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API for circulation modules
by Tonnesen Steve 16 Jan '01

16 Jan '01

I've added my API for circulation modules to the cvs repository (C4/Circulation/Circ2.pm), as well as my latest tk circulation interface (/tkperl/tkcirc) which depends on Circ2.pm. Some things I know I'm still missing: Branch and printer selection I don't create a database handle in the circulation code itself. This means that the subroutines in Circ2.pm must open and close a database handle with each call. I don't know if this delay hurts overly much, but it's there. I've been thinking that I should create the the database handle in the circulation code and pass it to the subroutines. If the database handle isn't defined, the subroutines can always create their own as a fallback. My understanding of the accounting system underlying Koha is scratchy at best. I just copied the accounting code from the existing interface... Still missing payment option in the interface (and the API, for that matter). Steve

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Fixes for NewBiblio and Acquire
by glen_stewart＠associate.com 14 Jan '01

14 Jan '01

Hi all, I'm sending Chris new versions of newbiblio.pl and acquire.pl that may benefit many of you. I suspect he'll put them in the usual place for download. They are pul-n-play with the existing 1.07 release. Here are the reasons/benefits: 1. When creating a new book order (newbiblio.pl), the Format link provides a fixed Javascript list that doesn't draw from the ItemTypes and descriptions in the database. This will be a problem for most adopters of Koha outside it's home site. I've added a routine to extract this info from the database and let the librarian quickly choose it from a pull-down menu. 2. Also in newbiblio.pl, the entry form asks for the Item Barcode. However, this info never gets put in the database! It's not assigned until the item is actually received. In case someone wants to know what the barcode for the new item MIGHT be, I've added code to list the next available barcode number in this field. Hey, if you're gonna waste your typing, you might as well have the computer waste it for ya (-; 3. In the Acquire form (when receiving an ordered item), acquire.pl had the same problem with the fixed Format link. Like #1 above, this is now listed from the database, but the Format selected when the order was placed is SELECTED as the default. 4. Item barcode is filled in automatically in the Acquire (check-in) form, and code supports entry into the database this time! <grin> The barcode number presented is the largest barcode number in the "items" table, +1. This assumes everyone is using all numeric barcodes (we do - do you?). Hope this meets the needs of most folks. Glen

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Re: API for circulation interfaces
by glen_stewart＠associate.com 12 Jan '01

12 Jan '01

Steve, You mentioned "In tk-perl, I like displaying item information in a table format" and this got me worrying that you might plan to not use the web interface for circulation functions. At my company's library, the web is the common denominator among operating systems, so if Koha tools aren't web-based, our librarians can't use them. Just a plea to stick with the web so we can all benefit from each other's work, but if your business needs drive you to another interface, it's understandable. Thanks!

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(no subject)
by Anita Pope 11 Jan '01

11 Jan '01

please remove me from your mailing list for KOHA Regards, Anita Pope Library Manager Australian Institute of Management - Qld & NT cnr Boundary and Rosa Streets Spring Hill 4000 PO Box 200 Spring Hill 4004 Phone (07) 3832 0151 or 16 13 48 Fax (07) 3832 0339 Email library(a)aimqld.com.au Web www.aimqld.com.au

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API for circulation interfaces
by Tonnesen Steve 11 Jan '01

