1. Upgrade notes

The minimum version of PostgreSQL required to run Evergreen 3.0 is PostgreSQL 9.4. Evergreen 3.0 also requires OpenSRF 3.0.0 or later.

1.1. Change to Names of Shared Libraries

OpenSRF 3.0 changes how the shared libraries for services written in C are named. If upgrading from an earlier version of Evergreen, opensrf.xml should be edited so that shared library file names listed in the <implementation> tag start with "lib". For example,

            <open-ils.cstore>
                <language>C</language>
                <implementation>oils_cstore.so</implementation>

should be changed to:

            <open-ils.cstore>
                <language>C</language>
                <implementation>liboils_cstore.so</implementation>

1.2. SIP Bugfix Requires SIPServer Upgrade

The fix for Launchpad Bug 1542495: "OpenILS::SIP::clean_text() can crash" requires that you also upgrade SIPServer with the fix for Launchpad Bug 1463943: "Non-ascii Unicode characters in messages cause SIP client problems." This means that if you use SIP2 with Evergreen, you must also upgrade SIPServer to the latest commit in the git repository. Conversely, if you upgrade SIPServer to the latest commit in git, you must also upgrade Evergreen or, at least, apply the patch for Launchpad Bug 1542495. These two patches are complementary and cannot be applied independently of one another.

1.3. open-ils.auth.login

The new open-ils.auth.login API must be added to the list of <log_protect> API’s in the opensrf_core.xml file.

Sample diff:

--- a/Open-ILS/examples/opensrf_core.xml.example
+++ b/Open-ILS/examples/opensrf_core.xml.example
@@ -180,6 +180,7 @@ Example OpenSRF bootstrap configuration file for Evergreen
     <log_protect>
       <match_string>open-ils.auth.authenticate.verify</match_string>
       <match_string>open-ils.auth.authenticate.complete</match_string>
+      <match_string>open-ils.auth.login</match_string>
       <match_string>open-ils.auth_proxy.login</match_string>
       <match_string>open-ils.actor.patron.password_reset.commit</match_string>
       <match_string>open-ils.actor.user.password</match_string>

1.4. RTL CSS Stylesheet

Administrators of Evergreen who use RTL locales and who have customized style-rtl.css.tt2 should now incorporate their customizations into style.css.tt2.

1.5. Multi-Time Zone Installations

For Evergreen consortia that span more than one time zone, the following query will adjust all historical, unaged circulations so that if their due date field is pushed to the end of the day, it is done in the circulating library’s time zone, and not the server time zone.

It is safe to run this after any change to library time zones.

Running this is not required, as no code before this change has depended on the time string of 23:59:59. It is also not necessary if all of your libraries are in the same time zone, and that time zone is the same as the database’s configured time zone.

DO $$
declare
    new_tz  text;
    ou_id   int;
begin
    for ou_id in select id from actor.org_unit loop
        for new_tz in select oils_json_to_text(value) from actor.org_unit_ancestor_setting('lib.timezone',ou_id) loop
            if new_tz is not null then
                update  action.circulation
                  set   due_date = (due_date::timestamp || ' ' || new_tz)::timestamptz
                  where circ_lib = ou_id
                        and substring((due_date at time zone new_tz)::time::text from 1 for 8) <> '23:59:59';
            end if;
        end loop;
    end loop;
end;
$$;

2. Deprecation of XUL staff client

Starting with the release of 3.0.0, patches that fix XUL bugs will not be merged into master or backported unless they meet one or more of the following conditions:

  1. the bug is a security issue

  2. the bug involves the destruction of data

  3. the bug is a regression of functionality in the XUL staff client introduced by other work done to Evergreen

Under no circumstances will XUL staff client feature enhancements be merged.

This policy will continue through the 3.0.x and 3.1.x maintenance release cycles, and will become moot upon the release of 3.2.0, when the XUL staff client is slated to be entirely removed.

3. New Features

3.1. New Staff Client

Evergreen 3.0 features a new, modern staff client that runs in the web browser and can be used on desktop and mobile devices. All functional areas of the system, including circulation, cataloging, acquisitions, serials, reports, booking, administration, and offline circulation, are available in the new staff client. Chrome and Firefox are officially supported for use with the web client.

Library staff will no longer need to download separate software to perform most actions in Evergreen. A Chrome plugin called Hatch will be available as a separate installation for workstations that require seamless, dialog-free printing to multiple printers.

In addition to adding more portability and stability, the new staff client also presents a cleaner and more modern interface for users. By virtue of running in a browser, actions that users are accustomed to performing on other web sites should now be available in the Evergreen client.

The old, XUL client will continue to be available to allow for a gradual transition to the browser-based client, but no new features will be added. The old client will totally be removed from Evergreen in the Fall 2018 3.2.0 release.

3.2. Administration

3.2.1. New EDI Order Generator

Configuration
  1. New database tables exist for configuring vendor-specific EDI order attributes.

    • acq.edi_attr

      • List of EDI order generation toggles, e.g. "INCLUDE_COPIES" to add GIR segments

    • acq.edi_attr_set

      • Collection of edi_attr’s. Each edi_account may be linked to one edi_attr_set.

      • One edi_attr_set per known vendor is added to the stock data, matching the stock configuration found in the JEDI template.

