[Koha] Relationship between the MARC tables and the non-MARC ones:

[Stephen Hedges]

Hans Henderson said:
> Do all the MARC fields existing in my records need to be linked to
> the non-MARC fields correctly first?

You don't need to link _all_ the MARC fields.  In fact, you can't, because
there are many more possible MARC tags than there are possible places to
store them in the "old" Koha tables.  But you should be sure to get all
the ones you do want linked set up first.  There's a script that will
rebuild your database later if you make changes, but it can be a lengthy
process if you have a lot of MARC records.

> Are all the data from the MARC records stored in the MARC tables "as
> is", even for those fields that have a -1 in the links
> pages? In other words, please confirm that "-1" just means that they
> don't display on the data-entry screens.

Yep, you are exactly right.

> What if I make changes to these mappings after the import into the
> Breeding Farm, but before Biblios and Biblioitems have
> been created?

If you are using the bulkmarcimport script, your records do not go into
the Breeding Farm -- they go directly into the database.  And the biblio
and biblioitems tables have already been created (by the installer
script).  So if you make changes to the mapping later, you need to run the
rebuild script.  (If you're using version 2.0.0, Koha will remind you to
do this when you make changes.)

> Please confirm that importing into the Breeding Farm doesn't create
> any records in the Biblio or Biblioitems tables.

So far as I know, there's no way to import into the Breeding Farm. 
(Unless you're using your own script?)

-- 
Stephen Hedges
Skemotah Solutions, USA
www.skemotah.com  --  shedges at skemotah.com