wrVOYutl
Endeavor Voyager patron database PC maintenance utilities
Copyright 2001-2003 Wolfgang Riesterer

All Rights Reserved

License Agreement
Except where otherwise noted, all of the documentation and programs included in this software package are:
Copyright 2001-2003 Wolfgang Riesterer. All rights reserved.

This software package is provided "as-is," without any warranty of any kind. The author disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, including the warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. In no event shall the author or his suppliers be liable for any damages whatsoever including direct, indirect, incidental, consequential, loss of business profits or special damages, even if the author or his suppliers have been advised of the possibility of such damages by using this software package. Your use of this software package is entirely at your own risk.

This license agreement does not authorize you to: rent, lease, reverse engineer, de-compile, modify or disassemble the software package or its components.

You are hereby licensed to use this software package in a non-commercial (home/campus use only) environment. The ownership of this software package remains with the author. No redistribution without prior written permission.

HELP
wrVOYutl
Endeavor Voyager patron database PC maintenance utilities
Copyright 2001-2003 Wolfgang Riesterer All Rights Reserved
Please, review the license agreement before using this program:
The use of this program is entirely at your own risk.

The wrVOYutl program contains a set of utilities to deal with maintenance of the patron database of the Endeavor Voyager library automation software. To start any of the built-in functions simply drop the desired source file onto the program's icon. The resulting file that wrVOYutl creates will appear in the same folder as the original source file.

Following 2 utilities are contained in this download:
The sifBREAKER utility will take a result file of the server utility "ptrnextr" and convert it to PC manageable CSV file, while the utility sifMAKER will do the opposite, and convert a sifBREAKER file back into the SIF format, to be uploaded to the Voyager server, and update your patron database by the server utility "ptrnupdt". This allows you to somewhat batch manipulate your patron database with the "Famous Maker Spreadsheet" (FMSS) in a familiar PC environment.

(Not included in this download)
sifEXPIRER takes your last extract from your registrar office (or the department, that handles your currently enrolled student/staff accounts) = "enrolled patron db" which was already converted by sifCONVERTER to the Voyager patron SIF and compares it with the most recent result file from the server utility ptrnextr = "all Voyager patrons db", and expires patrons (= sets the expiration date to today's date) in "all Voyager patrons db" that are _NOT_ found in the most current "enrolled patron db" and creates the result file of accounts that should be set to be expired in the current Voyager patron db. This file you can then use to update your patron database with the Voyager server utility "ptrnupdt".

To start the appropriate function within wrVOYutl, please observe following filename conventions:

sifBREAKER:
input: "*.sif" (a fixed-length 2000.1 sif format)
output: "*.csv" (a comma-separated-value file with fields enclosed in double-quotes) always 3 address blocks

sifMAKER:
input: "*.csv" (with a fields line-up according to the 2000.1 sif specs) with 3 address blocks
output: "*.csv.sif" file (2000.1 sif format, ready for updating Voyager patron db using ptrnupdt)

sifEXPIRER: (n/a)
input #1: "*.upd.sif" (the most recent SIF file that was used to upload using ptrnupdt)
input #2: "*.sif" (current ptrnextr result SIF file)
output: "*.upd.sif" (2000.1 sif format, ready for updating Voyager patron db using ptrnupdt)

sifCONVERTER: (n/a)
input: "*.dat" (an extract from your registrar's database, or any other patron database) in CSV format
output: "*.dat.sif" file (2000.1 sif format, ready for updating Voyager patron db using ptrnupdt)

This current version normalizes scientific notations in fields 3 and 23 ("barcode 1" and "university id") by default. All Voyager (internal) system fields are cleared before the SIF conversion. The "Notes" field is left blank in this version.

Internal fields are ignored by the server utility "ptrnupdt" and are usually only provided by the server utility "ptrnextr". The header as provided by sifBREAKER are marked -don't fill- for your convenience. Please refer the "Voyager Technical Manual, Chapter 15-1 ff" for more on internal fields.

