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Configuration levels

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kspurgin edited this page Apr 1, 2017 · 18 revisions

Vocabulary used

  • "Your config" or "config file" refers to your customized config.yaml file, containing all your settings

  • "Configs" - used to refer to a set of options. Along with your institution config, you may have 3 workflow configs and 7 collection configs set up in your config file.

  • "Options" - the individual settings/decisions you make within each config. A given option can appear in multiple configs, and have a different value in each.

The three levels

You can set options at three levels in your config:

  • Institution

  • Workflow

  • Collection

Why the different levels?

The intent was to allow this tool to be as flexible as possible, and to be able to use it to do different things without having to completely reset all your options every time.

The basic idea behind the configuration levels is:

  • There are some options that are probably going to always be the same at your library. Examples include whether you can overlay records on a "merged record" point (019$a or 035$z), or what MARC fields qualify for being put under authority control in your system. These are your institution configs.

  • There are some general kinds of workflows that apply to multiple collections. You may need to split incoming MARC into separate files based on whether the records are going to overlay existing records in your system. The options to make this happen make sense as workflow options, since this might be useful for lots of collections.

  • We often have collection-specific requirements. Examples include: adding a field with the collection name, or a collection-specific prefix or suffix added to the record ID(s). Configure these as collection options.

When you run the script:

  • Your institution options are always used

  • All your workflow configs are listed and you pick which one you want to use

  • All your collection configs are listed and you pick which one to use

Lots of flexibility, but take care…​

If you wanted to put all your options in your collection configs, you could do that.

If you wanted to specify all your options in your institution config and just use this tool for one specific thing, you could.

You can repeat the same option at each configuration level, using different values at each level.

Important
 If you start repeating options in different levels of your config, you will need to know how different types of options at different configuration levels get combined when you run the script. More info on that here.

You can sort of do whatever you like.

When the script runs, you tell it what workflow and what collection configs to use. It combines these with your institution config and does what you’ve specified.

Caution
 I’m sure there are some weird combinations of things that I haven’t thought of that probably break or cause ridiculous behavior.
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