Koha 21.11: Admin and Reports

by Sara Brown on Jun 20, 2022

Enhancements

Architecture, internals and plumbing

[28445] Use the task queue for the batch delete and update items tool
This enhancement changes the batch item modification and deletion tools so that they now use the task queue feature (added in Koha 21.05) instead of using background jobs. For the library staff member this provides more information on the progress of the task.

Full post: Koha 21.11: Background Jobs and Task Queue Enhancements

[28565] Adding a new syspref for sharing through HEA should be simpler
This enhancement simplifies the way new system preferences are added to Hea for statistical reporting. Before this enhancement the tests (t/db_dependent/UsageStats.t) required adjusting every time a new system preference was added. Now when a new system preference is added to Hea they are automatically picked up for the tests.

Command-line utilities

[18631] cleanup_database.pl should take an option for modules in action_logs
This patch adds two new optional parameters to the cleanup_database.pl script.
--log-modules – A repeatable option to specify which action log module lines to truncate.
--preserve-log – A repeatable option to specify which action log module lines to keep.

[25429] cleanup_database.pl should remove resolved claims returned after X days
This enhancement adds the new CleanUpDatabaseReturnClaims system preference allowing administrators to specify how many days after resolution a claimed return record should be deleted from the database.
For this functionality to be enabled, the cleanup_database.pl must be scheduled to run regularly with the new --return-claims parameter passed.

[28456] Add option to use a WHERE statement in membership_expiry.pl cronjob
Add an optional --where parameter to the membership_expiry.pl task. This allows for arbitrarily complex SQL where statements to be passed to the script to filter affected patrons.

Use fields from the borrowers table: 21.11 schema--borrowers

Full post: Koha 21.11: New Options for Cron Jobs

Installation and upgrade

[25078] Update DB process – wrap each DBRev inside a transaction and better error handling
This enhancement improves the reliability and error reporting of our database update procedures.
We now stop the upgrade if we come across an error and roll back anything inside that upgrade step. We also now report the errors to the end-user, both on the command line or in the browser.
Finally, our monolithic updatedateabase script had been growing unmanageably large for some time. This patchset allows us to split each upgrade step into a single atomic file and thus simplifies writing updates and applying retrospective fixes.

Plugin architecture

[26351] Add plugin hooks to transform item barcodes
This enhancement adds a plugin hook to transform item barcodes scanned in to Koha. For example, if you need to alter your scanned item barcodes, but your scanners cannot be programmed to do so, a plugin could be written to handle that change in Koha instead. One example would be to drop the first and last characters of the scanned barcode, which may be check digits rather than part of the barcode itself.

[26352] Add plugin hooks to transform patron barcodes
This enhancement adds a plugin hook to transform patron cardnumbers scanned in to Koha. For example, if you need to alter your scanned cardnumbers, but your scanners cannot be programmed to do so, a plugin could be written to handle that change in Koha instead. One example would be to drop the first and last characters of the scanned barcode, which may be check digits rather than part of the barcode itself.

Reports

[28454] Add Koha version number to database schema link in reports

[29201] biblio_framework missing from list of runtime parameters when editing SQL reports

Full post: Koha 21.11: New Options for Runtime Parameters

System administration

[27505] Add new itemtype controller image for carredart
This enhancement adds a video game controller image to the carredart icon set for item types.

[27521] Adding new itemtype headset image for carredart
This enhancement adds a headset image to the carredart icon set for item types.

[28347] Add DataTables, additional information to patron attribute types management

[28563] Add AllowHoldItemTypeSelection to Hea
This enhancement adds the AllowHoldItemTypeSelection system preference to the list of system preferences usage data that will be shared with Hea.

[29149] Background job detail view needs more flexibility

Templates

[12561] Remove non-XSLT views
This removes the non-XSLT views feature that was deprecated from July 2014.
As part of this change:

• system preferences HighlightOwnItemsOnOPAC and HighlightOwnItemsOnOPACWhich are removed

• a warning is added to the about page if a default XSLT file was removed, or if a file referenced in one of the system preferences does not exist.

[26838] Improve styling of checkin message

[28843] Add view and edit buttons to result of MARC record import

Web services

[28630] ILSDI::AuthenticatePatron should set borrowers.lastseen

System preference, authorized values, and letter code changes

New system preferences

• ArticleRequestsOpacHostRedirection

• ArticleRequestsSupportedFormats

• CleanUpDatabaseReturnClaims

• CreateAVFromCataloguing

• FacetOrder

• MARCOverlayRules

• MaxComponentRecords

• NewsLog

• OPACResultsMaxItems

• OPACResultsMaxItemsUnavailable

• OPACResultsUnavailableGroupingBy

• PassItemMarcToXSLT

• ShowComponentRecords

Renamed system preferences

• RequestOnOpac => OPACHoldRequests

• NewsToolEditor => AdditionalContentsEditor

Deleted system preferences

• AdlibrisCoversEnabled

• AdlibrisCoversURL

• HighlightOwnItemsOnOPAC

• HighlightOwnItemsOnOPACWhich

• OPACItemsResultsDisplay

• OpacNav (moved to HTML customizations)

• OpacNavBottom (moved to HTML customizations)

New authorized value categories

• AR_CANCELLATION

New letter codes

• AR_REQUESTED

More 21.11:
Koha 21.11: Upgrade Hub
Koha 21.11: Release Notes