Aleph Global Change
Meeting with Daniel Cromwell and Mary Ann O'Daniel
August 31, 2004
Attending from
UF: Julia Allen, Suzy Covey, Gerald Langford, Priscilla WilliamsUnable to attend: Nancy Williams
Daniel went over the help screens for Global
Change:
--There are two ways to create an input file for the Global Change "service":
1) Use the "Retrieve Catalog Records" function, 2) create a set
of records in the Search module and save the set to the Aleph server.
--Current problem with Global Change parameters: You can't have commas
within parameters. For example, having $$v Handbooks, manuals, etc. or $$aSmith,
John B. as parameters won't work. According to Marie Erdman of Ex Libris,
putting single or double quotes around the parameter should solve the problem,
but it doesn't seem to. Daniel will look more at the PRBs.
--You can choose to run Global Change but not update the actual database.
Doing this first is highly desirable. You can then see what the results
would be if the database were actually updated.
--Checking the "Add to History" box will put a record of
the global change run in the history list. This will allow you to review
your search parameters in case you don't get the global change results you
wanted. (The default when you click on Services and select your report from
the list is to have that box checked. However if you pull up the History
of services for that module, the default when you open one is for that box
to NOT be checked.)
--It is also important to carefully review the Global Change input form
once you fill it out. For example, we ran into problems when neither
radio button in the "Delete field" area was selected. All the
information input further down in the form moved up one box.
--Run Time: If you want the global change to run immediately, input
"00" (zeroes).
--Global change for "fixed fields" (e.g., 006, 008) possible?:
Not sure. Would probably need to put # for the indicators and would
need to input exactly the contents of the field to be changed. Mary Ann
thought changes to 006, 007 might be safe; changes to 008 might not be.
She thought that one way to retrieve records that needed changing would
be by Record Type (e.g., using a WTP search) (UF would like to make a change
to the LDR in our provisional records. Daniel later found some information
in a PRB that indicates that this cannot be done with Global Change but
could be using a fix script and p_manage_37. Gerald will look more into
this.)
--Daniel reported another problem after the meeting: "…
in running the service all the Cat Levels of the records being changed are
set to blank thus giving them no Cat Level protection to those records.
This is a bug and Ex Libris is doing programming to fix this. I don't have
a time frame for the fix however."
Viewing the results of Global Change:
--Go to the Task Manager module. Make sure you are in the
same library (e.g., UFU01, UFU50) as the one in which you ran Global Change.
--To check that services/functions sent to the batch queue are running:
Click on the icon with "Q". The title bar of the box that
appears should say "Batch Queue - Running"
--To view whether the global change ran: Click on the icon with "L".
Global Change "runs" are identified as "p_manage_21."
Highlight the last "p_manage_21" in the list to see if the global
change has run.
--If the global change has run, to view the results: Click on the
icon with a piece of paper. In the bottom half of the "File List"
box, double click the name of the output file that matches the name you
entered in the Global Change input form. Click "OK" in the box
that appears. Highlight the output file name in the top half of the "File
List" box. You can go to "File List" in the menu and select
from the options for viewing or printing the report of changes (made or
that would have been made).
--If you didn't get the results you wanted: You can go to "Services/History"
in the Catalog or Search Modules and review the parameters of your global
change request.
Running Reports/Services involving a large
number of records:
Julia has had difficulty trying to pull together a file of records that
URLs for link checking within a day, even when she starts the process at
9 a.m. Mary Ann suggested trying to split the file to be searched by system
number. (She also thought there might be a way to exclude URLs for aggregator
databases that we would not want to run a link checker on.)