    • acq.edi_attr_set_map

      • Link between edi_attr’s and edi_attr_set’s.

  2. EDI Attribute Sets are manged via a new (browser client only) configuration interface at Administration → Acquisitions Administration → EDI Attribute Sets.

  3. Each acq.edi_account should be linked to an acq.edi_attr_set. If a link is not set, default values will be used. Links between an EDI account and an attribute set are managed in the EDI Accounts configuration interface.

  4. Local modifications to the stock EG JEDI template are managed by modifying and/or adding additional edi_att_set’s as needed.

  5. A new edi_order_pusher.pl script is added which replaces the functionality of edi_pusher.pl. edi_pusher.pl is still available.

  6. After moving to edi_order_pusher.pl, the JEDI Action/Trigger event definition is no longer required. It can be disabled.

Migration

EDI accounts have a new boolean field "Use EDI Attributes" (use_attrs) that specifies whether PO’s generated via the account should be built using EDI attributes or fall back to traditional JEDI A/T template generation.

This allows sites to activate EDI attributes on a per-account basis, making it possible to migrate piecemeal to EDI attributes. For the initial roll out of this new feature, no accounts will be configured to use EDI attributes by default.

3.2.2. 3 Day Courtesy Notice by SMS

New optional SMS text notification to be sent out 3 days prior to the due date of any circulating item for patrons who have an SMS text number and carrier stored in their accounts. This action trigger is disabled by default, but can be enabled and modified by going into Admin > Local Administration > Notifications / Action Triggers.

You may wish to make use of granularity so that these messages are batched and sent at the same time each day.

3.2.3. Add Description Field to Circulation and Hold Configuration Entries

The circulation and hold policy configuration rules now each have a description field. This allows administrators to add comments to describe the purpose of each rule.

3.2.4. Apache Internal Port Configuration Option

Apache configuration now supports a new variable which allows admins to specify the port used by Apache to handle HTTP traffic. The value is used for HTTP requests routed from Perl handlers back to the same Apache instance, like added content requests. Use this when running Apache with a non-standard port, typical with a proxy setup. Defaults to "80".

<Location /eg>
    ...
    PerlSetVar OILSWebInternalHTTPPort "7080"
    ...
</Location>

3.2.5. Configurable Bib Record Display Fields

Admin → Server Admin → MARC Search/Facet Fields have 2 new configuration fields: Display Field? and Display XPATH.

When Display Field is set to true, data from the field will be extracted from each record and added to a new table of display data for each bib record.

If a value is present in the Display XPATH field, this XPATH will be applied to the extracted data after the base XPATH (from the XPath field) is applied to each field.

This data acts as a replacement for the various and sundry ways bib record data is currently extracted, including inline XPATH in the TPAC, reporter views, real-time MVR compilation from MODS, etc. and will be available to the user interface, notification templates, etc. for rendering bib records.

The browser client gets a new service egBibDisplay which is capable of translating the display field data from various formats into data more suitable for JavaScript usage.

The database gets 3 new views for representing display data in various formats:

  • metabib.flat_display_entry

    • List of all display fields linked to their configuration.

  • metabib.compressed_display_entry

    • Same as metabib.flat_display_entry except there’s one row per display field type, with multi rows compressed into JSON arrays. Non-multi fields are represented as JSON strings/numbers.

  • metabib.wide_display_entry

    • Tabular view of display field data, one column per well-known field. Values are represented JSON, consistent with metabib.flat_display_entry. The view does not contain locally configured display fields, as each field must be encoded in the view and IDL definition. This is essentially a replacement for reporter.simple_record.

Reingesting

After making changes to display field configuration, it’s possible to reingest only display field data in the database using the following:

SELECT metabib.reingest_metabib_field_entries(id, TRUE, FALSE, TRUE, TRUE,
  (SELECT ARRAY_AGG(id)::INT[] FROM config.metabib_field WHERE display_field))
  FROM biblio.record_entry WHERE NOT deleted AND id > 0;

3.2.6. Fix COPY_STATUS_LONGOVERDUE.override Permission Typo

The existing permission was incorrectly created with a code of COPY_STATUS_LONGOVERDUE.override, while the event thrown requires a permission with a code of COPY_STATUS_LONG_OVERDUE.override. This update changes the permission code to match what the event requires.

3.2.7. Hold Targeter V2 Repairs and Improvements

  • Make the batch targeter more resilient to a single-hold failure.

  • Additional batch targeter info logging.

  • Set OSRF_LOG_CLIENT in hold_targeter_v2.pl for log tracing

  • Removes the confusingly named --target-all option

    • The same behavior can be achieved by using --retarget-interval "0s"

  • Removes --skip-viable (see --soft-retarget-interval below)

New --next-check-interval Option

Specify how long after the current run time the targeter will retarget the currently affected holds. Applying a specific interval is useful when the retarget-interval is shorter than the time between targeter runs.

For example, if the targeter is run nightly at midnight with a --retarget-interval 36h, you would set --next-check-interval to 48hr, since the holds won’t be processed again until 48 hours later. This ensures that the org unit closed date checks are looking at the correct date.

This setting overrides the default behavior of calculating the next retarget time from the retarget-interval.