11 Jan '01

Here is a proposed list of functions necessary to generate arbitrary circulation interfaces. Comments requested. Is this an appropriate forum for programming discussion? Program API for circulation interfaces: ==================== getpatroninformation ==================== Subroutine returns a hash reference with all patron information. Can be called with either borrowernumber or cardnumber. ($env, $patroninformation) = getpatroninformation($env,$borrowernumber,$cardnumber) ============= currentissues ============= Returns a hash reference (itemnumber => duedate) ($env, $currentissues) = currentissues($env, $borrowernumber); ================== getiteminformation ================== Subroutine returns a hash reference with all item information. Can be called with either itemnumber or barcode. ($env, $iteminformation) = getiteminformation($env,$itemnumber,$barcode) ============ findborrower ============ Subroutine returns an array reference containing a list of borrowernumbers that match $key. $key could be a cardnumber or a partial last name. ($env, $borrowernumber) = findborrower($env, $key) ========= issuebook ========= This subroutine may or may not generate additional questions that must be answered. ($env, $itemnumber, $rejected, $question, $questionnumber, $defaultanswer, $responses) = issuebook($env,$borrowernumber,$barcode) Subroutine must handle errors, some that block issuing, some that must be approved before issuing. If $rejected is not null, it will contain a message detailing the reason for rejection. Possible responses are listed below, prepended with 'Error:'. Alternatively, $rejected may just be '-1' in which case the issue should be rejected with no message displayed to the user. This might happen if the answer to a question resulted in a rejection. Error: Invalid barcode _____ Error: Invalid borrowernumber ____ Error: Item is restricted [$item->{'notforloan'}==1] Error: Item withdrawn [$item->{'withdrawn'}==1] Error: Restricted Item (and borrower not allowed to check out) [$item->{'restricted'}==1] Error: Reference item not for loan [$item->{'itemtype'} eq 'REF'] [Circulation::Renewals::renewstatus] Error: Issued to this patron, no renewals. If $question is not null, it will contain a YesNo question that should be asked. $defaultanswer will contain 'Y' or 'N'. $questionnumber will contain a unique integer for each question that might be asked. Interface code will generate a hash reference ($responses) with the responsees to each question asked and then recall issuebook() until the issue is accepted or rejected. Question: Already issued to this patron and reserved to ___, renew? default N Question: Already issued to this patron, renew? [$newdate=C4::Circulation::Renewals::renewbook()] Question: Already issued to patron ___, mark as returned? [returnrecord()] calculate any charges [calc_charges()] and [createcharge()] ========== returnbook ========== Subroutine for returning a book. $message may contain an arbitrary message to display to the user (maybe should be an array reference for multiple messages?). ($env, $itemnumber, $borrowernumber, $message, $overduefees) = returnbook($env,$barcode) Message: Reserved for collection at branch _______ Calculate any overdue fees (not in current Circulation code) [UpdateStats]

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Classification field
by Tonnesen Steve 04 Jan '01

04 Jan '01

Happy New Year! Has the classification field in the biblioitems table been replaced by the itemtype field? The entries in the two seem sort of similar in the demo data, except that the classification field isn't very uniform: Where classification is one of (Picturbook, Picture Book, Picture Books, PictureBiook, PictureBook, PictureBooks, Picture_book, Pitcurebook, PitureBook), the itemtype field is always JPC (Junior Picture Book). While on the subject. Are these itemtype classifications part of some library standard, or are they Horowhenua-specific groupings? I found that a lot of things were broken until I created some entries in the itemtype table. Steve Tonnesen (in balmy, melting, Northern British Columbia, Canada).

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Version 1.07 database update
by Tonnesen Steve 21 Dec '00

21 Dec '00

The database update script failed for me. The itemnumber field was already in the 1.06 table, so the itemtype field never got added. Also, I noticed that the new 1.07 koha.mysql data had a key on the datetime field. I had to modify the statistics datetime field so that it was NOT NULL and then add the key. Steve.

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1.07 is here
by Chris Cormack 20 Dec '00

