ILS Drivers

This page contains details on writing a custom driver for an integrated library system not already supported by VuFind®. VuFind® supports many platforms, so check to see if it already has support before you try to write your own!

Default Namespace: \VuFind\ILS\Driver

Interface: \VuFind\ILS\Driver\DriverInterface

Service Locator Configuration Section in module.config.php: ['vufind']['plugin_managers']['ils_driver']

Service Manager Name for Service Locator: VuFind\ILSDriverPluginManager (VuFind® 2.x-4.x), VuFind\ILS\Driver\PluginManager (VuFind® 5.0+)

See the General Plugin Information page for more details on VuFind® plugins.

• The PHP driver class must be registered in the service locator with the value used as the driver setting in the [Catalog] section of config.ini.
• The driver class must implement the VuFind\ILS\Driver\DriverInterface. For convenience, most drivers will achieve this by extending VuFind\ILS\Driver\AbstractBase.
• You may wish to define a catalog-specific .ini file in VuFind®'s configuration directory – the name of this file should correspond with the base class name of the driver (i.e. for VuFind\ILS\Driver\Voyager, use Voyager.ini). This configuration will be automatically loaded and sent to the setConfig() method by the VuFind\ILS\Connection wrapper class; you do not need to write explicit config loading into your driver.
• All heavy-weight initialization logic (i.e. establishing database connections) and configuration validation should take place in the init() method, NOT the constructor. Driver constructors should be as light-weight as possible.

ILS Drivers must contain some or all of the following methods (optional methods are marked as such in their descriptions). It should be assumed that any method may throw a VuFind\Exception\ILS object in case of an unexpected problem.

This method cancels a list of holds for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input: cancelDetails An associative array with two keys: patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method) and details (an array of strings – either cancel_details values provided by the getMyHolds method, or values returned by the driver's getCancelHoldDetails method if cancel_details was unset)
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • count – The number of items successfully cancelled
  • items – Associative array where key matches one of the item_id values returned by getMyHolds and the value is an associative array with these keys:
    • success – Boolean true or false
    • status – A status message from the language file (required – VuFind®-specific message, subject to translation)
    • sysMessage - A system supplied failure message (optional – useful for passing additional details from the ILS)

This method cancels a list of ILL requests for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: cancelDetails An associative array with two keys: patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method) and details (an array of strings returned by the driver's getCancelILLRequestDetails method)
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • count – The number of items successfully cancelled
  • items – Associative array where key matches one of the item_id values returned by getMyILLRequests and the value is an associative array with these keys:
    • success – Boolean true or false
    • status – A status message from the language file (required – VuFind®-specific message, subject to translation)
    • sysMessage - A system supplied failure message (optional – useful for passing additional details from the ILS)

This method cancels a list of storage retrieval requests for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: cancelDetails An associative array with two keys: patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method) and details (an array of strings returned by the driver's getCancelStorageRetrievalRequestDetails method)
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • count – The number of items successfully cancelled
  • items – Associative array where key matches one of the item_id values returned by getMyStorageRetrievalRequests and the value is an associative array with these keys:
    • success – Boolean true or false
    • status – A status message from the language file (required – VuFind®-specific message, subject to translation)
    • sysMessage - A system supplied failure message (optional – useful for passing additional details from the ILS)

This method changes patron's password (PIN code). (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.4

• Input: details An associative array with three keys:
  • patron - The patron array from patronLogin
  • oldPassword - Old password
  • newPassword - New password
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • success – Boolean true or false
  • status – A status message from the language file (required – VuFind®-specific message, subject to translation)

Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

This optional method can be used to check if a particular user is allowed to place an ILL request on a particular item. If you omit this method, the driver will still operate correctly; however, implementing it allows minor enhancements to the user experience.

• Input: Bibliographic ID, Item Data (similar to the details parameter passed to the placeILLRequest() method, but without the 'patron' key), Patron Data (from patronLogin() method)
• Output: True if item may be requested, false if not. Prior to VuFind® 4.0, this might also return “block” if the patron is blocked from making requests; that functionality has been superseded by the getRequestBlocks method. Starting with VuFind® 4.0, this may also return an array with two keys: valid (boolean) plus status (message string to display to user).

Introduced in VuFind® 1.3, this optional method can be used to check if a particular user is allowed to place a hold/recall request on a particular item. If you omit this method, the driver will still operate correctly; however, implementing it allows minor enhancements to the user experience.

• Input: Bibliographic ID, Item Data (similar to the holdDetails parameter passed to the placeHold() method, but without the 'patron' key), Patron Data (from patronLogin() method)
• Output: True if item may be requested, false if not. Starting with VuFind® 4.0, this may also return an array with two keys: valid (boolean) plus status (message string to display to user).

Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

This optional method can be used to check if a particular user is allowed to place a storage retrieval request on a particular item. If you omit this method, the driver will still operate correctly; however, implementing it allows minor enhancements to the user experience.

• Input: Bibliographic ID, Item Data (similar to the details parameter passed to the placeStorageRetrievalRequest() method, but without the 'patron' key), Patron Data (from patronLogin() method)
• Output: True if item may be requested, false if not. Prior to VuFind® 4.0, this might also return “block” if the patron is blocked from making requests; that functionality has been superseded by the getRequestBlocks method. Starting with VuFind® 4.0, this may also return an array with two keys: valid (boolean) plus status (message string to display to user).

