[Koha-devel] rel_TG explained

[Tumer Garip]

Well attaching this document did not work. So here it in full:

 

What is KOHA rel_TG and why does it exits? Facts and figures to sooth your minds.

1-rel_TG is not any release version
2-rel_TG is there to stop Tumer complaining about some features in KOHA
3-rel_TG does not help in global warming issues but distructs you about cooler issues like KOHA.
4-rel_TG is there for those developers who may want to port some functioanality to official KOHA

So here are some not at all asked questions about rel_TG

1-rel_TG is a working version of KOHA in NEU Library it is not that easy to upgrade to rel_TG from any version of KOHA unless you know exactly what you are doing. i.e don’t do it.
   Get a clean install if you actually want to or professional help from people like those mentioned in koha.org
2-rel_TG does not have an installer in any box(Linux,Windows,MAC etc.) but it can be manually installed and used in any box.
3-rel_TG does have features not available in any version of KOHA. Including its own peculiarities.
4-rel_TG does miss some features being introduced in rel_3 (HEAD). There being added on a slower pace.

Here are the professional differences about rel_TG :
1-It mainly relies on ZEBRA for all searches.
2-Due to restrictions in ZEBRA it defines a koharecord metadata to overcome some RDB issues with zebra.
3-It only works with MARC records.(i.e there is no non-marc choice).
4-Internally all record structure is XML(no binary MARC is held)
5-It intends to be optimised for heavy circulation issues.
6-It works under IE and Windows and not tested under Firefox, but definitely works under Linux. It has been tested with IIS as well and works very well.
   However Apache and mod_perl rocks.

And here are  the more boring more professional issues in alphabetical order of cgi-bin:
1-Acqui:
 Not much difference exept that it is MARC dependent (ie links to an existing MARC or creates a new MARC). You have to give an order number and an an invoice number(on receive).
 You can receive a partial order or multiple orders from same supplier.

2-Admin:
 a-The idea of frameworks is redefined. You can not set mappings of koha fields to MARC fields by frameworks. This mapping is done globally by koha_attr table.
 Frameworks are only there to define what to display and not during data entry and display. Each biblio framework has a corresponding holdings frameworks.
 b- Two distinct marcxml records are held for biblio and holdings. That is one bibliographic and multiple holdings MARC records rather than one record holding all data.
 c- Each bibliographic framwework has an accomplying holding framework. That is your [moving picture] bibliographic framework has its own holding framework to define required fields.
 d- Koha_attr table defines all definitions of what MARC fields mean in koha terms. i.e 245$a Title and 952$p barcode etc. But it also defines PQF attributes of all index fields to ZEBRA.
 This user definable table defines whether a ZEBRA indexed field is available as a search term or as a sort term in OPAC or intranet.
 That is say you decided to add Library of Medicine call-numbers to your koha searches. For MARC21 they exist in $55. You have to add that to your zebra index definitions and it is indexed -thats one issue.
 But in KOHA there is no mention of “Library of Medicine call-number” anywhere. But  once you add this term and define it as $55a and it will appear as a search term in search options(intranet).
 If you are sorting on this term it will appear as sort-by as well.
 e- Borrower categories has an “allow public virtual shelves”. We do not allow all borrowers this privilege. It also has “overdue notice to be send”. Some privileged borrowers never get those messages!
 f- Issuing rules look same but act different. The notation 1,3,30 means $1/day fine 3 days grace period(ie on 4th day a fine of $4 is added) total fine upto 30 days. Fines work on a daily bases.
 Running the fines script any time will always uptodate itself. It does not have to run any specific time and there is no missing a day that the script should have run.
 When the maximum fine is reached item is marked lost, replacement cot is added and if not present a systempreference fixed replacement cost is added.

3- Authorities: Same functionality as addbiblio. Multiple page display. Also has a not very standard linking function of an authority to another language or another authority

4- Barcodes: uses the standard PDF::API2 but modified to our own needs in creating not very random barcodes. Also has membership card feature for printing members photo and details on a blank memebership card.

