Chapter 42. Phonelist.pm Module

Table of Contents

Adding Parameters
Output
Holds
Overdues
Skipping patrons with email notification of holds
Using the ws_ou parameter
Automating the download

PhoneList.pm is a mod_perl module for Apache that works with Evergreen to generate callings lists for patron holds or overdues. It outputs a csv file that can be fed into an auto-dialer script to call patrons with little or no staff intervention. It is accessed and configured via a special URL and passing any parameters as a Query String on the URL. The parameters are listed in the table below.

Table 42.1. Parameters for the phonelist program:

user

Your Evergreen login. Typically your library’s circ account. If you leave this off, you will be prompted to login.

passwd

The password for your Evergreen login. If you leave this off you will be prompted to login.

ws_ou

The ID of the system or branch you want to generate the list for (optional). If your account does not have the appropriate permissions for the location whose ID number you have entered, you will get an error.

skipemail

If present, skip patrons with email notification (optional).

addcount

Add a count of items on hold (optional). Only makes sense for holds.

overdue

Makes a list of patrons with overdues instead of holds. If an additional, numeric parameter is supplied, it will be used as the number of days overdue. If no such extra parameter is supplied, then the default of 14 days is used.


The URL is

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist

A couple of examples follow:

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?user=circuser&passwd=password&skipemail

The above example would sign in as user circuser with password of password and get a list of patrons with holds to call who do not have email notification turned on. It would run at whatever branch is normally associated with circuser.

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?skipemail

The above example would do more or less the same, but you would be prompted by your browser for the user name and password.

If your browser or download script support it, you may also use conventional HTTP authentication parameters.

https://user:password@your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?overdue&ws_ou=2

The above logs in as user with password and runs overdues for location ID 2.

The following sections provide more information on getting what you want in your output.

Adding Parameters

If you are not familiar with HTTP/URL query strings, the format is quite simple.

You add parameters to the end of the URL, the first parameter is separated from the URL page with a question mark (?) character. If the parameter is to be given an extra value, then that value follows the parameter name after an equals sign (=). Subsequent parameters are separated from the previous parameter by an ampersand (&).

Here is an example with 1 parameter that has no value:

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?skipemail

An example of 1 argument with a value:

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?overdue=21

An example of 2 arguments, 1 with a value and 1 without:

https://your.evergreen-server.tld/phonelist?overdue=21&skipemail

Any misspelled or parameters not listed in the table above will be ignored by the program.