New --soft-retarget-interval Option

This is a replacement for (and rebranding of) the --skip-viable option. The new option allows for time-based soft-targeting instead simple binary on/off soft-targeting.

How soft-targeting works:

  • Update hold copy maps for all affected holds

  • Holds with viable targets (on the pull list) are otherwise left alone.

  • Holds without viable targets are retargeted in the usual manner.

3.2.8. New marc_export --descendants option

The marc_export script has a new option, --descendants. This option takes one argument of an organizational unit shortname. It works much like the existing --library option except that it is aware of the org. tree and will export records with holdings at the specified organizational unit and all of its descendants. This is handy if you want to export the records for all of the branches of a system. You can do that by specifying this option and the system’s shortname, instead of specifying multiple --library options for each branch.

The --descendants option can be repeated, as the --library option can. All of the specified org. units and their descendants will be included in the output. It can also be combined with individual --library options when necessary.

3.2.9. RTL and LTR Public Catalog Stylesheets Merged

The RTL stylesheet for the public catalog, templates/opac/css/style-rtl.css.tt2, has been merged into the LTR one (templates/opac/css/style.css.tt2). The combined stylesheet template will provide RTL or LTR styles based on the value of the rtl flag of the active locale. An rtl variable is also available in the template to allow the correct style to be chosen.

3.2.10. Miscellaneous Improvements

  • If a filter is in effect in the Library Settings Editor, the filter will continue to be applied after a user changes the selected library.

  • Copy templates used for serials now correctly link to age protection rules and MARC item type values (for the "Circ as Type" field). During upgrade, the database update will set to NULL any age protection and circ as type fields in serial copy templates that do not point to defined values.

3.2.11. Obsolete Internal Flag Removed

An obsolete, and unused, ingest.disable_metabib_field_entry internal flag was removed from the config.internal_flags table. It was rendered obsolete by the addition of the 3 flags to control the browse, search, and facet indexing.

3.2.12. Tweaks to Caching/Expiry of Public Catalog Assets

The default cache expiration time for static assets (e.g., CSS, image, and JavaScript files) in the public catalog and the Kid’s PAC has been increased to one year. Links to all such assets now have a cache-busting value tacked on as a query parameter. This value is refreshed when autogen.sh is run, but it can also be manually set by adjusting the ctx.cache_key Template Toolkit variable.

3.2.13. Action/Trigger Events Data Purging

Action/Trigger event definitions have a new field called "Retention Interval". When an optional interval value is applied, events and template output data linked to the event definition will be deleted from the database once they reach the specified age.

Retention Interval Restrictions for Passive Hooks

Restrictions are placed on retention interval values for event definitions using passive hooks to prevent data from being deleted while it’s still needed by the system.

The presence of event data is how the system knows not to send duplicate events. As long as a scenario exists where a duplicate event may be generated, the events must be retained.

To apply a retention interval value to a passive-hook event definition:

  • The event definition must have a max_delay value.

  • The retention interval must be larger than the difference between the delay and max_delay values.

For example, if the delay is 7 days and max_delay is 10 days, the retention interval must be greater than 3 days to ensure no duplicate events are created between the first event on day 7 and the end of the event validity window on day 10.

Deployment

A new purge_at_events.sh script is installed in the bin directory (typically /openils/bin) which should be added to CRON for regular maintenance.

Note
On large data sets, this script can take a long time to run and create higher than normal I/O load as it churns though the event and event_output tables. You may wish to run the script by hand the first time so it can be monitored. It can be run in psql like so:
SELECT action_trigger.purge_events();
Note
On very large data sets (10s to 100s of millions of event and event_output rows), it may be advisable to first repopulate the event and event_output tables with only the desired data before starting regular purges. This can be done, for example, using the copy to temp table, truncate source table, repopulate source table from temp table approach. This will be much faster than the purge_events() function in cases where most of the data will be purged.
Hook Data Cleanup

A number of action_trigger.hook entries which have always been treated as active hooks, though are configured as passive hooks, have been updated to properly reflect the non-passive-ness. This allows for simpler configuration of their retention interval values.

3.2.14. Remove JSPAC Redirects

Future versions of Evergreen will no longer contain automatic redirects from JSPAC URLs to TPAC URLs, with the exception of myopac.xml, given that the JSPAC is no longer supported. Existing sites, however, may wish to retain JSPAC redirects in their Apache configuration files since JSPAC URLs may still be used in the wild to access their catalogs.

The original JSPAC URL redirects are all retained in the file Open-ILS/examples/jspac_redirects.conf for reference.

3.3. API

3.3.1. New open-ils.auth.login API

The open-ils.auth service has a new API for requesting an authentication token. It performs the same steps as the open-ils.auth.authenticate.init and .complete APIs in a single call, using the bare password. No intermediate password hashing is required.

The paramaters are the same as the .complete call with a few modifications.

  1. Using the generic "identifier" parameter in combination with the "org" parameter allows the API to reliably determine if an identifier value is a username or barcode. The caller is no longer required to make that determination up front.

