[Koha] Search/List RSS feeds (trigger? add call number?)

[Bales (US), Tasha R]

Good morning,

I'm writing with a couple questions about out-of-the-box RSS feeds for searches.  I'm interested in how to modify them (I really need one or more of our call numbers/classification numbers to be included), and how they are triggered.  I see two types of feeds, below.

"Subscribe to this search"

*         The manual says this feed "will allow you to see when a new item is added to the catalog".

*         How is a "new item" defined?  I've taken a look at opac-opensearch.tt and opac-search.pl, in order to under how date limiting is coming in to play, specifically (which dates, what comparison, what fields, etc.).  I do see reference to an 005 date "hack" for Atom, but it seems like only the RSS portions of the code are relevant.  I'd like to determine if I can only ever expect newly added records to be returned, or would/could updated records also be returned?

"Subscribe to this list"

*         I don't see information about this feed in the manual.

*         Since this is a search about already-cataloged, known items, it wouldn't make sense for the RSS to retrieve only newly cataloged records.  Therefore, what should trigger a subscriber to receive an update about their list if an item has been updated?  Is it the bib 005, or something else?  I've tried editing a few records in a list I am subscribed to, expecting to get a new email, but I didn't receive a message.  Although this last part may sound confusing, I'm leaving as is, as it may help explain context-I've added the feeds to my Microsoft Outlook, where each matching item shows up as a discrete "email" message in my RSS Feeds folder.

Maybe the problem here is my understanding of RSS.  My feeds appear to be refreshed every time I check my mail, but I'm only receiving RSS for newly added records.  I didn't receive a new feed today of records in my "list" that I edited yesterday.

Finally, I find that the RSS output is not usable for my patrons.  We really need call number to be included in the RSS.  It looks like we could modify the template line below to swap out isbn with another identifier, but I'm not sure how to know what term to swap in after "SEARCH_RESULT.":

<dc:identifier>ISBN:[% SEARCH_RESULT.isbn | html %]</dc:identifier>

I've tried "report-number", "callnum", "lcn", and "local-classification", which all failed to produce results.

Please advise if there are any known examples about customizing the RSS templates for the basic searches above (I didn't see anything promising in the Wiki, when I searched for "RSS" or "opensearch.tt").

Thanks so much for your time,


Tasha Bales
Enterprise Services
http://isesi.web.boeing.com/