This method returns items that are on reserve for the specified course, instructor and/or department.

• Input: CourseID, InstructorID, DepartmentID (these values come from the corresponding getCourses, getInstructors and getDepartments methods; any of these three filters may be set to a blank string to skip)
• Output: An array of associative arrays representing reserve items. Array keys:
  • BIB_ID - The record ID of the current reserve item.
  • COURSE_ID - The course ID associated with the current reserve item, if any (required when using Solr-based reserves).
  • DEPARTMENT_ID - The department ID associated with the current reserve item, if any (required when using Solr-based reserves).
  • INSTRUCTOR_ID - The instructor ID associated with the current reserve item, if any (required when using Solr-based reserves).
  • DISPLAY_CALL_NO - The call number of the current reserve item (never used; deprecated).
  • AUTHOR - The author of the current reserve item (never used; deprecated).
  • TITLE - The title of the current reserve item (never used; deprecated).
  • PUBLISHER - The publisher of the current reserve item (never used; deprecated).
  • PUBLISHER_DATE - The publication date of the current reserve item (never used; deprecated).

This optional method returns an array of strings describing blocks on the user's account (for example, lost items, financial violations, etc.). If no blocks are in place, it returns false. Not supported prior to VuFind® 4.0

• Input: patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method)
• Output: array or false

This method returns a string to use as the input form value for cancelling each hold item. If determining this identifier does not require complex calculations, you can fill in the cancel_details key directly in the getMyHolds method instead of implementing this method. (optional, but required if you implement cancelHolds and do not provide cancel_details in getMyHolds). Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input:
  • holdDetails - One of the individual item arrays returned by the getMyHolds method
  • patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method) Added in VuFind® 8.0
• Output: A string to use as the input form value for cancelling each hold item; you can pass any data that is needed by your ILS to identify the hold – the output of this method will be used as part of the input to the cancelHolds method. Starting with VuFind® 3.0, you may indicate holds which are not allowed to be cancelled by returning an empty string.

This method returns a URL to use as a link to a native OPAC for cancelling each hold item. (optional – only implement this if your ILS is unable to support implementation of the cancelHolds method). Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input:
  • holdDetails - One of the individual item arrays returned by getMyHolds method
  • patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method) Added in VuFind® 8.0
• Output: A URL to a native OPAC for cancelling each hold item

This method returns a string to use as the input form value for cancelling each hold item. (optional, but required if you implement cancelILLRequests). Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input:
  • details - One of the individual item arrays returned by the getMyILLRequests method
  • patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method)
• Output: A string to use as the input form value for cancelling each request; you can pass any data that is needed by your ILS to identify the request – the output of this method will be used as part of the input to the cancelILLRequests method.

This method returns a string to use as the input form value for cancelling each hold item. (optional, but required if you implement cancelStorageRetrievalRequests). Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input:
  • details - One of the individual item arrays returned by the getMyStorageRetrievalRequests method
  • patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method)
• Output: A string to use as the input form value for cancelling each request; you can pass any data that is needed by your ILS to identify the request – the output of this method will be used as part of the input to the cancelStorageRetrievalRequests method.

This method returns driver configuration settings related to a particular function. It is primarily used to get the configuration settings for placing holds. (optional, but necessary if you want to implement hold or other request functionality) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input:
  • A string corresponding with the function to check (“cancelHolds”, “Holds”, “Renewals”; from v2.3: “cancelStorageRetrievalRequests”, “storageRetrievalRequests”, “cancelILLRequests”, “ILLRequests”); from v2.4: “changePassword”
  • From 2.4: An optional string (record or patron id) or an array of function-specific parameters

• Output: An associative array of configuration settings
  • Array keys used for input of “cancelHolds”, “cancelStorageRetrievalRequests” (from v2.3) and “cancelILLRequests” (from v2.3)
    • No required keys at this time

• Array keys used for input of “Holdings”
  • itemLimit (optional) - The page size used when retrieving holdings data in a paginated format (see getHolding()). In VuFind® 6.0.x, this was erroneously included in the “Holds” section instead, but it was moved to “Holdings” beginning with release 6.1.