  2. The nonce parameter is no longer used.

3.3.2. Batch Patron Contact Invalidation

The following methods are used to mark patron contact fields as invalid by moving the invalid value to a standing penalty:

  • open-ils.actor.invalidate.email

  • open-ils.actor.invalidate.day_phone

  • open-ils.actor.invalidate.evening_phone

  • open-ils.actor.invalidate.other_phone

These methods now accept a fifth argument specifying the value of the contact field, e.g., a specific phone number or email address. If supplied, and if a specific patron ID (the first argument) is not supplied, all patrons with that specific contact value will have it marked invalid.

3.4. Architecture

3.4.1. Pure-SQL catalog searching

Public and staff catalog search is now both more accurate and faster by redesigning how the visibility of records is calculated.

3.5. Cataloging

3.5.1. Authority Record and Headings Browse Improvements

Various improvements are made to support for authority records and headings browsing:

  • The MARC to MADS XSLT stylesheet is now used as part of parsing headings from authority records. Since the MODS and MADS stylesheets extract headings in similar ways, duplicate browse entries are now much less likely to occur.

  • A new configuration table, authority.heading_field, is now used to specify how headings should be extracted from authority records.

  • Related headings can now be identified as narrower or broader when browsing in the public catalog.

  • See references are now more reliably included in the browse list.

  • Scope (public) notes now display only under the main heading.

  • There is now a global flag, Display related headings (see-also) in browse, that can be used to control whether related headings (see-alsos) are displayed in the public catalog list.

  • A complete set of thesauruses are now included in the seed data. Thesauruses can now be identified using short and long codes.

  • The labels for see and see-also references in the public catalog are a bit more patron-friendly, and can now be tweaked via TPAC template customization in the browse.tt2 file.

3.5.2. Copy Tags and Digital Bookplates

Copy tags will allow staff to apply custom, pre-defined labels or tags to copies. Copy tags are searchable in both the staff client and public catalog. This feature was designed to be used for Digital Bookplates to attach donation or memorial information to copies, but may be used for broader purposes to tag items.

Each copy tag can either be publicly-visible or visible only to staff. Copy tags also have types that can be used for restricting catalog searches on copy tags to particular types.

Copy tags are displayed in the copy table in the record summary page in the public catalog, and a new library setting can be used to add a "Digital Bookplate" search field. Copy tags can also be used as a search filter, e.g.,

  • copy_tag(bookplate, jane smith): search for records that have a copy tag of type bookplate whose value contains jane smith.

  • copy_tag(*, jane smith): search for records that have a copy tag of any type whose value contains jane smith.

All staff-side interfaces related to copy tags exist only in the web staff client. There are two new administration interfaces for managing copy tags and copy tag types. The copy editor now has a Copy Tags button for applying copy tags to copies; that interface can also be used to create new copy tags on the fly. Furthermore, the copy buckets interface now has an Apply Tags action for assigning tags to groups of copies.

Permissions

Two new permission are included:

  • ADMIN_COPY_TAG_TYPES: required to create a new tag type under Server Administration→Copy Tag Types

  • ADMIN_COPY_TAG: required to create a new tag under Local Administration→Copy Tags

The existing permission UPDATE_COPY controls whether or not a user can link copies to tags.

Library Settings

A new library setting, "Enable Digital Bookplate Search", controls whether to display a "Digital Bookplate" field in the search index drop-downs in the catalog. A "Digital Bookplate" search will include all records that have a copy that matches the tag specified by the user. It should be noted that this library setting does not affect the display of copy tags on the catalog record summary page.

3.5.3. Include Call Number Prefixes and Suffixes in Export and Z39.50 output

The call number prefix and suffix, when present, are now included in subfields $k and $m of the 852 field when running marc_export with the --items switch. Similarly, when using Evergreen as a Z39.50 server configured to embed item data in 852 fields, the affixes are now included in subfields $k and $m.

3.6. Circulation

3.6.1. Batch Editing of Patron Records

There is a now a new interface analogous to the Copy Bucket interface to select and group a set of users into a User Bucket. The addition of users to a User Bucket is possible from the Patron Search interface by the use of a new grid Action, and directly on the User Bucket interface by user barcode. It is also possible to add users to a User Bucket by uploading a text file that contains a list of user barcodes.

From this interface it is possible to perform a set of specific batch update operations on user records.

Editing users

These fields can now be changed in batch via an action on the User Bucket grid if the staff user has the UPDATE_USER permission:

  • Active flag

  • Primary Permission Group (group application permissions consulted)

  • Juvenile flag

  • Home Library (UPDATE_USER checked against both old and new value)

  • Privilege Expiration Date

  • Barred flag (BAR_PATRON permission consulted)

  • Internet Access Level

Changes made in this interface can be rolled back.

As a batch process, rather than a direct edit, this mechanism explicitly skips processing of Action/Trigger event definitions for user update.

Deleting users

The batch edit mechanism also allows for the batch deletion of user. The staff user must have both the UPDATE_USER and DELETE_USER permissions.

Changes made in this interface can be rolled back.

As a batch process, rather than a direct edit, this mechanism explicitly skips processing of Action/Trigger event definitions for user deletion.

This mechanism does not use the Purge User functionality, but instead simply marks the users as deleted.

Editing Statistical Category Entries

All users in the bucket can have their Statistical Category Entries modified. Unlike user data field updates, modification of Statistical Category Entries is permanent and cannot be rolled back.

