[Koha] Export patrons

[Joe Atzberger]

> Koha 3.0 has a tool for importing patron data, but no tool for exporting
> patron data.
>
> This would come in very handy for making batch edits to large or
> large-ish numbers of patrons: Export all data, edit as needed, then
> import.
>
> (I believe the Import tool only allows for over-writing the entire
> patron record, rather than just any fields that happen to be
> non-null.)


No, you can pick the fields to be updated.  Fields that are not included
will not be updated.  However, note that this is not the same as merging
data per user per field, with a preference for "more data".  The update has
to "call its shot", in effect saying "these are the fields I am updating".
This is necessary to allow a field to be overwritten with an empty value
(for example, a phone number being updated as disconnected).


> If I have things right here, is there a canned report that will effectively
> export all the data?


For any sizable dataset, such a report would be big enough to cause
problems.  Using mysqldump for the borrowers table is probably better.


> Is there any danger of de-linking circ data with the corresponding patron
> record?


Do not update the primary key (borrowernumber) and this won't be a problem.
Of course you could achieve what looks like the same data corruption if you
update rows with other patrons' information (garbage in, garbage out).  This
should be rather unlikely, and assuming you still have the original export
from mysqldump (or wherever), it would still be recoverable.

-- 
Joe Atzberger
LibLime - Open Source Library Solutions
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