USER DOCUMENTATION. Web OPAC Screens: Structure and Customization

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1 USER DOCUMENTATION Web OPAC Screens: Structure and Customization Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Last Update: February 12, 2004

2 Table of Contents 1 INTRODUCTION THE STRUCTURE OF SCREENS INCLUDE FILES MAKING CHANGES Use of the path and base variables Base Name variable Image files ALEPH AND CSS File Extensions Language Support for Right-to-Left Character Sets LIST OF ALEPH TABLES RELEVANT FOR WEB OPAC Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 2 of 12

3 1 Introduction The ALEPH Web OPAC interface is based on HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files. The styling of the interface is based on Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). The HTML and CSS files are located at: /alephe/www_f_<lng> Tip: Typing wf from the command prompt brings you to this location. All screens have the same basic HTML structure, which includes at least the following: <html> <head> <title> The title of the page </title> </head> <body> The web page itself. </body> </html> Web OPAC screens must be written in accordance with the rules of HTML. They can be designed according to the user s requirements. This document includes: A description of the structure of the Web screens. The include files. Instructions on how to make changes in the screens. Use of the path and base variables. Icons List of relevant tables for the Web Note: In this document, the use of the terms screen and file is as follows: The term screen represents the Web OPAC screen as it appears in the browser, and the term file represents the parts that form the screen. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 3 of 12

4 2 The Structure of Screens There are two kinds of screens: Screens based on a single file. Screens based on two or more files. An example of a screen based on a single file is the Log In screen. This file itself includes all the HTML components for the display of the screen. One example of a screen based on more than one file is the Headings Browse List screen. This screen is based on three parts: scan-acc-head scan-acc-body scan-acc-tail All three parts form the screen. The head and body in the file s name do not correspond to the HTML head and body tags - they represent the file s relative position in the screen. Not all complex screens have the same structure of head, body and tail. Sometimes the screens are based on two files only - head and body - or on four files and more. In addition to the files that make up the screen, there are Include files that also make up part of the screen. For a full list of the screens and their corresponding files, see the List of Web OPAC Files in 16.pdf document in the Ex Libris Documentation Center ( Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 4 of 12

5 3 Include Files Include files are files that contain parts which are repeated in many screens within Web OPAC, such as the option bar that appears at the head of each page. Include files save repeated writing of HTML code and help to keep a uniform look for the interface. The include file is invoked in the HTML page through the <include> tag. This tag is not a standard HTML tag and is recognized only by ALEPH programs. The rules for use of this tag are as follows: The format for the code is: <include>[file name] The <include> tag must be located on the left side of the page. ALEPH programs ignore an <include> tag that is located in any other part of the file. The include files are located together with the other Web files in /alephe/www_f_<lng>. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 5 of 12

6 4 Making Changes Web screens can be modified and changed according to the user s needs. Some rules must be kept when making changes in the screens. Failure to keep those rules may cause a defective display of the contents or a disruption to ALEPH programs. Take care to observe the rules of HTML such as opening and closing tags correctly, using inverted commas when there is a need to use them, and so on (we assume that the user has a basic knowledge of HTML). HTML files include parameters of ALEPH for the programs, for example: "$0100", "$1200" and so on. ALEPH programs use these parameters for displaying dynamic data. Do not change or erase these parameters. Changing or erasing these parameters might cause the program to crash. Any change in the parameters must be coordinated with Ex Libris staff. The Web files include input hidden tags such as: <input type="hidden" name="func" value="find-b"> which contain information for ALEPH programs. Those tags must not be changed or erased. 4.1 Use of the path and base variables The Web files use path variables such as: <img src="&icon_path/f-clear0.gif" border=0 alt="clear"> for the files, icons and programs path. These variables are defined in www_server.conf. When making changes in the Web files, bear in mind the potential consequences of changing a variable. In the above example, if the variable ="&icon_path is changed, then the corresponding GIF cannot be invoked. Example of the usage of path variables: <link rel="stylesheet" href="&server_httpd/aleph.css"> <form method=get name=form1 action="&server_f"> 4.2 Base Name variable This variable represents the name of the active base. For example, when linked to the USM01 library the variable will include the name USMARC BIB (USM01) which is taken from the tab_base.<lng> table, column 3. Example of the use of base variables: <title>&f-base - Base-List</title> Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 6 of 12

7 4.3 Image files ALEPH Web OPAC image files are located at: /alephe/www_f_<lng>/icon (Tip: typing the word icon from the command line brings you to this location). You can change images with others but it is highly recommended to keep the original name. The invoking of an image from the HTML file takes place via the icon_path variable. For example: <img src="&icon_path/f-clear0.gif" border=0 alt="clear"> Some images are called by the ALEPH programs and not directly from the HTML files. These images are defined in the www_server.conf file. For example: setenv www_f_previous "<img src=&icon_path/f-prev-page.gif border=0 alt='previous Page'>" Any uncontrolled changes in these lines will cause problems in the images display. 4.4 ALEPH AND CSS ALEPH uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for adding style definitions to web pages. CSS gives more control over the look and layout of the HTML pages. The use of CSS controls: fonts, font sizes, and font colors line spacing and length margins and indents background colors and more. ALEPH uses a single external style sheet, exlibris.css, located in the alephe/www_f_<lng> directory. This external style sheet is linked to HTML files through the <link> tag: <link rel="stylesheet" href="&server_css/exlibris.css" TYPE"text/css"> The <link> tag is placed in the meta-tags HTML file which is located in the alephe/www_f_<lng> directory. External style sheets must not contain any HTML tags such as <head> or <style>. The style sheet must consist of style rules or statements only. Some of the benefits of using a single CSS are: ensuring a consistent style. being able to update the look of your entire site with a single change. the HTML code becomes much simpler and more manageable. The use of the font definitions in the exlibris.css file controls more than just the displayed text in Web pages. It also controls the display for the retrieved data from the catalog. If the catalog contains special scripts such as CJK, Hebrew, Arabic, and so Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 7 of 12

