Robert Heller
Forum Replies Created
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Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Collection TypesI don’t have any new features planned at this time. I don’t have the time/energy to add such non-trivial features at this time.
The package is Open Source. This means that *anyone* can grab the source and add new features or whatever.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Standalone KioskIt is theoriatically possible. You could create a user with a role of volunteer and give out the password (or just leave the computer on and the user logged in all of the time). The security would totally suck and there would be all sorts possible mistakes possible, but if you were willing to risk it…
The plugin was not really designed to be used this way. I would think that properly training a few volunteers and organize some sort of reasonable ‘hours’. Do you really have people showing up at your church at 2am Thursday morning wanting to borrow a book? Or are you thinking a Las Vagas style 24/7 drive-through church? 🙂
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Data source besides AmazonThe WebLibrarian plugin is open source, so you are free to edit the code.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Data source besides AmazonI have no idea. I don’t know anything about whatever API http://www.ibs.it provides (if any). I know nothing about Tellico.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Ajax Error?Well, since I run CentOS 5 (a version of Linux) on my desktop, I just installed Apache, MySQL, and PHP53, so my desktop machine is a LAMP server, exactly like my virtual server. I also run a DNS server on it and run multiple virtual web sites (again, just like my virtual server). So I have a test server that is exactly like my production server.
I take it XAMPP is some sort of MS-Windows thingy? I wonder if there is some sort of MS-Windows weirdness going on, not that there is much I can do about it, since I don’t have any MS-Windows machines to test things on. I do understand that both PHP and MySQL under MS-Windows behave slightly differently than under Linux — they are built slightly differently, both because of different compile time flags and some operating system differences.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] How do you check out a book?This is covered in the FAQ “How do I check an item out?”.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Ajax Error?What is XAMPP?
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Ajax revisitedYou should talk to your provider. If the host is running RHEL or CentOS, the PHP Curl module is included as part of the base PHP install. On Debian-based Linuxes (this includes Ubuntu), the PHP Curl module needs to be installed as a separate package. There is no real good reason NOT to install the PHP Curl module, except that the Debian packagers decided to separate it out. Note: this is actually only needed for the Amazon product lookup. The plugin otherwise does not use Curl.
The web librarian plugin has no partitular support for the concept of multiple physical copies of a given item. Each physical item gets its own barcode. The web librarian is meant for a small library where duplicate copies of items is rare (or at least very uncommon). If you really have multiple (esp. many) instances of ’10 copies’ if a given book, maybe you should consider a different library management system (Evergreen maybe?).
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Timesaver ModI understand. I was just pointing out the workflow that Evergreen uses.
It does seem to me that if someone was taking out 2 (or more) items at a time (which is actually not uncommon at our library), it might make sense to select the patron first, and then scan each item in succession, rather than scaning an item, selecting the patron, than scaning the next item and then re-selecting the patron. The Evergreen work flow seems like it might be a better work flow. Just a thought.Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Timesaver Mod*Evergreen’s* UI / workflow is like this:
1) Scan patron’s barcode (library cards have bar codes) OR lookup patron (eg by name) when a patron forgets his/her library card. This opens the patron’s record (eg ‘Lookup Patron’).
2) Then with the checkout tab selected (default), one can then just scan item barcodes.
Maybe you can ‘swap’ the order of functionality (and yes, the web librarian will let you do that — the only reason *I* have been suggesting selecting the item before the patron is that is useful if you *don’t* have a bar code scanner and are selecting the item to be checked out from the collection list (possibly after doing a item search).
I did not write the WebLibrarian to support *patron* barcodes, but I could possibly add that at some point.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] How to print item barcode labelsThe weblibrary can export/download as CSV. I have no clue about Alexandria.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] How to print item barcode labelsAt the library here, the library gets sheets of pre-printed barcode stickers and barcodes are always entered (scanned) and never ‘generated’. There are various software packages for printing barcodes and can probably be found with a web search.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Ajax Error with AmazonSee the other ‘resolved’ Ajax/Amazon error thread. It appears the Debian-flavored linux distros don’t include the curl module for php as part of the base php install. It is a separate package that needs to be installed.
Forum: Plugins
In reply to: [WebLibrarian] Ajax 500/Amazon Error solvedHa! I am using CentOS 5 and the php53 package *includes* curl in the ‘common’ package, so curl is installed by default:
sauron.deepsoft.com% rpm -qf /usr/lib64/php/modules/curl.so
php53-common-5.3.3-22.el5_10