[Koha-devel] Interlibrary loans module

Alex Sassmannshausen alex.sassmannshausen at gmail.com
Wed Mar 15 10:11:22 CET 2017 

Hi Gaetan,

Yes, for sure — I would be more than happy to present this at the hackfest!

Alex


Gaetan Boisson writes:

>   Hi Alex,
>
> Would you consider presenting this work at the hackfest?
>
> I'd be very interested!
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> Le 22/02/2017 à 07:52, Alex Sassmannshausen a écrit :
>> Hugo Agud writes:
>>
>>> Hi Alex
>>>
>>> Wow! it sounds great.. I will try to do my best with this bug ;)
>> Fabulous!  Let me know if you need a pointer.
>>
>> Alex
>>
>>> Kindest Regards
>>> Hugo
>>>
>>> 2017-02-21 11:57 GMT+01:00 Alex Sassmannshausen <alex.sassmannshausen at gmail.com>:
>>>
>>>   Hello Kohites!
>>>
>>>   Andrew and I have just finished a second major revision of our proposed
>>>   interlibrary loans module for Koha. The code and bug can be found at
>>>   [https://bugs.koha-community.org/bugzilla3/show_bug.cgi?id=7317].
>>>
>>>   We believe the code has now reached the maturity it requires for wider
>>>   engagement, and, more importantly, it's now reached the maturity that it
>>>   should be easy to get it up and running relatively easily in your
>>>   development environments.
>>>
>>>   Unfortunately we cannot deploy the module using sandboxes because
>>>   backends are implemented as separate code projects.
>>>
>>>   And we would *love* your comments thoughts and concerns about the module
>>>   if you are interested in ILL!
>>>
>>>   The final comment on the bug contains basic documentation for the Module
>>>   as a whole, and also some installation instructions. But for reference,
>>>   I've attached the same document to this email too.
>>>
>>>   Below you will find some further high-level background and a roadmap of
>>>   what we would like to achieve.
>>>
>>>   For now, if you're interested in this module:
>>>   • have a look at the bug, and get involved in the discussion!
>>>   • try to set up the module in your dev environment. It should work
>>>   easily on dev boxes and dev installs that track master.
>>>   • let us know if you face any issues!
>>>   • start a conversation with us if you might be interested in creating a
>>>   backend for your country's / organization's ILL workflows.
>>>
>>>   Finally, if you don't have access to a development environment, but you
>>>   would be interested in becoming involved in this project, get in touch
>>>   and we might be able to provide you with access to a testing
>>>   environment!
>>>
>>>   Best regards,
>>>
>>>   Alex Sassmannshausen
>>>
>>>   PTFS Europe
>>>
>>>   1 High-level background
>>>   ═══════════════════════
>>>
>>>   The ILLModule aims to provide a core framework against which different
>>>   ILL workflows can be implemented within Koha. It achieves this by
>>>   using 2 new tables as data store, and by using an extensible backend
>>>   system to create 'connectors' to ILL providers.
>>>
>>>   The data store consists of the illrequests and the
>>>   illrequestattributes tables. The former is a traditional table that
>>>   stores essential values associated with an ILL request. The later is
>>>   a key/value store, linked to a row in the former. This store can be
>>>   used to store arbitrary data provided by a backend.
>>>
>>>   The backends implement highly customizable workflows for several core
>>>   steps in the ILL management process.
>>>
>>>   At the same time, each backend can extend the core steps (called
>>>   defined as the `core_status_graph` in Koha/Illrequest.pm) with their
>>>   own additional steps (defined as the `status_graph` in a backend's
>>>   Base.pm).
>>>
>>>   Each of these steps, both core and extensions, in turn can define any
>>>   number of 'stages' required to complete each individual step.
>>>
>>>   Each step has access to a template include file, which can dispatch on
>>>   'stage'. This is mirrored by each step having a sub in a backend's
>>>   Base.pm, which once again can dispatch on 'stage'. The subs in
>>>   Base.pm have access to the full data store provided by the ILLModule;
>>>   similarly the template includes have full access to Koha template
>>>   features, including access to custom JS blocks through which, for
>>>   instance, external APIs can be called.
>>>
>>>   The main aim of this Koha module was to provide a core that is
>>>   comprehensive enough to store core data to only have to implement ILL
>>>   once in Koha, whilst being extensible enough so that virtually any ILL
>>>   workflow can be implemented against this core.
>>>
>>>   We believe we have achieved this. I'd be very interested to hear from
>>>   you if you believe you have a workflow that cannot be captured by this
>>>   (obviously, third party tools that do not provide API access will be
>>>   virtually impossible to seamlessly integrate into Koha).
>>>
>>>   2 Roadmap
>>>   ═════════
>>>
>>>   The roadmap starts from the current release of code on the bugzilla
>>>   issue.
>>>
>>>   • Publication of mature beta level code (21 February 2017)
>>>   ⁃ public testing
>>>   ⁃ public discussion
>>>   ⁃ dogfooding
>>>
>>>   • Augment core functionality (~ June 2017)
>>>   ⁃ add advanced configuration options for the core module
>>>   ⁃ add a standard system for configuring backends
>>>   ⁃ allow for an 'unmediated workflow'
>>>   ⁃ finalise 'generic requests' workflow
>>>
>>>   • Meet Koha QA standards (~ July 2017)
>>>   • Add unit tests to core ILLModule
>>>   • Ensure UI respects Koha standards
>>>   • Ensure Core code passes qa scripts
>>>
>>>   • Addition of Documentation
>>>   ⁃ contributing a chapter to the Koha manual
>>>   ⁃ ensure all pod information is correct and complete
>>>   ⁃ ('writing your own backend' tutorial?)
>>>
>>>   • Provide consistent error handling
>>>   ⁃ standard means through which a backend can 'throw' an error.
>>>   ⁃ replace uses of die with this standard route
>>>
>>>   • Integration into Koha core in Koha 17.11
>>>
>>>   _______________________________________________
>>>   Koha-devel mailing list
>>>   Koha-devel at lists.koha-community.org
>>>   http://lists.koha-community.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/koha-devel
>>>   website : http://www.koha-community.org/
>>>   git : http://git.koha-community.org/
>>>   bugs : http://bugs.koha-community.org/
>> _______________________________________________
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>> bugs : http://bugs.koha-community.org/

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