[Koha-devel] updates to patron messaging

[Andrew Moore]

Hi Paul -

On Mon, Jun 30, 2008 at 8:05 AM, Paul POULAIN <paul.poulain at free.fr> wrote:
> Those patches have been approved in HEAD if I don't mind, so I try to
> understand how they work (& make them work for frenchies)
> It seems that you use both new tables (message_queue,
> message_transport_type, in commit d8654344fa806d4a8ce7d675ae396b4016877ec2)
> and old ones (letters).

Yes, I am re-using some of the infrastructure that we already have to
manage messages (or notices or letters). I added 5 tables, though, to
extend that infrastructure.

I'm glad you're trying them out. I don't know much about the
translation, multi-lingual stuff, or how expectations differ for
library patrons in other countries, so I appreciate your help.

> i've activated EnhancedMessagingPreferences syspref, get the "my messaging"
> in opac, but get a "mange your messaging settings" empty list  in
> opac-messaging.
>
> 2 question :
> - what to do to see something ?

I suspect that adding some data to those tables may help. See the files:

installer/data/mysql/en/mandatory/message_transport_types.sql
installer/data/mysql/en/optional/sample_notices_message_attributes.sql
installer/data/mysql/en/optional/sample_notices_message_transports.sql
installer/data/mysql/en/optional/sample_notices.sql

I would love some help making 'fr' versions of these files.

> - shouldn't the page be labelled "Manage your ..." and not "Mange your ..."
> ?

Yes, that looks like a typo. I just submitted a patch. Thanks!

> any other functionnal feedback on how it works welcomed.

The cronjob misc/cronjobs/advance_notices.pl prepares these messages
and loads them into the message_queue table. The
misc/cronjobs/process_message_queue.pl cronjob sends those messages
out. These cronjobs should each be run nightly, though the
process_message_queue.pl script can be run more often with no adverse
effects.

It's my hope that the message_queue table can be used by more features
than just this one as a way to unify the messages that we send to
patrons and other users. Queueing them in this way will allow us to
keep track of more details of what is sent and to eventually deliver
these as a RSS feed to patrons who request that. I'm hoping to see
fewer direct calls to Mail::Sendmail::sendmail scattered throughout
the code.

> (Note : It should not have been added to 3.0 imo)

Yes, I recognize that we don't have unanimous agreement on this. I
sent out several messages about my work in advance to try to build
consensus, but I could probably have done better there. I would love
to further develop our methods for measuring importance, urgency, and
demand for these features and fixes so that we can work in concert to
make a better product.

Please keep me up to date on your progress for using this feature. I
want to make it better with your help.

Thanks!
-Andy
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