• Array keys used for input of “Holds”
  • HMACKeys - a colon-separated list of fields to verify with a hash key when submitting a hold form (at a minimum, “id” is recommended). Note that this is used for verifying VuFind®'s own hold form; it is not directly tied to the ILS in any way. MUST BE PROVIDED in order to place holds within VuFind®; if omitted, VuFind® will attempt to fail over from placeHold to placeHoldLink functionality. This also serves another important purpose: any keys in the return array from getHolding will be passed to placeHold if they match entries in this list. This makes it possible to pass through all of the the necessary details about placing a hold.
  • extraHoldFields (optional) - a colon-separated list of form fields to include in the place hold form; may include “comments”, “requiredByDate”, “pickUpLocation” and (from VuFind® 8.0) “startDate”. Note that all parameters activated here must be processed by the placeHold method.
  • defaultRequiredDate - A colon-separated list used to set the default “not required after” date for holds in the format days:months:years (e.g. 0:1:0 will set a “not required after” date of 1 month from the current date).
    • This only applies if extraHoldFields includes “requiredByDate.”
    • Starting with VuFind® 2.3, you may prefix this string with “driver:” to attempt to load a default date from the ILS based on internal rules instead of calculating one in VuFind®; if the ILS calls, the relative rules will still be used (e.g. “driver:0:1:0”); this feature requires that the driver implement the getHoldDefaultRequiredDate() method.
  • consortium (optional) - Boolean true or false (default): Does this driver provide consortial capabilities (e.g., XCNCIP2 driver)? If set to true, then the driver method getConsortialHoldings() will be called in order to to provide multiple Holding statuses in a consortial environment; this feature requires that the driver implement the getConsortialHoldings() method. If set to false (or omitted), the getHolding() method will be called.
  • itemLimit (optional, deprecated) - This setting was used here in VuFind® 6.0.x; it was moved to Holdings (see above) with release 6.1, but is still supported here for backward compatibility.
  • helpText - A generic help text displayed on the hold request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, but everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[*] - (From VuFind® 8.0) A default help text displayed on the hold request form if not overridden. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[lng] - A language-specific help text displayed on the hold request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • updateHelpText[*] - (From VuFind® 8.0) A default help text displayed on the hold update form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • updateHelpText[lng] - (From VuFind® 8.0) A language-specific help text displayed on the hold update form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • updateFields (optional) - (From VuFind® 8.0) A colon-separated list of form fields to include in the update holds form; may include “frozen”, “frozenThrough”, “startDate”, “requiredByDate” and “pickUpLocation”. Note that all parameters activated here must be processed by the updateHolds method.

• Array keys used for input of “Renewals”
  • No required keys at this time

• Array keys used for input of “StorageRetrievalRequests” (from v2.3)
  • HMACKeys - a colon-separated list of fields to verify with a hash key when submitting a hold form (at a minimum, “id” is recommended). Note that this is used for verifying VuFind®'s own request form; it is not directly tied to the ILS in any way. MUST BE PROVIDED in order to place requests within VuFind®. This also serves another important purpose: any keys in the return array from getHolding will be passed to placeStorageRetrievalRequest if they match entries in this list. This makes it possible to pass through all of the the necessary details about placing a request.
  • extraFields (optional) - a colon-separated list of form fields to include in the request form; may include “comments”, “requiredByDate”, “pickUpLocation” and “item-issue”. Note that all parameters activated here must be processed by the placeStorageRetrievalRequest method.
  • defaultRequiredDate - A colon-separated list used to set the default “not required after” date for requests in the format days:months:years (e.g. 0:1:0 will set a “not required after” date of 1 month from the current date).
    • This only applies if extraFields includes “requiredByDate.”
  • helpText - A generic help text displayed on the request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[*] - (From VuFind® 8.0) A default help text displayed on the request form if not overridden. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[lng] - A language-specific help text displayed on the request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.

• Array keys used for input of “ILLRequests” (from v2.3)
  • HMACKeys - a colon-separated list of fields to verify with a hash key when submitting a hold form (at a minimum, “id” is recommended). Note that this is used for verifying VuFind®'s own request form; it is not directly tied to the ILS in any way. MUST BE PROVIDED in order to place requests within VuFind®. This also serves another important purpose: any keys in the return array from getHolding will be passed to placeILLRequest if they match entries in this list. This makes it possible to pass through all of the the necessary details about placing a request.
  • extraFields (optional) - a colon-separated list of form fields to include in the request form; may include “comments”, “requiredByDate”, “pickUpLocation”, “pickUpLibrary”, “pickUpLibraryLocation” and “itemId”. “pickUpLibraryLocation” is a special dynamic field that is populated based on “pickUpLibrary” using the getILLPickupLocations() method, which must be implemented by the ILS driver. Note that all parameters activated here must be processed by the placeILLRequest method.
  • defaultRequiredDate - A colon-separated list used to set the default “not required after” date for requests in the format days:months:years (e.g. 0:1:0 will set a “not required after” date of 1 month from the current date).
    • This only applies if extraFields includes “requiredByDate.”
  • helpText - A generic help text displayed on the request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[*] - (From VuFind® 8.0) A default help text displayed on the request form if not overridden. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.
  • helpText[lng] - A language-specific help text displayed on the request form. Displayed as is; HTML tags can be used, and everything needs to be properly escaped.

• Array keys used for input of “changePassword” (from v2.4)
  • minLength - Minimum length for a new password
  • maxLength - Maximum length for a new password

This optional method (see getConfig()) queries the ILS for consortial holding information.

• Input: RecordID, output of patronLogin (so that patron-specific data may be added to the return array), an array of RecordIDs (consortial “source records” for RecordID)
• Output: The same as described in getHolding().

This method queries the ILS for a list of courses to be used as input to the findReserves method (Optional)

• Output: An associative array with key = course ID, value = course name.

This method returns the default pick up location code or id for use when placing holds and other requests. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method (optional), hold information array similar to placeHold's input (optional, provided only when user is in the process of placing a hold – may be used to limit the available pickup options based on item ID, etc.; not supported prior to VuFind® 1.3)
• Output: A pick up location id or code (string); starting with VuFind® 2.3, this may also return false to force the user to choose a location.

This method queries the ILS for a list of departments to be used as input to the findReserves method (Optional)

• Output: An associative array with key = department ID, value = department name.

Get a list of funds that can be used to limit the “new item” search. Note that “fund” may be a misnomer – if funds are not an appropriate way to limit your new item results, you can return a different set of values from this function. For example, you might just make this a wrapper for getDepartments(). The important thing is that whatever you return from this function, the IDs can be used as a limiter to the getNewItems() function, and the names are appropriate for display on the new item search screen. If you do not want or support such limits, just return an empty array here and the limit control on the new item search screen will disappear.

