October 2005 - Koha-devel - lists.koha-community.org

Sharing experience with utf-8
by Tumer Garip 03 Jan '06

03 Jan '06

Here is what we had to do to use koha in utf-8 hoping that it helps in some of your discussions: 1- We are using koha since 2.2.0 now at 2.2.2b 2- We use English for intranet and English-Turkish for opac 3- The platform is Windows 4- We changed the character set of the database to utf-8 with the iso-xxxx data in it. No problem for Mysql as you are moving up the ladder. No need to reload the data (10 min) 5- Changed all the charset=iso-xxxx in the templates to read utf-8 and saved the files as utf-8 (15 min.) in a simple text editor. 6- Character decode in biblio for MARC21 is very ambigious for us because it is not very clear which character encoding it is changing from. All the marc records we bulkimport are MARC-8 , iso2709 or ANSEL or whatever you want to call them. So we simply wrote a one to one character mapping of MARC-8 to utf-8 for our Turkish accented characters. Here it is: #Additional Turkish characters s/(\xf0)s/ş/gm; s/(\xf0)S/Ş/gm; s/(\xf0)c/ç/gm; s/(\xf0)C/Ç/gm; s/\xe7\x49/İ/gm; s/(\xe6)G/Ğ/gm; s/(\xe6)g/ğ/gm; s/\xB8/ı/gm; s/\xB9/£/gm; s/(\xe8|\xc8)o/ö/gm ; s/(\xe8|\xc8)O/Ö/gm ; s/(\xe8|\xc8)u/ü/gm ; s/(\xe8|\xc8)U/Ü/gm ; s/\xc2\xb8/ı/gm; All the character codes are directly from LC's website about MARC21. Since we provided the actual characters rather than their codes we saved the biblio.pm as utf8 to save time. (Half a day together with research) 7- We have a full working koha as utf8 supporting all characters and we keep doing the same thing everytime we get an update. 8- Translation of opac files through .po files do not work for us. As we see it, this po translator is simply a search and replace text engine. So it converts the string ' English English <somevariable> English.' to ' Turkish Turkish <somevariable> Turkish'. Which is useless as it should be 'Turkish <somevariable> Turkish Turkish'. 9- So we sat down and translated the opac templates to proper Turkish. It is now more easier for our people to follow the changes in cvs and implement the changes to templates rather than doing complete translations every time. 10- The whole update up till now is taking less than half a day with one person doing it. 11- We as Windows people do not have much experience with this po editor. But as far as I know it supports utf8 so whats the hassle about these translations? As far as we understand it the official language of KOHA is English and if someone is translating it to some other language it is their responsibility to find the resources to translate it in time to be implemented as an additional language. Even if this requires a complete rewrite of some templates. 12- Finally we believe that koha should start using utf8 ASAP before the move to zebra to gain experience. If zebra is implemented with all this iso stuff we will have more problems with each translation requiring a different character set and sort order set and character mapping to set etc. etc. Koha is more powerful with more features, stability and performance and I believe people will be more happy to see improvement in these even if they have to spend a little bit more resource on their own translations. With no prejudice, Tumer Garip Near East Univ. Library Director Cyprus tgarip(a)neu.edu.tr

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Re:[Koha-devel] koha head and prog templates
by Joshua Ferraro 30 Oct '05

