Alephino ® Release 5.0 Batch utilities - Help

Administration

Services

User-defined lists

Extras

Select database

Before performing a function within the Alephino Administration, please select a database from the menu, that should be valid for the following steps. The currently selected database is shown above the menu on the left hand side of the screen.

Show log

The log contains a summary of all performed jobs within the administration. Always the last hundred jobs are listed. On calling up this function the newest entry - i.e. the last performed job - appears at the top of the list.

The list contains the following information:

• job number
• job designation
• user performing the job
• occurred errors (code number)
• date and time of job start
• date and time of job end

For viewing a detailed protocol per job just click on the job number that will take you to the function Show protocol.

Show protocol

For the newest 100 performed jobs within the administration one temporary protocol file per job exists. On entering the job number and clicking the button "Start" the contents of the protocol file are shown.
You can retrieve the job number via the function Show log. The preset number always relates to the last performed job.

Batch command

This function allows you to manually run Batch jobs by entering the commands with their parameters and then clicking the button .

Most Batch jobs though have their own interface page through which they should be started. So the Batch Command function should only be used in case you want to use values or parameters which are not available via the interface.

If you need a description of specific Batch parameter, please contact alephino-support@exlibrisgroup.com.

Execute batch

This function allows you to run a file with one or more Batch commands by entering the path of the file and then clicking the button .

Search

With this function you can retrieve records using the CCL as known from the expert search in the GUI Search module or Web OPAC.

You can search in all master files, including orders, invoices, budgets, vendors etc.

Parameters:

Master file
Choose the type of records for your search from the selection menu.

Search query
Enter your search query in Alephino common command language (=expert mode in OPAC)
Example: tit=histor*

The search codes of the bibliographic data and the items are described in the help for the CCL search in the search tabs and in the OPAC.

The search code IDN (= Identfication number) is available in each master file.

In the administrative master files, the following search codes are available:

Filter records

With this function, you can narrow down the results from your search by specifying a filter criterium. Enter the field number of the field that you want to filter by and the filter text. Only fields which belong to the master file where you did the search can be usedas filter.

Syntax: field number = filter text

Example: 260$c = 2002 (for titles with publication year 2002 only)

List records

With this function, you can view the results from your search in a list format.

With the buttons and you can browse in the list.

By entering a number and then clicking the button you can directly jump to the specified record in the list.

Display record

With that the results of the latest search request can be displayed in full format. For each record type at least the "Field format (Cataloging)" is available which represents the internal representation of that record. This is very useful even if this can't be displayed with the GUI.

To have a record from current set displayed enter the position number of that record and press .

Depending on the control tables further alternative full formats can be choosen from selection box. Alternatively you also can enter the name of the respective display format directly into the field on the right. In any case a confirmation by pressing the button is necessary.

In order to browse use buttons and .

If you want to enter a new record of the respective record type press button . With that you'll get a screen mask consisting of a single empty field.
Exception: The control tables does contain a format named "BRIEFCAT" assigned to that record type (master file) declaring a wider input screen.

By pressing button the currently displayed record will be pushed into the Web-based editor screen for processing.

Process record - the Web-based editor

Since with the Alephino database there's basically no difference between bibliographic (titles, authorities...) and administrative (users, loans, vendors, orders...) data records of all types (master files) defined according to the set of control tables can be processed directly.

Consequently the Web-based editor is a mighty but also problematic tool:

• Unlike the cataloging module exact knowledge about the underlying record structures are necessary because the editor comes witout any - language specific - long names for fields and subfields nor a context sensitive help function.
• The processing of administrative records needs special carefulness because generally the linkage between records of different types is not obvious. For this you need to know the exact application logic.

However the handling is quite simple.

An input field consists formally of - from left to right:

• A 3-digit field name consisting of uppercase letters and digits.
• 2 indicators (each 1-digit)
• Optional: any number of sub-fields whose names are represented by a single letter or digit.

This general description says nothing about the special meaning of field names, sub-fields and indicators according to the definition of the respective master file.

On the right next to a field the following buttons are available:
= Add new field beneath = Delete current field

Next to a sub-field you'll find additionally:
= Add new subfield beneath current subfield = Delete current subfield

Within one cycle only one field or sub-field can be added.
Input screen mask for a new field:

The input field next to the dollar sign is for entering a sub-field; leave it empty if the respective field has no sub-fields.

The meaning of buttons in the page footer does not need further explanations:


("Save" and "Delete record" are not available while entering a new record.)