• Output: An associative array with key = fund ID, value = fund name.

IMPORTANT: The return value for this method changed in r2184. If you are using VuFind® 1.0RC2 or earlier, this function returns a flat array of options (no ID-based keys), and empty return values may cause problems. It is recommended that you update to newer code before implementing the new item feature in your driver.

Get Default “Hold Required By” Date (optional). Not supported until VuFind® 2.3.

This method is only called if the defaultRequiredDate setting in the ILS driver's .ini file has a “driver:” prefix. An example:

[Holds]
defaultRequiredDate = 'driver:0:2:0'

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method (optional), hold information array similar to placeHold's input (optional, provided only when user is in the process of placing a hold – may be used to limit the available pickup options based on item ID, etc.; must never add new options to the return array – may only be used as a limiter; not supported prior to VuFind® 1.3)
• Output: Unix timestamp (or null if no date available)

This method queries the ILS for holding information.

Starting with VuFind® 6.0, this method supports pagination to prevent retrieval of impractically large result sets. To support pagination, the getConfig(“Holds”) call must return an itemLimit value.

In VuFind® 6.1, the reliance on the getConfig(“Holds”) call for retrieving itemLimit values was revised to use the more appropriate getConfig(“Holdings”) call instead.

• Input: RecordID, output of patronLogin (so that patron-specific data may be added to the return array), additional options (beginning in release 6.0; these may include 'page', 'itemLimit' and 'offset' parameters used for result pagination).
• Output: Prior to release 6.0, returns an array of associative arrays, one for each item attached to the specified bibliographic record. Beginning with release 6.0, may instead return an associative array with 'total' and 'holdings' keys, where 'total' is the total number of items available from the ILS, and 'holdings' is the requested page of results, represented as associative arrays). Beginning with release 6.1, an 'electronic_holdings' key may also be included, containing records for online items not found in the regular 'holdings' array; these are highlighted at the top of the holdings display, independently from pagination, to ease access to available full content. Regardless of top-level format or whether it's a 'holding' or 'electronic_holding', each associative array representing an item holding contains these keys:

Key	Type	Required	Minimum Version	Description
id	string	yes		the RecordID that was passed in
availability	boolean/int	yes	* / 9.1	is the item available (i.e. on the shelf and/or available for checkout)? See below for further information.
status	string	yes		description of the availability status of the item
location	string	yes		description of the physical location of the item. Note: prior to VuFind® 1.3, some drivers HTML entity encoded this string; that is incorrect behavior in VuFind® 1.3 or later – this should be plain text, not HTML.
location_code	string	no		an internal code representing the location.
locationhref	string	no	2.5	a URL to link the location name to.
reserve	string	yes		“on reserve” status – legal values: 'Y' or 'N'
callnumber	string	yes		the call number of this item
callnumber_prefix	string	no	8.0	a call number prefix (i.e. a value that sets the context of the call number, such as a material format designation, but is not part of the call number for sorting purposes, etc.)
duedate	string	no		due date of checked out item in a human-readable form (null if not checked out)
returnDate	string or boolean	no		A string showing return date of an item (false if not recently returned)
number	string	yes		the copy number for this item (note: although called “number”, this may actually be a string if individual items are named rather than numbered – the value will be used in displays to distinguish between copies within a list)
enumchron	string	no	5.0	enumeration / chronology data about the current copy (i.e. volume number and/or year); introduced to separate this detailed information from the simple number field above.
requests_placed	int	no		The total number of holds and recalls placed on an item
barcode	string	yes		the barcode number for this item (important: even if you do not have access to real barcode numbers, you may want to include dummy values, since a missing barcode will prevent some other item information from displaying in the VuFind® interface).
notes	string[]	no	deprecated in 3.0	an array of notes associated with holdings
holdings_id	string	no		the ID of the holdings record containing the current item
holdings_notes	string[]	no	3.0	an array of notes associated with holdings record containing the current item
item_notes	string[]	no	3.0	an array of notes associated with the current item
summary	string[]	no		an array of summary information strings associated with holdings
supplements	string[]	no	2.3	an array of strings about supplements associated with holdings
indexes	string[]	no	2.3	an array of strings about indexes associated with holdings
is_holdable	bool	no		whether or not ANY user can place a hold or recall on the item – allows system administrators to determine hold behaviour (defaults to true if unset). Use this setting to indicate hold availability based on the item itself; use the addLink setting for hold availability based on the combination of the item and the current logged-in user.
holdtype	string	no		the type of hold to be placed – of use for systems with multiple hold types such as “hold” or “recall”. Prior to VuFind® 4.0, a value of “block” will inform the user that they cannot place a hold on the item due to account blocks (optional); starting in 4.0, the “block” value was replaced with the separate getRequestBlocks method.
addLink	string or bool	no		whether not the CURRENT user can place a hold or recall on the item – for use with drivers which can determine hold logic based on patron data – i.e. only used when holds_mode is set to “driver” in config.ini; normally a boolean, but until VuFind® 4.0 may be set to the special value of “block” to indicate a user permission problem (optional; starting in 4.0, use the getRequestBlocks method instead). Starting with VuFind® 1.3, you can also use the special value of “check” which will trigger an AJAX call against the checkRequestIsValid() method to allow complex link rules to be evaluated without holding up the main page load.
item_id	string	no		the item (as opposed to bibliographic) identifier (optional)
holdOverride	string	no	1.3	you can use this value to override the usual config.ini Catalog:holds_mode setting on an item-by-item basis; useful for local customizations but not recommended for generic shared driver code. Also note that this feature only works when the Catalog:allow_holds_override setting is turned on in config.ini.
addStorageRetrievalRequestLink	string or bool	no	2.3	you can use this value to indicate availability of storage retrieval requests. See addLink above for valid values. If “check” is returned, the driver must implement the checkStorageRetrievalRequestIsValid() method. See also getConfig and other storage retrieval request methods. At least placeStorageRetrievalRequest() must be implemented.
addILLRequestLink	string or bool	no	2.3	you can use this value to indicate availability of Inter-Library Loan (ILL) requests. See addLink above for valid values. If “check” is returned, the driver must implement the checkILLRequestIsValid() method. See also getConfig and other ILL request methods. At least placeILLRequest() must be implemented.
source	string	no	2.4	The search backend from which the record may be retrieved (defaults to Solr)
use_unknown_message	bool	no		when set to true, will cause display of a message indicating that the status of the item is unknown.
services	string[]	no	3.0	this value can be used to indicate availability services (loan, presence). For now, 'services' is only used by code calling getStatus(), not getHolding(), but setting it here as well will not hurt anything and may be useful for future enhancements. See the getStatus() documentation for more details.
boundWithRecords	array	no	10.0	an array of arrays, where each instance defines bibId and title keys describing a “bound-with” record associated with the current record; title keys may be null if title information is unavailable

