Out of the box, Inmagic Genie’s Orders module has a field for Order Number. It’s a required field into which you can enter a unique number for each order. The intention of this field is to allow you to synchronize order records in Genie with records in an accounting system, by entering the accounting record number into this field.

This is a great feature for this specific purpose. However, if you are using the Genie Orders module on its own, or simply have no need to synchronize with an accounting or other system, it can be a bit tricky to enter a new, unique number for each new order record you create in Genie.

Fortunately, there’s a simple and easy solution to this: make the Order Number field an automatic number and allow Genie to assign a new number to each order record for you!

To do so, follow these steps (or contact Andornot to help you with them):

1. Use DB/TextWorks to open the Orders textbase, then change the OrdOrderNumber field to be Automatic Number. Set the next available number to wherever you’d like to start numbering (e.g. 1 more than your last order number).

2. In the MyEditScreens.config XML configuration file, change the OrdOrderNumber field to be read-only and have a note explaining how it now works. Be sure to change this in both the serials and item order screens.

e.g. <Field Name="OrdOrderNumber" Display="Order No. (created when saved)" Type="TextBox" CssClass="orders_edit_onethird_readonly"  ShowBrowse="false" Width="232" Align="left" ReadOnly="true" Required=”false”/>

Save the configuration file changes and reload all the configuration files in Genie, from the About box.

That’s it! You’re all set.

When you create new orders, the field will be appear greyed out and won’t initially have a number in it. When you save the order record, the number will be automatically added to the OrdOrderNumber field in the Orders textbase. However, it won’t appear on the screen until you search for and view the order record again.

Inmagic Genie has wonderful features for reporting on loan statistics. You can search the Loans module by date, borrower, department, call number and other key fields, and view the results grouped by these same fields to give you a count of loans for different items. You can also access the Statistics page to quickly view a count of overdue items.

But what if you want to view a list of all your books that have never been loaned? Perhaps these are candidates for weeding, to make room on the shelves for new or more popular items. In Genie, the Loans database is linked to the Catalog, Items and Borrowers databases, but as is the case with all DBText databases, the link is one-way. If a book has never been loaned, it won’t appear in the Loans database, so can’t be pulled up by a query, and a search in the Catalog can’t retrieve Loan records.

In the past few months we’ve had two clients approach us wondering how to generate a list of the loan-less books, and we’ve used the same solution in both cases. We’ve taken data from their Catalog and Loans databases, imported it into MS Access, and generated a report that summarizes loan activity by Title. The data includes the quantity of loans, including those with no loan, allowing the librarians to get a really good sense of which items in their collection are most borrowed, and which least. This type of report doesn’t really need to be in Genie, since it’s not something you’re likely to do very often – perhaps once per year at most.

You can do this yourself using the steps below, but please do contact us if you’d like us to do it for you.

1. Use DBTextWorks to export data from the Genie Catalog and Loans databases to ASCII text (tab-delimited is recommended).
2. Import each file into a separate table in MS Access.
3. In Access, create a query to join the two tables, with a link from CatID in the Catalog table to LoanCatID in the Loans table.
4. Be sure the join is set to include all records from the Catalog (critical to counting records with zero loans).
5. Include in the query the CatID, CatTitle, CatCallNumber and other Catalog fields you wish to view in the report, as well as the LoanID field.
6. Adjust the query to group by all fields, sort by Call Number, Title or other fields, and count the LoanID field (see screenshot for details).

You could optionally export the query results to Excel to review or share with those unfamiliar with Access.

Following hot on the heels of their recent launch of a mobile interface to their library catalogue, the WorkSafe BC Library has just upgraded the library catalogue search interface used internally by most WorkSafe BC staff with a new one built from the Andornot Starter Kit.

For several years, the WorkSafe BC Library has used Inmagic Genie as their integrated library system. Within the WorkSafe BC offices, staff used the Genie OPAC to search the library's extensive collection.