• On save action a formal check will be performed. That covers all fields, sub-fields and indicators according to the control tables of the respective record type (master file).
• If script-driven check routines have been assigned to the respective master file - this is always the case for bibliographic records - they will also be performed on save action.
• If the current record fails at least one of the test conditions, it will not be stored in the database and an error message is displayed.
• If the error does apply to a certain field, the error message appears underneath that field, otherwise at the bottom line of the record.
• To ensure the consistency of the Alephino database deletions are only applicable if no dependencies to the respective record do still exist. Otherwise an error message " Deletion not possible: dependent records !" will appear.

Scan

With this function, you can access all indices except the virtual (family) indices from all master files, including orders, invoices, budgets, vendors etc.

The index codes (= search aspects) of the bibliographic data and the items are described in the help for the CCL search in the search tabs and in the OPAC.

For a description of the available search codes in the administrative master files, please see Search.

Parameters:

Master file
Choose the type of records for your index access from the selection menu.

Scan query
Enter the index code and the starting text. Example: tit=histor*

Process tables: file service

Alephino offers the possibility to view and -if the size of the corresponding table does not exceed 50.000 characters- also edit any text file on the server in the browser via the Administration module. This ability is used for editing selected table files which are thus comfortably accessible via the Setup menu.

The pages of the OPAC must not be edited here as the placeholders in the pages are filled when sending them to the server and therefore don't work anymore as placeholders in the OPAC pages!

Handling:

• With you read a file which is entered in the field "Pathname". If on the bottom of the screen the message:
  File too big - cannot be processed !
  appears the size exceeds as already mentioned the limit of 50.000 characters.


• With the file is overwritten on the server with the current editing status. This button does not appear when the size of the file exceeded 50.000 characters when reading it. If the writing of the file was successfull, then on the server in the directory backup:

  - a backup copy of the previous status of the file is generated.
  - a backup copy of the initial state on that day is created, which contains the current date as YYMMDD as name appendix.
  Prerequisite for activating the parameter file on the server is that the user has the privilige to (over-)write. Otherwise the following error occurs:
  

Creating a user-defined list

With this function you can create any types of lists, e.g. if you need options to display or print out lists or tables in Alephino newly arranged by you. Your lists can sort and filter by any individual criteria; the retrieval inquiry is entered in Alephino common command language. You determine additionally the header of the list.

Parameters

Master file:
Choose the type of records for your list from the selection menu.

Selection:
Enter your search query in Alephino common command language (=expert mode in OPAC)
Example: tit=histor*

Filter by:
Optional. Enter the number of the field which should serve as a filter option and type in the filter text. Use only the fields that are related to your selected type of records (s.a.).
Syntax: field number=filter text

Sort by:
Optional. Enter the name of the sort format from ../etc/xxxsort.ext to determine, by which field the list will be sorted. Only use the sort formats that are related to your selected type of records (s.a.).

Header:
Optional. Enter the text which should be the header of the list.

Output format:
Choose a print format which is valid for the selected type of records to determine the list preparation and contents.

Format type:
Enter the desired format of the summaries. Two different formats are available:

• HTML-Table:
  • For displaying and printing from a browser (For that please select )
  • Export to MS-Excel using MS Internet Explorer (For that please select , then click with the right mouse button on the HTML-list which is currently displayed and choose the desired option from context menu.)
  • For processing via the Alephino Task Manager.


• XML (Raw data):
  For further processing with external programs.

Output file:
Enter path and name of the output file.

Send e-Mail from printfiles

The Alephino server creates files in sublist print containing letters to be printed out and/or sent via e-mail. By default these files will be processed using the "Task-Manager" which is a built-in function available with all GUI-applications. To be able to send e-mail from the GUI it expects a SMTP server in the local Windows network which allows dispatching of e-mail without any limitations.
Sometimes exactly this isn't allowed due to security reasons. In those cases normal Windows users can only deal with e-mail using the native e-mail client - MS Outlook for instance.
If the Alephino server is allowed to address a SMTP-server directly, as necessary for e-mail service of the Alephino Web-OPAC, this enabling is also portable to send e-mail from Alephino's printfiles.
In addition to Aleph(ino) GUI applications the server meets the so called SMTP-Auth protocol specification supporting an authentication check of the sending station.

Because Alephino printfiles may cover mixed contents, means printouts as well as e-mail, the list will only contain printfiles having at least one e-mail inside. The list is sorted by date/time in descending order.

• With the send-mail process starts immediately. The result will be recorded in the log as usual.
• Use to display the printfile in regular HTML-formatted way.
• With the actual printfile can be displayed as raw source code and - if it doesn't cover more than 50.000 characters - even be edited.