The availability field may contain a boolean value:

• true - Item is available, and 'Available' is displayed as status
• false - Item is unavailable, and the status field is used for display

Starting with VuFind 9.1, also the following constants from \VuFind\ILS\Logic\ItemStatus class can be used, and the status field is always used for display:

• STATUS_UNAVAILABLE - Item is unavailable
• STATUS_AVAILABLE - Item is available
• STATUS_UNCERTAIN - Item availability is uncertain (the item could be available e.g. only to a specific patron group)

This method returns a URL that links into the ILS to allow the patron to place a hold. Optional – should only be defined when the placeHold method cannot be implemented due to ILS limitations.

• Input: Bibliographic Record ID, Item details array from getHolding (second parameter is optional and was introduced in VuFind® 1.2; starting with VuFind® 1.4, it is also possible that the second parameter will contain a 'level' key set to 'title' instead of item information for cases where a user has explicitly requested a title-level hold)
• Output: Link to legacy OPAC for placing hold (or null if no hold link is available for this item).

Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

This method must be implemented if “pickUpLibrary” is specified in extraFields of getConfig('ILLRequests').

• Input: Bibliographic ID, Patron Data (from patronLogin() method)
• Output: An array of associative arrays containing:
  • id - Pick up library ID
  • name - Display name for the library
  • isDefault - Whether this is the default pick up library

Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

This method must be implemented if “pickUpLibraryLocation” is specified in extraFields of getConfig('ILLRequests').

• Input: Bibliographic ID, Pick up library ID (from getILLPickupLibraries()), Patron Data (from patronLogin() method)
• Output: An array of associative arrays containing:
  • id - Pick up library ID
  • name - Display name for the library
  • isDefault - Whether this is the default pick up library

This method queries the ILS for a list of instructors to be used as input to the findReserves method (Optional)

• Output: An associative array with key = instructor ID, value = instructor name.

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current fines

Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method

Output: Returns an array of associative arrays, one for each fine associated with the specified account. Each associative array contains these keys:

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current holds

Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method

Output: Returns an array of associative arrays, one for each hold associated with the specified account. Each associative array contains these keys:

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current ILL requests. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method
• Output: Returns an array of associative arrays, one for each request associated with the specified account. Each associative array contains these keys:
  • id - The bibliographic record ID associated with the request (optional).
  • source - The search backend from which the record may be retrieved (optional - defaults to Solr). Introduced in VuFind® 2.4.
  • location - A string describing the pickup location for the requested item (optional). It may be either a locationID value or a raw ready-to-display string.
  • reqnum - A control number for the request (optional).
  • expire - The expiration date of the request (a string).
  • create - The creation date of the request (a string).
  • position – The position of the user in the request queue (optional).
  • available – Whether or not the request is available for pickup (true) or not (false) (optional).
  • item_id – The item id the request item (optional).
  • volume – The volume number of the item (optional).
  • issue - The issue of the item (optional).
  • year – The publication year of the item (optional).
  • title - The title of the item (optional – only used if the record cannot be found in VuFind®'s index).
  • canceled - Boolean or date (string) indicating that the request has been canceled.
  • processed - Boolean or date (string) indicating that the request has been processed.
  • institution_name - Display name of the institution where the item was requested from (optional).
  • isbn - An ISBN for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • issn - An ISSN for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • oclc - An OCLC number for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • upc - A UPC for use in cover image loading (optional)

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current profile information

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method
• Output: An associative array with the following keys (all containing strings):
  • firstname
  • lastname
  • address1
  • address2
  • city (added in VuFind® 2.3)
  • country (added in VuFind® 2.3)
  • zip
  • phone
  • mobile_phone (added in VuFind® 5.0)
  • group – i.e. Student, Staff, Faculty, etc.
  • expiration_date – account expiration date (in display format, added in VuFind® 4.1; omit or set to null to exclude)
  • birthdate (Y-m-d or an empty string, added in VuFind® 9.0)