However, outside the offices, the public accessed a version of the catalogue hosted by Andornot, and built from the Andornot Starter Kit (as well as the new mobile version built from the ASK Mobile Edition).

"We really liked the Google book covers and material type icons in our publicly-accessible catalogue and wanted to make those available to WorkSafe BC staff who access the library catalogue internally," says Librarian Marci Gibson. "Replacing the Genie OPAC with one built from the Andornot Starter Kit brought all our search interfaces in line, offering the same features to all users, whether public or staff."

The new staff OPAC is displayed within the Library's SharePoint team site, for seamless integration with the rest of the library’s content. This is done using a SharePoint Page Viewer Web Part, so that the catalog search and results screens are displayed within the SharePoint page. All corporate branding and navigation is therefore preserved. We are seeing this as a growing trend among our clients who have SharePoint intranets.

"Everyone LOVES the new OPAC! I have had nothing but good comments. They love the slick new look of the OPAC, think the search screen is much easier to use and more intuitive, and the 'Selection List' is a huge hit," says Marci.

Library staff will continue to use the Genie administrative interface behind the scenes for management of library processes.

Contact us for more information on building a web-based search interface to your library catalogue, archives or other database.

Inmagic has started sending out email notifications to clients with download information for version 3.4 of Inmagic Genie, a component of the Inmagic® DB/Text Library Suite.  If you have a current maintenance subscription and do not receive an email within the next few days, please contact us or email advantage@inmagic.com.

The following is a high-level view of enhancements to v3.4:

• Support for MARC import, editing, and export
• Batch modify and delete
• Multiple folders for Upload/Import
• Separate loan terms for staff and end-users
• Support for display of Item and Active Loan Information in Presto Social Libraries

You can skip versions and upgrade directly from version 3.2 to 3.4 but there were significant changes in v3.3 so please check the v3.3 installation notes from the Inmagic Customer Extranet for information about enabling or using these features too.  If you are still running versions of Genie before v3 you will need to upgrade to v3 first.

Please be sure to contact us if you would like assistance with the upgrade and new features. We can go over the possibilities with you and then make all of the necessary database and configuration file changes.  Upgrades are also a good time to make sure you are getting the best use possible from the software. We post various tips and suggestions on our Blog or you can take a look at some of the options on our Genie demo site.

I was recently asked to add a feature to Inmagic Genie that would detect overdues and calculate fines on the Loans Checkin page, allow a staffperson to override fine values, and save the fine totals to the Loans database in order to generate overdue reports by borrower.

Here it is in action over the Loans Checkin page:

Fig. 1 (above) - Overdues dialog appears when barcode input loses focus.

 

Fig. 2 (above) - Growl-type message shows feedback.

 

Workflow

1. Enter barcodes.
2. Tab out.
3. Overdues, if any, appear. Set and submit fines.
4. Click Check In button.

One extra step isn't too bad, right?

Pros

• Minimal impact on Genie: just one extra line in loans_checkin.aspx.
• Easy to set up.
• Supports IE7, IE8, IE9 beta, Firefox 3+, Chrome 5+, Opera 10+, Safari 5+
• Supports 212 international currency formats.
• AJAX-to-web-service-enabled
• Blessed with good looks

Cons

• It's not already part of Genie?

Anatomy

The key components are:

• An ASP.NET user control: AndornotCheckinControl.ascx.
• A jQuery plugin: jquery.genieCheckin-1.0.js.
• A JSON-enabled .NET web service: checkin.asmx.
• A .NET wrapper to the Webpublisher XML API: Andornot.Web.WebPublisherXml.dll
• A supporting Genie AddIn assembly: Andornot.GenieAddIns.Web.dll

Fig. 3 (above) - Diagram showing key components and workflow of the add-in.

 

Contact Us

Call or email or parachute in for a quote on adding this functionality to your Inmagic Genie installation.

1-866-2626-2525 toll free
info@andornot.com
Where to land your parachute or glider