8 on, you must ensure that appropriate fonts have been defined. It is important that lists of font names have the fonts listed in the same order, since the browser picks the first one it has available. If the catalog does not have special scripts, you do not need to define fonts for them in the exlibris.css file. Different CSS files can be used for different bases, with no need to duplicate HTML pages, provided the only difference between pages for different bases is style definitions. In this case, there is no need to duplicate the page and add a base extension. It is enough to define a different CSS file. When preparing the page for loading, the string exlibris.css should be changed to exlibris-<base>.css (for example, exlibris-usm01.css). If such a file (or soft link) does exist under $httpd_root/htdocs, it will be used. Otherwise, the default exlibris.css file will be used. Note: Each browser (Internet Explorer, Netscape, and so on) supports CSS in different ways and triggers different display behavior. 4.5 File Extensions Web files can be base-sensitive. This allows the use of different files for different libraries when needed. For example, the pull-down menu of possible search lists (find-code-include) might differ from library to library. For example USM01, and USM10 have different search codes. To use different search lists, you need to add the library code as an extension to the find-code-include file. For example, find-code-include-usm10, find-code-include-usm30, and so on. The base-sensitive functionality works in conjunction with tab_base.<lng> columns 1, 4,5 and 6. The Web programs search for the Web files in the following order: look for the file with the base name extension (Col. 1), if not exist look for the file with Col. 4 extension if not exist look for the file with Col. 5 extension if not exist look for the file with Col. 6 extension if not exist look for the file with no extension. The file extension mechanism also allows the creation of different looks for each base or logical base in a multi-base system. In addition, the extension code mechanism described above is also used for the following tables that govern Full record display: edit_doc.<lng> edit_doc_999.<lng> edit_doc_999_<aut_library>.<lng>. The use of the extension code with these tables lets you customize different full record displays for different bases. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 8 of 12

9 4.6 Language Support for Right-to-Left Character Sets ALEPH contains language support for all major written languages as Unicode has been fully implemented throughout the system. This language support includes languages that are written from right-to-left, such as Arabic or Hebrew. In order to display data that is right-aligned and right-oriented in Arabic or Hebrew characters, follow these steps: 1. Set the environment variable direction_support to Y in the./alephe/www_server.conf file. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 9 of 12

10 2. Add the $AL<NN> syntax, to the appropriate Web file as shown in the following example taken from full-999-body: <tr> <td class=td1 id=bold width=15% valign=top nowrap> $0100 </td> <td class=td1 $AL02> $0200 </td> </tr> Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 10 of 12

11 5 List of ALEPH Tables Relevant for Web OPAC www_tab_short.<lng> Defines the short table format display of bibliographic data in the web OPAC. www_f_sort_heading.<lng> The headings for the sort options in WEB OPAC brief list formats. www_f_tab_short_999 Defines the custom brief display formats for web brief list results. edit_doc_999.<lng> Defines the fields to be included in the full record bibliographic display. edit_doc_999_aut_xxx10.<lng> Defines the display of AUT records for cross- reference display. edit_doc.<lng> This table is used to define the display of document information. edit_field.<lng> Defines the display of a tag. edit_paragraph..<lng> Defines the display of a paragraph of data from the bibliographic record. tab_service This table defines the Web OPAC services that are available for a particular field tab100 Defines various system switches that determine the way the system behaves. tab_z121 Definitions for the Web service search engine. tab_base.<lng> Defines the logical and physical databases that can be accessed by the user. www_server.conf Defines parameters for the Web server. * The following tables are optional and can be modified as needed. tab05.<lng> This table defines the caption to be displayed in the Web OPAC before $$n and $$m when displaying linked records. tab06 Defines non-highlighted words in the Full View format in the Web OPAC. tab_sort Defines fields for sorting. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 11 of 12

12 tab_z30_sort Defines items (z30 sort types) in various ALEPH functions. tab_sub_lib_sort Definition of Sub-Libraries List sort types in various ALEPH functions. tab_item_list_order The table defines the display order of the items in the Web and in the Search functions in the ALEPH GUIs according to the sublibraries for each base. tab_base_count Definition of the Web databases displayed in a browse list tab22 Defines the fields that are included in the "short-doc" (Z13) records - and also defines the fields in the Basket Brief format. tab_buf_z403 Defines URI links and the way in which they are displayed. tab_ill_unit.lng Defines which ILL Centers will be displayed in the drop-down list when the ILL Center link is clicked. For more details about the above tables, see the table headers and the relevant sections in the Web Guide. Ex Libris Ltd., 2002, 2004 Page 12 of 12

System Librarian s Guide Web OPAC. Version 21

System Librarian s Guide Web OPAC Version 21 CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION The information herein is the property of Ex Libris Ltd. or its affiliates and any misuse or abuse will result in economic loss. DO