AlmaInventory

This code will facilitate an inventory of items cataloged in the Alma integrated library system.

• Physical items are handled one at a time and scanned with a barcode scanner
• The user can press a button to indicate if there is a mismatch in the title, volume or call number of the physical item
• A request is sent to the Alma Bib API to retrieve known information for that Barcode
  • To avoid cross-origin restrictions, a PHP service is used to call the Alma API and to add the Alma API key
  • This service simply appends the api key to the request and returns the json object provided from the Alma API
• Results are displayed in a table with common errors highlighted
• Optionally, the user can upload results of a scanning session to Google sheets

Demonstration Video

This video demonstrates a barcode scanning inventory workflow developed by the Georgetown University Library.

Pre-requisites

Pre-requisites (Alma)

The Alma Bib API will be used. https://developers.exlibrisgroup.com/alma/apis/bibs

• Obtain a login for the Alma Developer Network
• Create a Read-only API key for the Bib API
  • If you do not have an institutional instance, you can test the application using the Alma Sandbox
• Copy local.prop.template to local.prop
  • For production deployment, save this file to a location that is not web accessible.
  • The path to this file is set in a separate property file.
• Add your api key to local.prop

Pre-requisites (Docker)

This application has been published to Docker Hub.

• https://hub.docker.com/r/terrywbrady/alma-inventory-php
• https://hub.docker.com/r/terrywbrady/alma-inventory-node
• https://hub.docker.com/r/terrywbrady/alma-inventory-jetty

Install Docker for Windows or MacOS to test this process.

Clone this repository to your desktop and follow the instructions below to configure the application with your Alma credentials.

From a terminal window

• cd to the directory containing these files
• run docker-compose up -d to start the service you choose
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.php.yml up -d
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.node.yml up -d
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.jetty.yml up -d
  • Docker compose will pass your local.prop file to the correct location.
• run docker-compose down to stop the service
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.php.yml down
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.node.yml down
  • docker-compose -f docker-compose.jetty.yml down

Open http://localhost/barcodeReport.html to test the program.

• Click "Add Barcode"
• Using a barcode scanner or the keyboard, enter a 14 digit barcode
• If your API has been correctly enabled, you will see results returned for the item

Pre-requisites (Google Sheets)

Deploy a web service in Google Drive to save CSV data into a Google Drive Folder

• See https://github.com/Georgetown-University-Libraries/PlainTextCSV_GoogleAppsScript
• Copy gsheet.prop.json.template to gsheet.prop.json
• Add the address of your web service and the folder ids for a test and production inventory to the json file

Restart the docker service docker-compose restart to refresh the resources.

• View http://localhost/gsheet.prop.json to verify that your changes are in place.
• Clear your cache and refresh the file if needed

The following code illustrates how to collect metrics for a set of inventory spreadsheets

• Inventory Statistics

Configuration Files

Purpose	Server Type	Default File Location	Note
Store Alma API Key	All	/var/data/local.prop	This file should not be web accessible
Set path to local.prop	Jetty	jetty/prop.jsp	JSP code file
	Node.js	node/prop.js	Node.js code file
	PHP	php/Alma.prop	PHP prop file format
Set client side properties	All	*/barcode.init.js	Alma API URL is set for all instances
	All	*/barcode.init.js	Location validation regular expression, barcode validation regular expression
	Jetty	jetty/barcode.init.js	Alma requests are pre-processed by inventory/redirect.jsp
	Node.js	node/barcode.init.js	Alma requests are pre-processed by redirect.js
	PHP	php/barcode.init.js	Alma requests are pre-processed by barcodeReportRedirect.php
Set Google Drive Upload Properties	All	gsheet.prop.json	Save gsheet.prop.json.template to gsheet.prop.json note that these values will be visible to the client app.

Docker Build Options

If you wish to build a customized instance of this Docker image, the following commands can be used.

• docker build -t terrywbrady/alma-inventory-php -f Dockerfile.php .
• docker build -t terrywbrady/alma-inventory-node -f Dockerfile.node .
• docker build -t terrywbrady/alma-inventory-jetty -f Dockerfile.jetty .