Bug 25939 - Print multiple copies with quick spine label creator
Summary: Print multiple copies with quick spine label creator
Status: NEW
Alias: None
Product: Koha
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Label/patron card printing (show other bugs)
Version: Main
Hardware: All All
: P5 - low enhancement (vote)
Assignee: Chris Nighswonger
QA Contact: Testopia
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-07-06 16:24 UTC by Andrew Fuerste-Henry
Modified: 2023-04-04 17:06 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Change sponsored?: ---
Patch complexity: ---
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Description Andrew Fuerste-Henry 2020-07-06 16:24:48 UTC
For libraries that purchase several copies of the same title, it'd be nice to have a quicker way to print several copies of the same spine label. Maybe something on spinelabel-home.pl that would let the user specify a number of copies?
Comment 1 Heather 2023-02-08 18:16:38 UTC
This would be great!  The newly editable spine label (via the quick "Print label" from the item record) is fantastic, but if the window persisted with an "X" to allow it to be intentionally closed, that would help a lot--one could print additional copies of the label as needed, then close the window intentionally.

One could also edit the label again in the window for multiple volumes (edit...print!  edit...print!  edit...print!)

Also, printers do jam, and having this window persist until intentionally closed would help with that!
Comment 2 Joseph Alway 2023-03-31 17:09:19 UTC
(In reply to Heather from comment #1)
For multiple volumes it may be better to just use the Label Creator interface. Though, you could maybe have a check box that allowed the window to be open, if you don't want it to close once you hit print.

It's easy enough to just choose however many copies of the label you want from the print dialogue as well. Maybe my workflow is a bit different, though?
Comment 3 Heather 2023-04-04 16:36:33 UTC
(In reply to Joseph Alway from comment #2)

Hi, Joseph!
All very good workflow suggestions--thank you!

The Label Creator interface doesn't allow one to edit the label right before printing, however (please correct me if I'm wrong!), and there is currently no way in Koha to tell the Label Creator interface to correctly format our spine labels for printing.  So we need to edit every, single spine label before printing, and the Quick interface provides the only way.  We need to correct spacing between the initial alphanumeric sequence (putting the first 1-3, alphabet characters on one line, and then the 1-4 numeric characters following those--the whole number--on the next line), and then shorten information for printing, e.g., the item record may have:
v. 3, no. 2 (spring 2023) c.2
And in the spine label this needs tightening to fit & breaking into separate lines, e.g.:
v.3:2
(spring
2023)
c.2

And it would be so easy if the pop-up window were persistent to just delete the "c.2" and change "v.3:2" to "v.3:3..." etc.

And I imagine it would be easy in consortia, multiple branch settings, etc., to add appropriate prefixes above the call no., e.g. something like:

North
618.473
K763

Then:  South, Central, West...

And there is a benefit to using the Quick Spine Label Creator as well, in that you don't have to leave the record!  If the person who has just put on the barcode also puts the spine label onto the correct item, it eliminates a lot of potential error down the workflow.
Comment 4 Chris Nighswonger 2023-04-04 16:49:18 UTC
Check out Bug 2500.

There is a provision for adding various splitting schemes. A quick look at that bug indicates that there are a number of submissions which need adding.
Comment 5 Chris Nighswonger 2023-04-04 16:50:27 UTC
With some sponsorship, a UI could be written to allow users to add their own splitting algorithms.
Comment 6 Andrew Fuerste-Henry 2023-04-04 16:59:29 UTC
(In reply to Chris Nighswonger from comment #5)
> With some sponsorship, a UI could be written to allow users to add their own
> splitting algorithms.

We have a mechanism for users to define their own splitting rules via regex, but those rules aren't usable with the Quick Spine Label tool. See bug 23021 for that. For the record, it is suggested there that some custom splitting might be capable via css/js transformations on the quick spine page. See also bug 28691 for the general fact that the quick spine label tool doesn't consistently split stuff the way the full label tool does.

I guess this is all to say "While you're here, there are some other messes to ponder."
Comment 7 Chris Nighswonger 2023-04-04 17:06:13 UTC
The "problem" is that the quick spine label print feature was written pretty much independently of the label print feature. There are features in each which would be nice to see integrated into both.

In reality, its probably about time for another complete refactor of label/card/quick label code.