20 Dec '00

Hi guys Ive finally tarred up and put 1.07 up availiable for download. Ive also this time, created a patch file and an update script to patch the perl scripts and update the database http://www.koha.org/download/update1.06-1.07.tar.gz The full installation is http://www.koha.org/download/koha-1.07.tar.gz Changelog is at http://www.koha.org/download/Changelog Im also in the process of setting up koha on sourceforge http://sourceforge.net/projects/koha/ I will put the files up on soureforge for download also, unfortunately at the moment they are updating things, and releasing files isnt working properly. Ill put them up there as soon as the sourceforge ppl have finished their updates. I will be setting up cvs there, so if ppl would like to work on the project please contact me, and ill enable cvs access for you. Of course anonymous cvs updates will be available for all, but I want to set it up so developers can also commit their changes to the cvs tree. Much thanks to Glen Stewart, and Steve Tonnesen for their help. I have included Glen's data import script in the tarball as well. Hope you all have a good Christmas Chris -- Chris Cormack Programmer 025 500 789 Katipo Communications Ltd chris(a)katipo.co.nz www.katipo.co.nz

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More installation log:
by Tonnesen Steve 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

Some more issues (mostly resolved) that I have come up with in testing Koha: --- 1 --- In circ program: Error message when returning from ISSUES or RETURNS scripts messed up the main menu. Added a 'system("tput clear");' to clear the screen before redrawing the main menu to fix this. --- 2 --- Reading record only shows books currently signed out. --- 3 --- When viewing an item's record and clicking on the cardnumber beside "On loan to", it always goes to borrower number 2. Found problem. Was always going to previous borrower, instead of current. Changed 'borrower0' to 'borrower' in moredetail.pl, line 133. Also had to modify Search.pm so that $data->{'borrower'} was set to current borrower. --- 4 --- When viewing items in the moredetail.pl script, the header at the top is blank (just '()' where the title, author and dewey number should be) and biblio/biblioitem info is missing in the box at left. Found a fix for this. Changed "$data=bibitemdata($bi)" to "$data=bibdata($bi)" in moredetail.pl. Probably would have been better to find out what was wrong with bibitemdata subroutine? --- 5 ---  INCLUDE lines in htdocs files are not working for me. I'm assuming that I'm missing something in my apache configuration... Yes. Needed to enable Server Side Includes. Modifed apache config and added: Options +Includes AddHandler server-parsed .html to VirtualHost sections for intranet and opac virtual hosts. Note that apache web site discourages using .html for parsed files in favour of using .shtml. But if all your flat text files for Koha are parsed it doesn't make any difference. --- 6 --- I have also started to write a simpler interface for adding books to the database. Since I have schools that have no existing library automation in place, all existing books will have to be entered by hand (hoping MARC records will come in handy here if I can find a CD to borrow) and the acquisitions module is giving me problems, and is more tedious than I need. My script asks for an ISBN, if a biblioitem already exists, it just asks for the item info. If a biblioitem does not exist, it asks for the biblio info (title, author, copyright, etc.). If there already appears to be a biblio with this info it uses that and then asks the user to enter the biblioitem info and item info. Once the existing holdings are entered, they can revert to using the standard acquisitions module, or just keep entering books using my simpler script. Steve.

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Re: MARC Records
by glen_stewart＠associate.com 15 Dec '00

15 Dec '00

Hi Folks, I recently sent Chris a script developed for our small company library, which ran GLAS (a very yucky Windows software) until yesterday. It takes what GLAS exports and acts as a SQL generator. GLAS thinks it's exporting MARC records, but I wasn't so sure. Regardless, it may be trivial to modify it for use with MARC data. Because I couldn't make sense of the MARC output GLAS provided, I used the subfield option instead of MARC tags to identify each record item (a-z line prefixes). You may be able to plug the MARC tags back into the code and put it to good use. When the script is done running, the admin types "mysql Koha < koha.sql" and all the records are brought into Koha. GLAS uses the concept of "book ID's" to identify each book as unique in the database. I used these same ID's in Koha, as biblionumber and barcode number. Our library uses these numbers on book labels as well as Dewey numbers. I should note that we still use physical cards to track overdue items. The librarians want to switch to Koha to do that, as soon as it supports automatic member number assignment. I'd love to get one of those free Radio Shack scanners and have Koha check out items using that. (-: Anyway, Chris has the script and will hopefully get it out with 1.07 or sooner. Enjoy, Glen

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