As a batch process, rather than a direct edit, this mechanism explicitly skips processing of Action/Trigger event definitions for user update.

New service requirement

This new functionality makes use of the QStore service, which was previously unused in production. If this service has been removed from the configuration of a live Evergreen instances, it will need to be added back in order for batch user editing to succeed.

3.6.2. Honor timezone of the acting library

Summary
  • Display day-granular due dates in the circulating library’s timezone.

  • Only display the date portion of the due date for day-granular circulations.

  • Display the full timestamp, in the client’s timezone rather than the circulation library’s, for hourly circulations.

  • Provide infrastructure for more advanced formatting of timestamps.

  • Override the built-in AngularJS date filter with an implementation that uses moment.js, providing consistency and better standards compliance.

Details

This is a followup to the work done for 2.12, where we added the ability for the client to specify a timezone in which timestamps should be interpreted in business logic and the database.

Most specifically, this work focuses on circulation due dates and the closed date editor. Due dates, where displayed using stock templates (including receipt templates) and used for fine calculation, are now manipulated in the library’s configured timezone. This is controlled by the new lib.timezone setting available via the Library Settings Editor, loaded from the server when required. Additionally, closings are recorded in the library’s timezone so that due date calculation is more accurate. The closed date editor is also taught how to display closings in the closed library’s timezone. Closed date entries also explicitly record if they are a full day closing, or a multi-day closing. This significantly simplifies the editor, and may be useful in other contexts.

To accomplish this, we use the moment.js library and the moment-timezone addon. This is necessary because the stock AngularJS date filter does not understand locale-aware timezone values, which are required to support DST. A simple mapper translates the differences in format values from AngularJS date to moment.js.

Of special note are a set of new filters used for formatting timestamps under certain circumstances. The new egOrgDateInContext, egOrgDate, and egDueDate filters provide the functionality, and autogrid is enhanced to make use of these where applicable. egGrid and egGridField are also taught to accept default and field-specific options for applying date filters. These filters may be useful in other or related contexts.

The egDueDate filter, used for all existing displays of due date via Angular code, intentionally interprets timestamps in two different ways WRT timezone, based on the circulation duration. If the duration is day-granular (that is, the number of seconds in the duration is divisible by 86,400, or 24 hours worth of seconds) then the date is interpreted as being in the circulation library’s timezone. If it is an hourly loan (any duration that does not meet the day-granular criterium) then it is instead displayed in the client’s timezone, just as all other timestamps currently are, because of the previous Evergreen timezone work.

The OPAC is adjusted to always display the due date in the circulating library’s timezone. Because the OPAC displays only the date portion of the due date field, this difference is currently considered acceptable. If this proves to be a problem in the future, a minor adjustment can be made to match the egDueDate filter logic.

Now that due dates are globally stored in the configured timezone of the circulating library, the automatic adjustment to day-granular due dates needs to take those timezones into account.

An optional SQL command is provided by the upgrade script to retroactively adjust existing due dates after library configuration is complete.

3.6.3. Enhancements to Hard Due Date Functionality

It will now be possible to delete Hard Due Date Values for dates that have passed. Also, the Hard Due Date updater will no longer change Ceiling Dates to a past date. This allows editing Ceiling Dates directly in a Hard Due Date as well as scheduling Ceiling Date changes via Hard Due Date Values.

3.6.4. Patron Search by Birth Date

  • Now you can include the patron birth year and/or birth month and/or birth day when searching for patrons using the web based staff client.

  • Day and month values are exact matches. E.g. month "1" (or "01") matches January, "12" matches December.

  • Year searches are "contains" searches. E.g. year "15" matches 2015, 1915, 1599, etc. For exact matches use the full 4-digit year.

3.6.5. Patron Search from Place Hold

This feature allows staff members, when placing a hold on behalf of a patron in the web staff client, to search for patrons by names and other searchable patron information, rather than relying on barcode alone. In particular, after performing a catalog search or going to a specific bib record and clicking the Place Hold button, the form now includes a Patron Search button. This button will open a dialog allowing the staff member search for and select a patron record.

3.6.6. Retrieve Recent Patrons

Adds a new library setting Number of Retrievable Recent Patrons (ui.staff.max_recent_patrons) that specifies the number of recently retrieved patrons that can be re-fetched from the staff client.

A value of 0 means no recent patrons can be retrieved. A value greater than 1 means staff will be able to retrieve multiple recent patrons via a new Circulation Retrieve Recent Patrons menu entry.

The default value is 1 for backwards compatibility.

3.6.7. Fuller title in XUL client Simplified Pull List

The Simplified Pull List in the XUL client will now display subfields 245$n and $p in the title field. The addition will make it easier for staff to distinguish between different parts or seasons in a series.

3.6.8. Transit Cancel Time and Terminology Change

Transit Cancel Time

Previously, Evergreen deleted canceled (aborted) transits from the database. Now the rows in action.transit_copy, action.hold_transit_copy, and action.reservation_transit_copy are preserved in the database, though still not visible to the end user in the staff client. This allows for better tracking of when transits are canceled for the purposes of knowing which staff member canceled the transit, etc.

