Book info in database
I tried to decipher the koha.mysql file in search of the table(s) containing the book information, however, not succeeding as wished. As such I'm asking if someone could enlighten me on this matter? The question is in which table(s) is the book-information stored. By looking at the size of the different tables i could conclude that Koha does not implement all MARC-fileds e.g. when imoprting from MARC. Correct me if im wrong...=) Well, any help is appreciated, since it for me is vital information. Thanks in advance! -- Christoffer Landtman lanttis@homeharmony.fi www.homeharmony.fi
Hello, I will do what I can to try to answer your question. I am not sure what you mean specifically by book information, but here is, to the best of my knowledge, how Koha store the book info. in the database. There are three major tables that hold book information: biblio: This table holds the information about "works" such as the author, title, and copyright date. biblioitems: This table holds the information about various "manifestations" of works. These would be things such as an ISBN number, year of publication, number of pages, etc. Each biblioitem corresponds to one of the entries in the biblio table. items: This table contains information about an item (an actual physical copy of a biblio/biblioitem). These are things such as price, barcode, branch, date last borrowed, etc. Now, it is when we get to the MARC stuff that I start getting a little uncomfortable (so Paul, if I say anything that is wrong, please correct me. Thanks). In the marc_subfield_structure table are all of the subfields for various MARC tags. There is a column for each of the subfields (kohafield) which serves as a link between the rows of biblio, biblioitems, and items and the MARC records. The various functions that are deal with this process are found in C4/Biblio.pm. I hope this helps you out a bit. Mike -- Mike Hansen <mwhansen@hmc.edu>
I cannot seem to find any table with that name in the koha.mysql file... Am i just stupid or looking in the wrong file? (version 1.2.2 btw) So You mean that you support all the umpteen fields and subfields of the MARC-standard? well, have to continue investigating...=) Thanks for the swift reply! Mike Hansen wrote:
Hello,
I will do what I can to try to answer your question. I am not sure what you mean specifically by book information, but here is, to the best of my knowledge, how Koha store the book info. in the database. There are three major tables that hold book information: biblio: This table holds the information about "works" such as the author, title, and copyright date. biblioitems: This table holds the information about various "manifestations" of works. These would be things such as an ISBN number, year of publication, number of pages, etc. Each biblioitem corresponds to one of the entries in the biblio table. items: This table contains information about an item (an actual physical copy of a biblio/biblioitem). These are things such as price, barcode, branch, date last borrowed, etc. Now, it is when we get to the MARC stuff that I start getting a little uncomfortable (so Paul, if I say anything that is wrong, please correct me. Thanks). In the marc_subfield_structure table are all of the subfields for various MARC tags. There is a column for each of the subfields (kohafield) which serves as a link between the rows of biblio, biblioitems, and items and the MARC records. The various functions that are deal with this process are found in C4/Biblio.pm. I hope this helps you out a bit.
Mike
-- Christoffer Landtman lanttis@homeharmony.fi www.homeharmony.fi
Hello again, MARC support for Koha is not available in the 1.2.x series. If you need MARC support then you will want to look in to the 1.9.x series. These releases are unstable at the moment and are leading up to the release of 2.0 which will hopefully be later this Spring or Early this summer. As for supporting all of the subfields, Koha includes a large majority (if not all. again, Paul would have the definitive answer) of the subfields of MARC. If it does not have one in particular, it looks to be extremely easy to add. Mike -- Mike Hansen <mwhansen@hmc.edu>
Mike Hansen wrote:
Hello again,
MARC support for Koha is not available in the 1.2.x series. If you need MARC support then you will want to look in to the 1.9.x series. These releases are unstable at the moment and are leading up to the release of 2.0 which will hopefully be later this Spring or Early this summer. As for supporting all of the subfields, Koha includes a large majority (if not all. again, Paul would have the definitive answer) of the subfields of MARC. If it does not have one in particular, it looks to be extremely easy to add.
Mike is right on his both answers. I've nothing to add, except that biblio, biblioitems,items are "old-style DB" and marc_* tables are "MARC style DB". If you're interested in this topic, look at C4/Biblio.pm, it's (i hope well) documented. About MARC flavours : MARC21 and UNIMARC are tested at the moment, and "full" supported. I don't know why another MARC flavour wouldn't. -- Paul POULAIN Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)
participants (3)
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Christoffer Landtman -
Mike Hansen -
paul POULAIN