30 Oct '05

Hi all, Paul, Owen some Katipo folks and I discussed PROG templates on IRC earlier this week. The problem is that for a programmer, it's nice to have a more full-featured template to work with when programming, but for a template maintainer it's difficult to keep up with changes using an already complex template. I think Paul's third suggestion, to improve the useability of the PROG template is the best direction for 3.0. So ... what we need to discuss is what should be included in the PROG to make them easier for a programmer to use while still keeping their function as a template designer framework. Paul has proposed the following: > Every template system could be described by the following elements : > - a header, on top of the page. > - a menu, on top of the page too or on the left. > - a navigator bar, saying what we did before (Koha >> cataloguing >> > serials >> add subscription for example), with link to go "up". > - the main part of the page (the content) > - the footer. > This works for me ... if there are no objections from our template maintainers than I'd say let's work on getting these elements into the PROG templates. Cheers, -- Joshua Ferraro VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE President, Technology migration, training, maintenance, support LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS jmf(a)liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS > I've just donwloaded the PROG templates owen made, and have some comments. > > They are not nice. But that's not a problem. they are not supposed to be > nice ;-) > The main problem, according to me is that they are poor in useability. > > So, what to do ? > we can : > - Continue with prog, but I would not be happy at all with this solution > - Drop them and go on with default. I would not really be happy with > this solution either, as I agree that Koha 3.0 would not be nicer than > 2.2 if we don't change the templates ! > - Try to improve useability of PROG ? that's probably a way to follow. > in my idea, the PROG templates should give a framework for template > designers AND, through a stylesheet, be the default templates. > > My opinion is based on the number of templates the librarian interface > has (more than 100). I think it would be better to have strong, nice, > stable and maintained templates for librarian interface, plus a > framework for libraries that want specific ones. > > I've seen some specific templates made by katipo, that are really nice. > maybe liblime has some too. We should choose one and go with it, I think. > > my suggestion : > Every template system could be described by the following elements : > - a header, on top of the page. > - a menu, on top of the page too or on the left. > - a navigator bar, saying what we did before (Koha >> cataloguing >> > serials >> add subscription for example), with link to go "up". > - the main part of the page (the content) > - the footer. > > If we divide the PROG templates in those 5 parts i think we would have > something useable AND easy to make evolve. > > However, i'll follow RM decision ;-) > > (if you think this mail contains things unordered ideas, questions, > thoughts... I fully agree ;-) ) > -- > Paul POULAIN > Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres > responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org) > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the JBoss Inc. > Get Certified Today * Register for a JBoss Training Course > Free Certification Exam for All Training Attendees Through End of 2005 > Visit http://www.jboss.com/services/certification for more information > _______________________________________________ > Koha-devel mailing list > Koha-devel(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/koha-devel > > ----- End forwarded message -----

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News Updates on Koha.org
by Russel Garlick 30 Oct '05

30 Oct '05

Hi everyone, Just a note about two new news items on http://www.koha.org Doctor Internet Recommends Koha 31 Oct 2005 http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2005/102405internet.html Horowhenua Public Library Goes Live With Koha 2.2 29 Oct 2005 http://www.katipo.co.nz/about-us/news/nr1130530255.shtml If you have an item of Koha news that you would like to share with the community, then please send it through to kohaweb(a)support.katipo.co.nz. Have a good week, Cheers -- Russel Garlick Operations Manager Katipo Communications Ph: +64 4 934 1285 Fax: +64 4 934 1286 Mob: +64 27 537 1377 Skype: russelgarlick Web http://www.katipo.co.nz

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Help writing or customizing plugins
by Andres Tarallo 26 Oct '05

26 Oct '05

I'm about to write a plugin form filling the publsiers and maybe the authors in our MARC21 Koha System. Apart from reading the code: is there other documentation about how the plugins work? someone can enlight me? Thanks in advance Andres

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Re: [Koha-devel] MARC editor for Koha 3.0
by Partha Mukhopadhyay 26 Oct '05