Note
This change may require the re-creation of transit reports to filter out canceled transits from the results. Cloning the template and adding a Base Filter of Cancel Time Is NULL will suffice.
"Canceled Transit" Terminology Change

The term "abort" has been replaced with "cancel" in all of the affected user interfaces. For internal continuity, however, the following permission codes have not changed:

  • ABORT_TRANSIT

  • ABORT_REMOTE_TRANSIT

  • ABORT_TRANSIT_ON_LOST

  • ABORT_TRANSIT_ON_MISSING

3.7. Client

3.7.1. Offline Circ Available in Web Staff Client

Offline circ is now available in the web staff client. In order to use the offline interface, users must first log into the web staff client, perform a patron search, select a user from the results, and open the patron editor interface to collect all the relevent configuration information for the workstation. In addition, the offline interface available from the Circulation menu provides a Download block list button for users who are logged in.

As is the case in the old staff client, users can check materials in and out, renew items, and create new patron accounts while offline. The patron fields available in the offline patron registration editor are the same ones that are available to staff when working online.

3.7.2. Add Circ Modifier to Record Detail Page in Staff TPAC

The circ_modifier field is added to the table of copies to make more information available to staff without having to open the Holdings View.

3.7.3. Date+Time Format Settings for Web Client

This change deprecates the existing Format Dates and Format Times settings and adds two settings for use with the webstaff client:

  • Format Dates with this pattern

  • Format Date+Time with this pattern

These settings use format strings as documented here:

There is overlap with how the Dojo formats worked, but also some differences.

The original Format Dates and Format Times settings worked together, but the new settings work independently. Certain field elements will use one, and certain field elements will use the other. These distinctions are hard-coded in the various UI templates, with the idea being that timestamp fields in which the date component alone is sufficient information (for example, DOB) will use the Format Dates setting. Fields where the time component is important (for example, Checkout Time) will use the Format Date+Time setting.

When the settings Format Dates and Format Date+Time are unset, we will default to "shortDate" (M/d/yy) and "short" (M/d/yy h:mm a), respectively.

3.7.4. Global option to remove sound for a specific event

A new nosound.wav file has been added to the web client. The file can be used to globally disable audio alerts for a specific event on an Evergreen system.

For example, to silence the alert that sounds after a successful patron search:

  • mkdir -p /openils/var/web/audio/notifications/success/patron/

  • cd /openils/var/web/audio/notifications/success/patron/

  • ln -s ../../nosound.wav by_search.wav

3.8. Documentation

The official Evergreen manual has been split into eight new manuals, each designed for a specific audience. This new approach is designed to make the documentation more readable and usable.

The specific audiences for the new manuals are:

  • Acquisitions staff

  • Circulation staff

  • Cataloging staff

  • Public services staff who use the public catalog

  • Serials staff

  • System administrators who use the command line

  • System administrators who use the Web client

  • System administrators and programmers who wish to integrate Evergreen with other technologies

All manuals are available at http://docs.evergreen-ils.org

3.9. Public catalog

3.9.1. Improvements to Bill Payment Pages

The bill payment pages in the public catalog have been revamped to

  • use the term "charges" instead of "fees"

  • include images of credit cards accepted

  • make the default print receipt template match other itemized receipts; note that this change is not automatically applied when upgrading.

  • display billing type

  • add button to pay only selected charges

  • reformat the credit card number input page

3.9.2. Clickable Copy Locations

Adds a URL field to the copy locations editor. When a URL is entered in this field, the associated copy location will display as a link in the OPAC summary display. This link can be useful for retrieving maps or other directions to the copy location to aid users in finding material.

3.9.3. Download Checkout History CSV Fixed for Large Number of Circulations

Downloading checkout history as a CSV from My Account has been fixed for users with a large circulation history. Previously, this would time out for patrons with more than 100 or so circulations.

This feature no longer uses the action/trigger mechanism and the OPAC now generates the CSV directly. The old action/trigger code is still present in the database and should be removed at some point in the near future.

3.9.4. Google Books Preview rewrite

The Google Books Preview functionality in record detail pages has been rewritten to modernize its style and optimize its performance:

  • The Dojo JavaScript framework is no longer used, saving approximately 150K of JavaScript and CSS and four network requests per page load.

  • The Embedded Viewer is not loaded unless a possible preview is found, saving more network and memory overhead.

  • The Google Books Loader is used to load the Embedded Viewer instead of the deprecated Google Loader.

  • All variables are self-contained and do not pollute the global namespace.

  • Event listeners are registered to handle clicks, rather than attaching href="javascript:function()" to <a> elements.

  • Book previews are displayed in a panel sized according to the viewport of the browser, improving its appearance on both mobile and desktop browsers.

  • The rewritten code is now served up directly from /js/ui/default/opac/ac_google_books.js rather than as a TT2 template.

3.9.5. jQuery for the TPAC

This release adds optional support for jQuery in the TPAC. This support is enabled by setting the ctx.want_jquery variable to a true value in the config.tt2 TPAC template.

3.9.6. New Popularity Parameters

New popularity parameters for in-house use over time and for count of distinct organizational units that own a title are now available. Evergreen sites can use these parameters to create new statistical popularity badges for sorting in the catalog by Most Popular or by Popularity-Adjusted Relevance.