• After the e-mails have been sent successfully and the actual file will not contain further data destined to be printed, use to delete the file from server.

URL Checker

Use this tool for checking the validity and accessibility of URL-links that have been inserted into your Alephino database to address external documents. Particularly in the internet there is no guarantee that a URL pointing to a specific document remains valid or even accessible. Thus these URLs should be checked from time to time to ensure the consistency of the database.
It's a precondition that the URLs must use the HTTP protokoll to get access to documents in the local network or the internet. In other words: the check procedure only includes URLs beginning with "http://" - and will skip all the others that may be.

Please note that:
Because the check will be performed at the server, the results must not necessarily be valid for your local PC the same way. This depends on the configuration of the local network to which your workstation PC belongs to (proxy server, firewall rules etc.) whereas the Alephino server may run under different network related conditions.

Parameter:

Master file:
Choose a master file resp. record type. URL-links can be included in all bibliographic records, t.m. the title record as well as subjects, authorities and also items. In most cases only the title records will be linked to external documents.

External link type:
Actually we have 2 types of external links with Alephino:

• The "classical" hyper-link that will be performed by clicking the tagged object with the mouse.
• Embedded pictures that will be displayed with full record display in OPAC, i.e. book cover photos.

The representation of external links is controlled by format definition tables in Alephino (by tagging with EXTERNAL_LINK). The URL checker uses the following implicit rule to address the format: per master file the first display format in definition table that represents the record in full field format will be used - usually the standard display format in GUI search mode.

Wait time:
Enter here the maximum period of time (in seconds), that Alephino will wait per URL for server response. After time-out the URL will be marked as "not accessible".

Format type:
Enter the desired format of the summaries. Two different formats are available:

• HTML-Table:
  • For displaying and printing from a browser (For that please select )
  • Export to MS-Excel using MS Internet Explorer (For that please select , then click with the right mouse button on the HTML-list which is currently displayed and choose the desired option from context menu.)
  • For processing via the Alephino Task Manager.


• XML (Raw data):
  For further processing with external programs.

Results of an URL check

As a result you'll get a report in table form covering all the URLs that have been detected as faulty or not accessible. In addition to the URL the Alephino record identification number, the error code and more detailed informations depending on the error type will be listed.
Please find below a chart with all the error types that may occur:

Error type	Comment on error type
TOO LONG	URL longer than 1024 characters
INVALID PROTOCOL	Malformed URL
HOST_INVALID	Host address couldn't be determined
PORT_INVALID	Port number invalid or < 80
HOST NOT FOUND	Unknown host address
CONNECT FAILED	Server connection couldn't be established
TIME OUT	Time-out while waiting for readiness to send/receive
SEND FAILED	Error while sending request to the server
RECEIVE FAILED	Error while receiving reply from server
WRONG HEADER	Unexpected server reply - no http-header
HTTP STATUS	Status code according to HTTP protocol

Note:
URLs that have been listed with HTTP status codes 301 "Found" or 302 "Moved Permanently", may nevertheless be accessible with the browser. These are the statuses describing so called redirections to different URLs, and the browser will follow them automatically.
But taken the HTTP protocol description strictly, these are faulty URLs that needs to be updated to their actual address.

Browse printfiles

This function allows to browse, display and delete all formatted - means ready-to-print - reports, that have been created as result of Alephino batch jobs.
We've often the case that a report creation lasts longer so that a time-out will occur before regular reply of the server. Despite this the server action will be completed properly in background but the resulting report cannot be reached the simple way by clicking on .
In those cases you can expect to find the report the following way:
Take a look into the logbook using Show log in order to obtain the job-number of the interesting report-creating job and afterwards browse the printfiles looking for file with the same ending (always 4 numerics).

• With click on you'll get the file displayed in regular formatted way.
• Alternatively, using the file can be displayed as raw source text. If the files size doesn't exceed 50.000 characters, it also can be edited.
• If you want to delete a report file, simply click on .

Upload File(s)

A Java Applet offers the opportunity to transfer files of any type from your local workstation PC to the Alephino server.
This is particularly helpful if there's no alternative for such a data transfer due to security policies, firewall issues etc. By use of "Browse" you firstly select the files to be transferred, mark them and finally confirm with the "Open" button.
The transmission will be initiated by pressing the button "Upload".

All uploaded files will be deposited at the Alephino server in exactly one directory which is preconfigured via Alephino configuration entry. (Default = ../temp).