5- Bookshelves:Public and private shelves only. Shelve contents are all biblio level rather than item. i.e biblionumber stored and not item number. Superlibrarian can access all shelves
6- Catalogue: catalogue-search has infinite number of search field additions. Yaz-client like search is included for those who can write their own search in CCL,CQL or PQF.
 An experimental MARCdetail_wrapper.pl is included with  accomplying xsl stylesheets. It uses sablotron or xml:libxslt to display MARC. Due to problems on Windows box its development is stopped but may be usefull for Linux users.

7-Cataloguing: It all looks similar but everything is XML and items page is infact a separate record with its own header controlfields and everything. The items page displays all different fields on a single page (like other kohas). The framework definitions of  “show in Opac” “show in editor” “show in intranet” are adhered

8-Circulation: This is optimised for fast transactions. We have 8.9 transactions/sec under mod_perl. Calendar is activated through system preferences as normal or Calendar. Under Calendar mode it will add a day to issue until a working day is found. No pre-defining of return date is allowed. Renews will return error messages on why not renewed.
 Rescirculation means reserve section circulations and its for items where hourly circulation rules apply. Very NEU specific and ask me if you need more info on this.

9-Export: Not much difference except that you can export biblios only or holdings only marc records. You can than use biblios only marcs to create say a z3950 server where  holdings data is not wanted

10-Koha-tmpl: default template is npl for intranet (renamed to default) and css for opac. No other templates exist. OPAC has en and tr templates but need playing around not to display harcdoded NEU Library and email info. Images folder is taken out of language specific folders.

11-Members: Should be similar to dev week.

12-Misc: a-scripts to export koha metarecords for ZEBRA indexing. Export by timemodified or by biblionumber.
 b-Contains ZEBRA configuration files which now uses the new DOM filter. Indexing and retriaval are all done with xsl stysheets. When retrieving a record from zebra passing ElementSetName>”biblios” will return only the bibliografic MARCXML , ElementSetName>”holdings” only items MARCXMLs ElementSetName>”marchtml” will return the actual marc formatted in html ready to display including all TAG and subfield names.(experimental).
 c-Under cronjobs:sendoverdues.pl will send an sms message or email but no letter. Need to be looked into to use preferred contact method. Fines2.pl similar to what i explained earlier. Running repeadeately or missing a day does not matter. Always updates to the last state of daily fine.
 d-I will be adding other scripts and explain them as i do. Like marc splitter to separate your marc into biblio and holdings etc.

13-Opac: a-Suggestions get returned from zebra when there is no result found, language  can be changed from all screens.
 b-Intranet serach capabilities not used and search fields are hardcoded. No need to,  just because of the needs of NEU users.
 c-Serials displayed in table format rather than as a note.

14-Reports: Accounts is calendar based. You can read any days account or for a period. Items on loan and items overdue reports from ZEBRA. You can change the location of bulk items with change shelf (i.e from  new arrivals to childrens section). Shelf control management is still under development. When read a set of barcodes from a shelf it will give you missing/misplaced items.

15-Reserve: items can only be reserved on item level and if thay are checked out only.

16-Serials: MARC handling is bultin. A system preference serialsadditems causes a popup MARC items screen to show to enter barcode or whatever;

17-SMS:Handles all sms traffic. A librarian can send an sms message to patrons. A cronjob in the backround running every 5 minutes (sms_listen.pl) sends receives and acts on sms (i.e renewing books).

18-Suggestion:no change from dev_week.

19-Tools: no change. Holiday management, news management etc.

20-Value builder: usual stuf. Items have their own value builders as they are separate marc records.

C4 package differences:
1-Context.pm changed to not cache $dbh under mod_perl. Apache-DBI does a much better job automatıcally. Otherwise mysql connections get bogged very quickly.
2-Bibliadd.pm is all the routines from addbiblio.pl which are taken out.
3-Output.pm loads HTML::Template under mod_perl and Pro other times. This is due to Pro crashing Apache_mod_perl_windows combo. HTML::Template is added a flag utf8=>1 and now handles utf8 correctly. Will send the patch to package maintainer.

Well thats mainly it. The full table structure with required data is also under misc/sql-datas if anyone want to give it a try. Drop me line if you need anything :address@hidden

Tumer Garip