• Session keepalive has not been implemented yet — if the session times out, the user must re-authenticate manually. Testing suggests the session may persist indefinitely while the app is running.
• The wry fork must be kept in sync with upstream when updating Tauri.

License

Internal use — WVU Medicine / Racoon City Technologies.