The in-house use parameters will apply a badge to titles that have the most in-house use activity over time. The organizational unit count parameter will apply a badge to titles owned by the most number of libraries in a consortium. Ownership is determined by the copy’s circulation library.

3.9.7. Option to Suspend Holds at the Time They are Placed

Users now have the option to suspend a hold at the same time they place the hold. The Place Hold screen has a checkbox that can be enabled for users who want to suspend a hold at the time it is placed. There is also an option to set the activation date at the same time. This option is also available when placing holds on a batch of titles from My List and will apply to all the titles in the batch.

3.10. Reports

3.10.1. Fix to reporter.classic_current_circ view

The reporter.classic_current_circ view, which is part of some extra views defined in Open-ILS/src/sql/Pg/example.reporter-extension.sql, has been fixed to not exclude loans for patrons who do not have a billing address set. Users of this view should rerun Open-ILS/src/sql/Pg/example.reporter-extension.sql during upgrade.

3.10.2. New report source table allowing report of "last" deleted copy

This source table allows you to construct a clever aggregate report template which will report bibliographic IDs where a library or a group of libraries no longer have a copy attached but had a copy attached. This is especially useful when a holdings sync is required with an external vendor.

Instructions for creating a report template with this source:

  • Create a new report template using "Library Holdings Count with Deleted" as the source

  • Add "Has Only Deleted Copies 0/1" (Min) to the Aggregate Filters → Change Value to "1"

  • Add "Last Edit Date" (Max) to Aggregate Filters. In Aggregate Filters, change the operator to "Between"

  • Add Circulation Library → "Organizational Unit ID" to Base Filters, with the Raw Data transform. In the list of Base Filters, change the operator to "In list"

  • Add "Bib ID" to Displayed Fields

  • Add "Last Edit Date" to Displayed Fields and Change Transform to Max

  • Add "Has Only Deleted Copies 0/1" to Displayed Fields and Change Transform to Min

  • Add "Total copies attached" to Displayed Fields and Change Transform to Sum

This template will only output bibliographic IDs where all of the copies for the specified branch(es) are deleted. Furthermore, it will only output bibs whose copies were edited (deleted) during the specified date range. Unfortunately the user will have to manually type the date range without the date picker. This view will also allow you to answer questions like "Show me bibs where I have one visible copy and more than two deleted copies."

The Provider reporting source now includes a link to the Provider Note reporting source.

The Working Location reporting source now has labels and it is now linked to the ILS User reporting source, allowing reports to display or filter on staff working location.

3.10.5. New circulation report source "All Circulation Combined Types"

This report source will allow you to create a single report template for all of the following:

  • In-house uses

  • In-house uses of non-cataloged items

  • Circulations

  • Circulations of non-cataloged items

To distinguish between these different types of library use, it’s important to display these columns in your report templates:

  • Item Type

  • Circulation Type

3.10.6. Reports Template Searching

A new form appears along the top of the reports interface for searching report templates. Once found, typical template actions (e.g. create new report) are available from within the results interface.

Searches may be performed across selected (visible) folders or all folders visible to the logged in user.

Searches are case-insensitive, any word order, with left-anchored words. All searched words must appear in at least one of the searched fields.

Examples
  • Searching for stat cat matches:

    • stat cat

    • statistical category

    • categories, statistical

    • patrons (stat cat)

  • Searching for stat cat does not match:

    • stat

      • both words must be present in the searched field(s)

    • stat location

      • location contains cat but it’s not left-anchored.

Reporter Paging

The templates, reports, and output interfaces now support paging via new Next, Prev, and Start links next to the output limit selector.

3.11. Serials

3.11.1. Web Staff Client Serials Module

The serials module has been ported over to the web staff client, implementing a unified serials interface that combines ideas from both the serial control view and alternate serials control view from the old staff client.

In addition to carrying over functionality that was available in the old staff client, several new features are included:

  • the ability to save prediction pattern codes as templates that can be shared and reused within an Evergreen database

  • a more streamlined interface for managing subscriptions, distributions, and streams

  • it is no longer necessary to create a starting issue in order to predict a run of issues; the dialog box for generating a set of predicted issues now lets you specify the starting point directly.

  • the ability to more directly edit MFHDs

The new serials interfaces can be accessed from the record details page via a Serials drop-down button that links to a subscription management page, a quick-receive action, and a MFHD management page. There is also a new Serials Administration page where prediction pattern and serial copy templates can be managed.

3.12. SIP

3.12.1. SIP Bugfix Changes How Encoding Is Determined in Configuration

The combined fix for the above mentioned SIP bugs alters the way that SIPServer looks up the output encoding in the configuration file (typically oils_sip.xml). SIPServer now looks for the encoding in the following places:

  1. An encoding attribute on the account element for the currently active SIP account.

  2. The encoding element that is a child of the institution element of the currently active SIP account.

  3. The encoding element that is a child of the implementation_config element that is itself a child of the institution element of the currently active SIP account.

  4. If none of the above exist, then the default encoding (ASCII) is used.

Number 3 is provided to ease the transition to the new code. It is the current location of the encoding element in the sample configuration file and as such, where it is likely to be found in actual files. It is recommended that you alter your configuration to move this element out of the implementation_config element and into its parent institution element. Ideally, SIPServer should not look into the implementation config, and this check may be removed at some time in the future.