26 Oct '05

Hello Paul, Thanks a lot. I'll try and report it to forum. In the mean time I found on yesterday late night that the new addition of letter generation facilities in KOHA 2.2.4 is not working. It is reporting missing of letter.pl file. And it's really missing. Thanks again Partha Mukhopadhyay Vidyasagar University, India > Partha Mukhopadhyay a écrit : > > Hello Fiends, > > > > Koha 3.0 is in the pipeline. Great news. It'll include an expert > > MARC editor and the schema has already been designed.I've one > > question about MARC editor. > >Is it going to include Leader field (24 characater fixed field)in > MARC editor this time? In fact we failed to add leader field in > MARC framework in koha 2.2.3. > >(Although it produces minimum (computer generated) leader data during export) > >If yoy have an idea about how to add Leader in MARC framework of > released koha version > > (particularly 2.2.3, we've not yet explored 2.2.4) let us know. > > Better than this : it's included in Koha 2.2.4 ! > upgrade to 2.2.4, then do : > Koha >> parameters >> biblio framework >> choose your framework > >> add field >> 000 leader >> save > >> subfields for 000 >> edit subfields >> add a subfield @ (in tab > 0 or where you want) Name it "leader". Select plugin > marc21_leader.pl >> save > > Koha >> catalogue >> add biblio >> clic on ... near the 000@ > tada... you can fill your leader !!! > > (note that you can select unimarc_leader.pl as plugin if you use unimarc) > -- Paul POULAIN > Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres > responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org) > > > ------------------------------------------------------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the JBoss Inc. > Get Certified Today * Register for a JBoss Training Course > Free Certification Exam for All Training Attendees Through End of 2005 > Visit http://www.jboss.com/services/certification for more information > _______________________________________________ > Koha-devel mailing list > Koha-devel(a)lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/koha-devel -- India.com free e-mail - www.india.com. Check out our value-added Premium features, such as an extra 20MB for mail storage, POP3, e-mail forwarding, and ads-free mailboxes!

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koha head and prog templates
by Paul POULAIN 26 Oct '05

26 Oct '05

I've just donwloaded the PROG templates owen made, and have some comments. They are not nice. But that's not a problem. they are not supposed to be nice ;-) The main problem, according to me is that they are poor in useability. So, what to do ? we can : - Continue with prog, but I would not be happy at all with this solution - Drop them and go on with default. I would not really be happy with this solution either, as I agree that Koha 3.0 would not be nicer than 2.2 if we don't change the templates ! - Try to improve useability of PROG ? that's probably a way to follow. in my idea, the PROG templates should give a framework for template designers AND, through a stylesheet, be the default templates. My opinion is based on the number of templates the librarian interface has (more than 100). I think it would be better to have strong, nice, stable and maintained templates for librarian interface, plus a framework for libraries that want specific ones. I've seen some specific templates made by katipo, that are really nice. maybe liblime has some too. We should choose one and go with it, I think. my suggestion : Every template system could be described by the following elements : - a header, on top of the page. - a menu, on top of the page too or on the left. - a navigator bar, saying what we did before (Koha >> cataloguing >> serials >> add subscription for example), with link to go "up". - the main part of the page (the content) - the footer. If we divide the PROG templates in those 5 parts i think we would have something useable AND easy to make evolve. However, i'll follow RM decision ;-) (if you think this mail contains things unordered ideas, questions, thoughts... I fully agree ;-) ) -- Paul POULAIN Consultant indépendant en logiciels libres responsable francophone de koha (SIGB libre http://www.koha-fr.org)

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Re: [Koha-devel] MARC editor for Koha 3.0
by Partha Mukhopadhyay 26 Oct '05

26 Oct '05

Hello Fiends, Koha 3.0 is in the pipeline. Great news. It'll include an expert MARC editor and the schema has already been designed.I've one question about MARC editor. Is it going to include Leader field (24 characater fixed field)in MARC editor this time? In fact we failed to add leader field in MARC framework in koha 2.2.3.(Although it produces minimum (computer generated) leader data during export) If yoy have an idea about how to add Leader in MARC framework of released koha version (particularly 2.2.3, we've not yet explored 2.2.4) let us know. Partha Mukhopadhyay Lecturer, Vidyasagar University, WB, India -- India.com free e-mail - www.india.com. Check out our value-added Premium features, such as an extra 20MB for mail storage, POP3, e-mail forwarding, and ads-free mailboxes!