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current storage retrieval requests. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method
• Output: Returns an array of associative arrays, one for each request associated with the specified account. Each associative array contains these keys:
  • id - The bibliographic record ID associated with the request (optional).
  • source - The search backend from which the record may be retrieved (optional - defaults to Solr). Introduced in VuFind® 2.4.
  • location - A string describing the pickup location for the requested item (optional). It may be either a locationID value or a raw ready-to-display string.
  • reqnum - A control number for the request (optional).
  • expire - The expiration date of the request (a string).
  • create - The creation date of the request (a string).
  • position – The position of the user in the request queue (optional).
  • available – Whether or not the request is available for pickup (true) or not (false) (optional).
  • item_id – The item id the request item (optional).
  • volume – The volume number of the item (optional).
  • issue - The issue of the item (optional).
  • year – The publication year of the item (optional).
  • title - The title of the item (optional – only used if the record cannot be found in VuFind®'s index).
  • canceled - Boolean or date (string) indicating that the request has been canceled.
  • processed - Boolean or date (string) indicating that the request has been processed.
  • institution_name - Display name of the institution where the request was made (optional).
  • isbn - An ISBN for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • issn - An ISSN for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • oclc - An OCLC number for use in cover image loading (optional)
  • upc - A UPC for use in cover image loading (optional)

This method retrieves a patron's historic transactions (previously checked out items).

The getConfig method must return a non-false value for this feature to be enabled. For privacy reasons, the entire feature should be disabled by default unless explicitly turned on in the driver's .ini file.

This feature was added in VuFind® 5.0.

• getConfig may return the following keys if the service supports paging on the ILS side:
  • max_results - Maximum number of results that can be requested at once. Overrides the config.ini Catalog section setting historic_loan_page_size.
  • page_size - An array of allowed page sizes (number of records per page)
  • default_page_size - Default number of records per page
• getConfig may return also the following keys if the service supports sorting:
  • sort - An associative array where each key is a sort key and its value is a translation key
  • default_sort - Default sort key
• getConfig may return also the following keys with boolean true as the value if the service supports purging of all or selected entries from the history:
  • purge_all - Supports purging of all entries
  • purge_selected - Supports purging of selected entries
• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method and an array of optional parameters (keys = 'limit', 'page', 'sort').
• Output: Returns an array of associative arrays containing some or all of these keys:
  • title - item title
  • checkoutDate - date checked out
  • dueDate - date due
  • id - bibliographic ID
  • barcode - item barcode
  • returnDate - date returned
  • publication_year - publication year
  • volume - item volume
  • institution_name - owning institution
  • borrowingLocation - checkout location
  • message - message about the transaction
  • row_id - ID of the transaction history row (required if purgeTransactionHistory is enabled)

This method queries the ILS for a patron's current checked out items

• Starting with VuFind® 5.1, getConfig may return the following keys if the service supports paging on the ILS side:
  • max_results - Maximum number of results that can be requested at once. Overrides the config.ini Catalog section setting checked_out_page_size.
  • page_size - An array of allowed page sizes (number of records per page)
  • default_page_size - Default number of records per page
• Starting with VuFind® 5.1, getConfig may return also the following keys if the service supports sorting:
  • sort - An associative array where each key is a sort key and its value is a translation key
  • default_sort - Default sort key
• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method, and (starting with VuFind® 5.1) an optional array of parameters (keys = 'limit', 'page', 'sort')
• Output: Starting with VuFind® 5.1, may return an array with 'count' and 'records' keys, where 'count' is the total number of transactions available, and 'records' is the currently-requested page of results (in the format described below). Prior to 5.1, always returned an array of associative arrays, one for each item checked out by the specified account; this response format is still supported for drivers that do not allow pagination. Each associative array contains these keys:
  • duedate - The item's due date (a string).
  • dueTime - The item's due time (a string, optional).
  • dueStatus - A special status – may be 'due' (for items due very soon) or 'overdue' (for overdue items). If this is false, empty string, or unset, VuFind® will assume that items have no special status. (optional).
  • id - The bibliographic ID of the checked out item.
  • source - The search backend from which the record may be retrieved (optional - defaults to Solr). Introduced in VuFind® 2.4.
  • barcode - The barcode of the item (optional).
  • renew - The number of times the item has been renewed (optional).
  • renewLimit - The maximum number of renewals allowed (optional - introduced in VuFind® 2.3).
  • request - The number of pending requests for the item (optional).
  • volume – The volume number of the item (optional).
  • publication_year – The publication year of the item (optional).
  • renewable – Whether or not an item is renewable (required for renewals).
  • message – A message regarding the item (optional).
  • title - The title of the item (optional – only used if the record cannot be found in VuFind®'s index).
  • item_id - this is used to match up renew responses and must match the item_id in the renew response.
  • institution_name - Display name of the institution that owns the item (optional). Used e.g. with received interlibrary loans (ILL) if they are displayed in the checked out items list (e.g. UB Requests between Voyager libraries).
  • isbn - An ISBN for use in cover image loading (optional – introduced in release 2.3)
  • issn - An ISSN for use in cover image loading (optional – introduced in release 2.3)
  • oclc - An OCLC number for use in cover image loading (optional – introduced in release 2.3)
  • upc - A UPC for use in cover image loading (optional – introduced in release 2.3)
  • borrowingLocation - A string describing the location where the item was checked out (optional – introduced in release 2.4)