4. Acknowledgments

4.1. Web Client Acknowledgements

The project to develop a new browser-based web client launched four years ago at the September 2013 Evergreen developer hack-a-way when the developer community voted to move away from the XUL client and explore other platforms. The first web client preview became available in Evergreen 2.7 when circulation was available in the new platform.

The browser-based client is available due to the work of many coders, testers, bug reporters, documentors, translators, project managers, spec writers, funders and other contributors over the past four years.

The Evergreen project would like to acknowledge the following organizations that funded development of the Web Staff Client:

  • Bibliomation

  • British Columbia Libraries Cooperative

  • C/W MARS

  • Georgia Public Library Service

  • Grand Rapids Public Library

  • The Howe Library

  • Kenton County Public Library

  • King County Library System

  • MassLNC

  • NC Cardinal

  • OhioNet

  • Pennsylvania Integrated Library System

  • Pioneer Library System

  • SC Lends

The Evergreen project would also like to thank the following individuals who contributed code, translations, documentations patches, tests, bug reports, technical specifications and project management to the Web Staff Client:

  • Jason Boyer

  • Adam Bowling

  • Christine Burns

  • Steve Callender

  • Eva Cerniňáková

  • Galen Charlton

  • Dawn Dale

  • Jeff Davis

  • Grace Dunbar

  • Bill Erickson

  • Jason Etheridge

  • Lynn Floyd

  • Sally Fortin

  • Jeff Godin

  • Rogan Hamby

  • Elaine Hardy

  • Blake Henderson

  • Billy Horn

  • Skye Howard

  • Kyle Huckins

  • Linda Jansová

  • Tina Ji

  • Mary Jinglewski

  • Angela Kilsdonk

  • Joan Kranich

  • Victoria Lewis

  • Mary Llewelyn

  • Jeanette Lundgren

  • Kathy Lussier

  • Terran McCanna

  • Christine Morgan

  • Michele Morgan

  • Stephen Moss

  • Andrea Neiman

  • Nawras Othman

  • Freddy Enrique Pelayo Huapalla

  • Jillianne Presley

  • Jennifer Pringle

  • Michelle Purcell

  • Erica Rohlfs

  • Mike Rylander

  • Jane Sandberg

  • Janet Schrader

  • Dan Scott

  • Chris Sharp

  • Ben Shum

  • Clare Sobotka

  • Tim Spindler

  • Remington Steed

  • Jason Stephenson

  • Josh Stompro

  • Yamil Suarez

  • Amy Terlaga

  • Scott Thomas

  • Anahi Valdez

  • Cesar Velez

  • Jessica Venturo

  • Dan Wells

  • Beth Willis

  • Tigran Zargaryan

4.2. Evergreen 3.0 Acknowledgements

The Evergreen project would like to acknowledge the following organizations that commissioned developments in this release of Evergreen:

  • Bibliomation

  • British Columbia Libraries Cooperative (BC Sitka)

  • C/W MARS

  • Georgia Public Library Service

  • King County Library System

  • MassLNC

  • Pennsylvania Integrated Library System

  • Pioneer Library System

We would also like to thank the following individuals who contributed code, translations, documentations patches and tests to this release of Evergreen:

  • Adam Bowling

  • Jason Boyer

  • Eva Cerniňáková

  • Galen Charlton

  • Dawn Dale

  • Jeff Davis

  • Martha Driscoll

  • Bill Erickson

  • Jason Etheridge

  • Lynn Floyd

  • Jeff Godin

  • Rogan Hamby

  • Blake Henderson

  • Billy Horn

  • Skye Howard

  • Kyle Huckins

  • Linda Jansova

  • Tina Ji

  • Pasi Kallinen

  • Angela Kilsdonk

  • Debbie Luchenbill

  • Jeanette Lundgren

  • Kathy Lussier

  • Terran McCanna

  • Christine Morgan

  • Michele Morgan

  • Andrea Neiman

  • Bill Ott

  • Suzanne Paterno

  • Dan Pearl

  • Jillianne Presley

  • Mike Rylander

  • Jane Sandberg

  • Dan Scott

  • Srey Seng

  • Chris Sharp

  • Ben Shum

  • Remington Steed

  • Jason Stephenson

  • Josh Stompro

  • Scott Thomas

  • Cesar Velez

  • Dan Wells

  • Liam Whalen

  • Beth Willis

We also thank the following organizations whose employees contributed patches:

  • British Columba Libraries Cooperative

  • Calvin College

  • Catalyte

  • CW/MARS

  • Emerald Data Networks, Inc.

  • Equinox Open Library Initiative

  • Georgia PINES

  • Grand Rapids Public Library

  • Indiana State Library

  • Jabok Library

  • King County Library System

  • Lake Agassiz Regional Library

  • Laurentian University

  • Linn-Benton Community College

  • MassLNC

  • Merrimack Valley Library Consortium

  • MOBIUS Consortium

  • North of Boston Library Exchange

  • Pennsylvania Integrated Library System

  • Pohjois-Karjalan Tietotekniikkakeskus Oy

  • Sigio

  • Traverse Area District Library

We regret any omissions. If a contributor has been inadvertently missed, please open a bug at http://bugs.launchpad.net/evergreen/ with a correction.