[Koha] Barcodes required by Koha

[Chris Cormack]

On Thu, Sep 21, 2006 at 05:25:33PM -0500, Steven F.Baljkas said:
> Monday, September 18, 2006     11:35 CDT
> finally sent
> Thursday, September 21, 2006    17:19 CDT
> 
> Hi, Yan,
> 
> Thanks for your answer to Una's question.
> 
> The whole thing with barcodes has been puzzling me for quite a while, and it isn't for lack of trying to understand what Koha requires/prefers.
> 
> So before anybody tells me to read the manual (#$&%'in or otherwise), let me quote what I was able to find in Koha documentation, and ask for ***** someone among the cognoscenti (programmers/developpers) please to clarify this for those of us who are not programmers, so that we can figure out what the Koha and MARC coding requirements are. *****
> 
> This is what it says in the Koha 2.2 Users Guide as of today at 
>    URL <http://www.kohadocs.org/usersguide/ch01s04.html#d0e1564>
> 
> |  *** Currently, the barcodes generator works best with 11-digit barcodes. ***
> |  [emphasis added] The last few digits of longer barcodes will not be printed 
> |  under the barcode itself, and shorter barcodes will have the check digit
> |  printed after the barcode number. You should have a Perl programmer alter
> |  the Koha code for you if you wish to use something other than 11-digit
> |  barcodes.
> 
> 
> If there is a more relevant passage somewhere else in the guide, my humble apologies for missing it. I have sincerely tried to find the answer on my own.
> 
> To a non-programmer like me, the above passage implies that Koha wants/prefers 11-digit barcodes.
> 
> The example you cited, Yan, I know too: but it is 14-digit.
> 
> ***Are 14-digit numbers of the type Yan cited in use in Koha libraries?***

Hi all

The passage above about the 11 digit barcodes is purely for the
barcode generating module. That is, if you want Koha to print your
barcodes for you.

Apart from printing, Koha doesnt care at all what format your barcodes
are in, as long as your barcode reader can hand them as plain text to
Koha.

Hope this helps

Chris

-- 
Chris Cormack                                                     Programmer
027 4500 789                                       Katipo Communications Ltd
chris at katipo.co.nz                                          www.katipo.co.nz