[Koha-devel] Issuing rules

[Paul POULAIN]

Hello world,

We are reviewing Koha for 3.0 Release & Joshua pointed something 
important: the way issuingrules worked in koha 2.2.

In Koha 2.2, the way it works is :
- you define the rules depending on itemtype / patron category / branch
- you have "wildcard" that means "all of them". For example, * / adult / 
* = 5 means "an adult patron can't issue more than 5 items whatever the 
branch".
- The circ module check ALL the rules & warn if one is not correct. So, 
if you don't fill a cell, it's considered as 0 (= no issue possible)
- you must fill book / * / * by understanding it means : "no patron 
can't issue more than X book(s)"

This behaviour troubled a lot users, as we often have questions about 
warnings that were not expected.

Joshua think, and i' fully agree with him, that the user understand the 
wildcard as 'default if nothing specified'.
So, for example, book / * / * would mean : if a specific rule is not 
defined for patron category, then use this default value.

We should not have a "check ALL the rules", but a "check the 1st 
available, from most to less specific + check the total rule if available.".

The "wildcard" on itemtype being renamed to "total", and being applied 
if defined, as total document the patron can issue.

so we could have something like that
        adult   children  default
book   empty     3,21      5,21
serial  4,14     3,21      5,21
comic   5,21     3,21      empty
total    7       empty      5

which would mean :
- an adult can issue 5 books for 21 days (default rule)
- an adult can issue 4 serials for 14 days (specific rule)
- an adult can issue 7 documents total
- a child can issu 3 books, 3 serials, 3 comics, but 5 document maximum

The "branch level" has the same behaviour : it a rule for a branch is 
defined, then it's applicable, otherwise, it's the default rule of the 
default branch.


Let us know your opinion on this.
It would require some tweaking on issuingrules definition & a small 
rewrite the CanBookBeIssued sub, to check only 2 rules (1st found + 
total), not 8 (every cell that fit the issue).


-- 
Paul POULAIN et Henri Damien LAURENT
Consultants indépendants en logiciels libres et bibliothéconomie 
(http://www.koha-fr.org)
Tel : 04 91 31 45 19