This method queries the ILS for new items

• Input: getNewItems takes the following parameters:
  • page - page number of results to retrieve (counting starts at 1)
  • limit - the size of each page of results to retrieve
  • daysOld - the maximum age of records to retrieve in days (maximum 30)
  • fundID - optional fund ID to use for limiting results (use a value returned by getFunds, or exclude for no limit); note that “fund” may be a misnomer – if funds are not an appropriate way to limit your new item results, you can return a different set of values from getFunds. The important thing is that this parameter supports an ID returned by getFunds, whatever that may mean.
• Output: An associative array with two keys: 'count' (the number of items in the 'results' array) and 'results' (an array of associative arrays, each with a single key: 'id', a record ID).

IMPORTANT: The fundID parameter changed behavior in r2184. In VuFind® 1.0RC2 and earlier versions, it receives one of the VALUES returned by getFunds(); in more recent code, it receives one of the KEYS from getFunds(). See getFunds for additional notes.

This optional method (introduced in VuFind® 1.4) gets the online status of the ILS – “ils-offline” for systems where the main ILS is offline, “ils-none” for systems which do not use an ILS, false for systems that are fully online. If not implemented, the value defaults to false – most drivers will not need to worry about this method, which is primarily used by the special NoILS driver.

• Output: string or false, as described above

This method returns a list of locations where a user may collect a hold. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

Input:

Output: An array of associative arrrays with the following fields:

This method returns a list of users for which the provided user can place proxy requests. This method was added in VuFind® 9.0.

• Input: Patron array returned by patronLogin method
• Output: Associative array of user ID ⇒ user display name

This method returns information on recently received issues of a serial.

• Input: Bibliographic record ID
• Output: Array of associative arrays, each with a single key:
  • issue - String describing the issue

Currently, most drivers do not implement this method, instead always returning an empty array. It is only necessary to implement this in more detail if you want to populate the “Most Recent Received Issues” section of the record holdings tab.

This method returns a string to use as the input form value for renewing each hold item. (optional, but required if you implement the renewMyItems method) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input: checkOutDetails - One of the individual item arrays returned by the getMyTransactions method
• Output: A string to use as the input form value for renewing each item; you can pass any data that is needed by your ILS to identify the transaction to renew – the output of this method will be used as part of the input to the renewMyItems method.

This optional method returns an array of strings describing reasons for blocking the active user from placing requests (holds, recalls, etc.). If no blocks are in place, it returns false. Not supported prior to VuFind® 4.0

• Input: patron (array returned by the driver's patronLogin method)
• Output: array or false

This optional method returns information used to group together collections of pickup locations. Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3.

• Input: bibID (of record being requested), Patron Data (from patronLogin() method), holdDetails (Optional array, only passed in when getting a list in the context of placing a hold; contains most of the same values passed to placeHold, minus the patron data. May be used to limit the request group options or may be ignored; added in VuFind® 4.0).
• Output: False if request groups not in use or an array of associative arrays with id and name keys

This method returns a subset of the information from getHolding

• Input: Bibliographic record ID
• Output: Returns an array of associative arrays, one for each item attached to the specified bibliographic record. Each associative array contains these keys:

Note: Some driver implementations add additional values beyond those listed above. However, these extra values are not used by core code and should generally be ignored.

This method calls getStatus for an array of records

• Input: Array of bibliographic record IDs.
• Output: Array of return values from getStatus (note – the keys of this array have no special meaning; you will need to search it if you want to retrieve a specific record's values).

Return a list of suppressed authority records (used to remove non-visible items from VuFind®'s index). Note: this method was introduced in VuFind® 1.4.

• Output: An array of authority record IDs.

Return a list of suppressed bibliographic records (used to remove non-visible items from VuFind®'s index).

• Output: An array of bibliographic record IDs.

This optional method (introduced in VuFind® 9.1) returns one or more ILS-specific links associated with the provided bibliographic record ID.

• Input: Bibliographic record ID
• Output: Link data (in the same format returned by the record driver's getURLs method)

This optional method (introduced in VuFind® 1.4) can be used to hide the holdings tab for records where holdings do not apply. Most drivers will not need to implement this – it is primarily for use by the special NoILS driver.

• Input: Bibliographic ID
• Output: true if holdings exist, false if they do not.

This method is where your driver should initialize all expensive resource dependencies and verify its configuration array (found in $this→config when extending VuFind\ILS\Driver\AbstractBase). If a problem is encountered, this method should throw an Exception.

• Input: none
• Output: none

This optional method (introduced in VuFind® 1.4) can be used to hide VuFind®'s login options. Most drivers will not need to implement this – it is primarily for use by the special NoILS driver.

• Output: true if login should be hidden, false otherwise.

This method processes authentication against the ILS.

When ILS or MultiILS authentication is used as the login method, the username in VuFind®'s user table is, by default, taken from cat_username but it's configurable with the ILS_username_field in [Authentication] section of config.ini.

Starting with version 4.0, VuFind® uses the id field as the primary link between the ILS user and the VuFind® user. The cat_username field or the field configured above is used if the user cannot be found with id. The idea is to have a more persistent link between the account (since cat_username is typically a library card, and a card may need to be changed, it's not really permanent) while allowing the existing accounts that don't yet have the id in them to be found.