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Re: [Koha-devel] MARC editor for Koha 3.0
by Partha Mukhopadhyay 26 Oct '05

26 Oct '05

Hello Fiends, Koha 3.0 is in the pipeline. Great news. It'll include an expert MARC editor and the schema has already been designed.I've one question about MARC editor. Is it going to include Leader field (24 characater fixed field)in MARC editor this time? In fact we failed to add leader field in MARC framework in koha 2.2.3.(Although it produces minimum (computer generated) leader data during export) If yoy have an idea about how to add Leader in MARC framework of released koha version (particularly 2.2.3, we've not yet explored 2.2.4) let us know. Partha Mukhopadhyay Lecturer, Vidyasagar University, WB, India -- India.com free e-mail - www.india.com. Check out our value-added Premium features, such as an extra 20MB for mail storage, POP3, e-mail forwarding, and ads-free mailboxes!

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Last Acquired RSS
by Owen Leonard 21 Oct '05

21 Oct '05

We'd like to offer RSS feeds for newly acquired items, but we haven't managed to figure out how to do it well. The current configuration for the last Acquired feed doesn't work well at all. It uses this query: select biblio.title as title, biblio.author as author, biblio.biblionumber as bibid from biblio, biblioitems, items where biblioitems.biblionumber = items.biblionumber and biblio.biblionumber = items.biblionumber and items.dateaccessioned is not NULL order by items.dateaccessioned desc This doesn't work well for a couple of reasons: 1. It returns duplicate results 2. It returns results for items which have been recently added to old biblios I'm wondering whether a simply search by biblionumber isn't going to return better results? At least it would get me only new biblios, rather than new items. What do others think? Is anyone using Koha's RSS? -- Owen

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Re: [Koha-devel] Koha Statuses and MARC?
by COURYHOUSE＠aol.com 20 Oct '05

20 Oct '05

The best thing is to keep MARC as standard as you can... Ed Sharpe archivist for SMECC. > Paul et al, > > In Paul's proposed scheme for item statuses, the items.notforloan > field is linked to MARC field 942$k and then an authorized value > is set for that field (defined by the library). Before we invest > too much development energy on this idea I'd like to question > whether it's even a good idea to store status information in the > MARC record, especially we we move toward using Zebra to store our > textual (MARC) database. > > Stephen and I spoke earlier today and he's got me thinking that maybe > it's not such a good idea to store statuses in MARC. MARC wasn't > really designed for anything but the static record information. It's > ill-suited for transactional based data such as statuses. > > I propose that for Koha 3.0 we create a new field in the Koha tables > called 'items.status'. items.status can be a numeric value and have > a set of library-defined authorized values. We can then add a framework > for setting those values that a library must setup when they install > the system. For instance, it should be possible to set Koha to > automatically set an items status to 'in transit' when an item is > on reserve to a patron in a branch other than the holdingbranch (when > the item is returned) and 'waiting' when it arrives and is scanned. > But the goal would be to make this a setting that the library could > define when setting Koha up, a set of 'status rules'. > > Comments, suggestions, volunteers? > > Cheers, > -- > Joshua Ferraro VENDOR SERVICES FOR OPEN-SOURCE SOFTWARE > President, Technology migration, training, maintenance, support > LibLime Featuring Koha Open-Source ILS > jmf(a)liblime.com |Full Demos at http://liblime.com/koha |1(888)KohaILS Thanks, Ed Sharpe, Archivist for SMECC See the Museum's Web Site at www.smecc.org We are always looking for items to add to the museum's display and ref. library - please advise if you have anything we can use. Coury House / SMECC 5802 W. Palmaire Ave. Phone 623-435-1522 Glendale Az 85301 USA CONFIDENZIALE: Questo messaggio e gli eventuali allegati sono confidenziali e riservati. Se vi è stato recapitato per errore e non siete fra i destinatari elencati, siete pregati di darne immediatamente avviso al mittente. Le informazioni contenute non devono essere mostrate ad altri, né utilizzate, memorizzate o copiate in qualsiasi forma. CONFIDENTIAL: This e-mail and any attachments are confidential and may contain reserved information. If you are not one of the named recipients, please notify the sender immediately. Moreover, you should not disclose the contents to any other persons, nor should the information contained be used for any purpose or stored or copied in any form.

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