From: Demian K. <dem...@vi...> - 2010-01-07 16:38:54
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Hello! A few notes that should be of interest: 1.) It is very easy to add fields to VuFind's Solr index. You can edit one configuration file to create a new field in the index, and another configuration file to control how that field is searched (i.e. is it part of the "all fields" search? does it have its own special search type like "title" or "author", etc.?) 2.) Right now, most libraries using non-MARC data in VuFind are converting it to MARC first in order to use the existing import and display logic. However, I'm about to begin a large project to separate all of the MARC functionality into a "record driver" module so that it will be much easier to write handlers for other types of data and simply plug them into VuFind. Obviously, writing these new drivers is a non-trivial process -- each data type will need an import program written and need some design work done to properly represent those indexed records within the VuFind application -- but it sounds like it may be exactly what you're looking for. The initial technical discussion of this project can be found here: http://vufind.org/wiki/other_than_marc More detailed discussion of this will probably take place on the vufind-tech list over the next few weeks as I actually get started on the coding. 3.) Regarding your concerns about creating a fork and having difficulty merging things back into the trunk... that's definitely an issue to worry about, but I'm hopefully that once the record driver code is in place, your changes could be limited to a couple of configuration files and plug-in modules, so keeping up to date with the rest of the codebase should be reasonably straightforward. To keep Villanova's custom version of VuFind in sync with the trunk development, I'm using Subversion with a vendor branching strategy, and I'm very happy with the results so far. I hope this is helpful, and I do realize that I'm making promises based on code that doesn't actually exist yet... but you're not the only one interested in this new functionality, and I think it will be a reality reasonably soon. - Demian > -----Original Message----- > From: Levy, Michael [mailto:ml...@us...] > Sent: Thursday, January 07, 2010 11:05 AM > To: vuf...@li... > Subject: [VuFind-General] VuFind and non-MARC, non-bibliographic > catalog data > > I am exploring the possibility of using VuFind as a central discovery > layer at my institution. > > The main impetus for this project is to create a centralized > search/discovery application for catalog data that currently resides in > a few disparate systems, which are not bibliographic and are not MARC > based. One source of catalog data will be from a commercial > collections > management system; two others are homegrown cataloging systems. > [Later > on, MARC data from our Voyager library system may become part of the > mix.] For the photo and film and video systems, a link from the > results > pages could link to the existing web applications for those > collections. > > VuFind is a very attractive application, and I know the PHP code can be > modified by us. However it will be a rough decision to think about how > much work it would be to customize the app. For example, how hard is > it > to add a new field? Or, if we want a field "Scope and Contents," do we > reuse an existing Solr field and change the label display? At what > point do we make so many modifications that we've we can no longer > benefit from upgrades to the system because we've forked our own? > > I would appreciate some discussion on the topic of importing non-MARC > data into Solr, and the topic of adding new fields or reusing VuFind > fields for data that is a little different from the normal > bibliographic > record -- and the practicalities of merging any customizations we might > have to make with the VuFind trunk. Thanks for any comments! > > > > > > ----------------------------------------------------------------------- > ------- > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community > Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support > A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and > easy > Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers > http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > VuFind-General mailing list > VuF...@li... > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/vufind-general |