Note:
sifBREAKER and sifMAKER are producing complimentary files, which means, the output of one can be fed into the input of the other one. Since some formatting and field clearing takes place, a file compare would reveal that they are not completely identical, however, file integrity is preserved.

Anomalies:
Due to a quirk in the FMSS, it may convert a string consisting of digits-only still into a scientific notation, although the field value enclosed in double-quotes indicated a string not a number. Check columns where cells could contain digits only (barcode, university id & phone number etc).

Workaround:
Select the whole column with the offending scientific notation, then FORMAT to TEXT. Select the first cell with the erroneous scientific notation, press <ENTER>, repeat as necessary for each cell. This will normalize the contents of the cells. See also notes above about normalizing scientific strings.

Make sure not to disturb the header row, as sifMAKER will check for the sifBREAKER flag.

Installation:
During initial set-up a folder "VOYAGER" will be created on your desktop in which another folder will be placed called "PATRONS". The wrVOYutl software will reside in the PATRON folder. The complete path for the utility on your desktop is: \VOYAGER\PATRONS.

Transfer the desired Voyager fixed-width patron sif file into the \VOYAGER\PATRON folder on your desktop. When the transfer is complete make sure the filename contains the correct file extension according to the protocol above (".sif").

Operation:
Drag & drop the source file (a "ptrnextr" result file) onto the wrVOYutl program icon to start the sifBREAKER function. Make sure that file has the appropriate extension as per above convention. It will create an output file with an extension "*.sif.csv" in the \VOYAGER\PATRON folder.

Start up your favorite spreadsheet or database program and import this CSV file for further processing. Your system may have associated an application with the .csv extension, so only a double-click on the file may be necessary. Make sure you have read and understood Endeavor Voyager's Technical Manual on patron SIF files and the fixed width field format. Some fields are internal and will be ignored/cleared during the conversion/update. Make sure you don't put any information in those fields, thinking, that they will update the patron record. The header of those fields will be marked "-don't fill-" by the sifBREAKER utility.

Note: sifBREAKER will always generate 3 address blocks (permanent, temporary, email). sifMAKER will always expect 3 address blocks.

To convert a CSV file (with fields line-up as the Voyager 20001. patron sif file specs) into a Voyager patron sif 2000.1 file simply drag & drop the file (a sifBREAKER result file) onto the wrVOYutl program to start the function sifMAKER, and convert it back into a fixed-width field Voyager 2000.1 sif format. Make sure the source file has the extension ".csv". There is no error checking in sifMAKER.

All field values of a column in your spreadsheet must conform to the 2000.1 SIF specs of Voyager. Erroneous string lengths will be truncated/padded. If the value type does not agree with the specs "ptrnupdt" will produce an error log.

Using "ptrnupdt", I select to 'Ignore' new notes field, because for some reason, although the field is empty, Voyager will flag the memo field as having a content. If you make use of memo fields we need to find a workaround and/or more testing.

Always test your patron upload on the training database. If you do a "ptrnextr" to review what is actually in your current database, and you want to use it for the sifBREAKER utility, make sure to get rid of the leading "sif.pxtr." in the resulting filename and add the ".sif" extension, otherwise sifEXPIRER will be started. n/a in this version.

sifBREAKER/MAKER file cycle:
Voyager ptrnextr --> sifBREAKER --> (edit in spread sheet application & save as CSV file ) --> sifMAKER --> Voyager ptrnupdt
Note: sifMAKER can only convert files produced by sifBREAKER.  To convert your own CSV files see below for sifCONVERTER

Uninstall:
For the uninstall utility to completely clean up all folders created by the set up program, make sure to remove all non-wrVOYutl files from the \VOYAGER\PATRONS folder on your desktop for a clean uninstall: From your START MENU > PROGRAM option select WRUTIL > VOYAGER > PATRONS > uninstall.

Your comments and testimonials are most appreciated.

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