Depending on the driver and its configuration, the username may be a library card number, an email address or another patron identifier. For instance with Alma there are a couple of different login methods, and only the regular password authentication uses the password parameter.

• Input: Username, Password
• Output: null on failed login, associative array of patron information on success. Keys:
  • id - the patron's ID in the ILS
  • firstname - the patron's first name
  • lastname - the patron's last name
  • cat_username - the username used to log in
  • cat_password - the password used to log in
  • email - the patron's email address (null if unavailable)
  • major - the patron's major (null if unavailable)
  • college - the patron's college (null if unavailable)

This method places a hold on a specific record for a specific patron. (Optional – if this feature is not supported by the ILS, you can define the getHoldLink method instead). This method was not consistently implemented until VuFind® 1.2 – earlier drivers may include a placeHold method, but none of those early versions are supported by standard core code.

• Input: holdDetails - An associative array with several keys. 'patron' will always be defined to contain the array returned by patronLogin method; other fields may vary depending on the fields defined in the HMACKeys and extraHoldFields settings returned by the getConfig method. Some commonly used values:
  • holdtype - type of hold (as provided by the getHolding method)
  • pickUpLocation - user-selected pickup location
  • item_id - item ID
  • comment - user comment
  • id - bibliographic ID
  • level - starting with VuFind® 1.4, this key may be passed in set to 'title' when a user requests a title-level hold; in order for the title-level hold mechanism to work correctly, make sure that the HMACKeys setting returned by getConfig('Holds') includes 'level'.
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • success – Boolean true or false
  • sysMessage – A system supplied failure message (optional)

This method places an ILL request on a specific record for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: details - An associative array with several keys. 'patron' will always be defined to contain the array returned by patronLogin method; other fields may vary depending on the fields defined in the HMACKeys and extraFields settings returned by the getConfig method. Some commonly used values:
  • pickUpLocation - user-selected pickup location
  • item_id - item ID
  • comment - user comment
  • id - bibliographic ID
  • level - this key may be passed in set to 'title' when a user requests a title-level request; in order for the title-level request mechanism to work correctly, make sure that the HMACKeys setting returned by getConfig('ILLRequests') includes 'level'.
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • success – Boolean true or false
  • sysMessage – A system supplied failure message (optional)

This method places a storage retrieval request on a specific record for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 2.3

• Input: details - An associative array with several keys. 'patron' will always be defined to contain the array returned by patronLogin method; other fields may vary depending on the fields defined in the HMACKeys and extraFields settings returned by the getConfig method. Some commonly used values:
  • pickUpLocation - user-selected pickup location
  • item_id - item ID
  • comment - user comment
  • id - bibliographic ID
  • level - this key may be passed in set to 'title' when a user requests a title-level request; in order for the title-level request mechanism to work correctly, make sure that the HMACKeys setting returned by getConfig('StorageRetrievalRequests') includes 'level'.
• Output: Associative array containing:
  • success – Boolean true or false
  • sysMessage – A system supplied failure message (optional)

Not supported prior to VuFind® 9.1

This method deletes selected entries or all entries from the transaction (checkout) history.

Availability of purge options in the UI is controlled by getConfig for getMyTransactionHistory returning purge_all = true and/or purge_selected = true.

Input:

Output: An associative array containing the following fields:

This method renews a list of items for a specific patron. (optional – you may wish to implement getRenewLink instead if your ILS does not support direct renewals) Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input: renewDetails - An associative array with two keys:
  • patron - array returned by patronLogin method
  • details - array of values returned by the getRenewDetails method identifying which items to renew
• Output: An associative array with two keys:
  • blocks - An array of strings specifying why a user is blocked from renewing (false if no blocks)
  • details - Not set when blocks exist; otherwise, an array of associative arrays (keyed by item ID) with each subarray containing these keys:
    • success – Boolean true or false
    • new_date – string – A new due date
    • new_time – string – A new due time
    • item_id – The item id of the renewed item
    • sysMessage – A system supplied renewal message (optional)

This method returns a URL to use as a link to a native OPAC for renewing each item. (optional, and should not be implemented unless your ILS is unable to support implementation of the renewMyItems method). Not supported prior to VuFind® 1.2

• Input: checkOutDetails - One of the individual item arrays returned by the getMyTransactions method
• Output: A URL to a native OPAC for renewing each item

Set the driver's configuration array. In most circumstances, this will be automatically called by the VuFind\ILS\Connection class and passed a configuration array parsed from an .ini file whose name corresponds with the driver class. This method is implemented by VuFind\ILS\Driver\AbstractBase, so you do not need to add it if you inherit from that class.

• Input: configuration array
• Output: none

If your ILS driver implements __call() for dynamic method calls, you must also implement this method to indicate which methods may be legally called dynamically. Note that this is only really relevant for very unusual drivers like the MultiBackend driver; in general, __call() should almost always be avoided.

• Input: method name, array of parameters
• Output: boolean true (method is supported) or false (method is not supported)

This method updates a list of holds for a specific patron. (optional) Not supported prior to VuFind® 8.0

Input:

Output: An associative array with reqnum as the key, containing arrays with the following fields:

• Expanded ILS Functionality in VuFind® – Blog post providing an overview of how the driver's hold/recall/renewal functionality works.
• ILS Driver Troubleshooting

See ILS Drivers, Part 1 for further discussion of ILS drivers.