“Fatal Error? What the %#@& Does That Mean?”

Building a Home-Brew Text Message Notification System for Sierra

R.C. Miessler, Systems Librarian Gettysburg College

MAIUG 2015, Cairn University

October 12, 2015

About Gettysburg College

•  Private, 4-year liberal arts school •  2,600 students •  Sierra platform since 2013 •  Library/IT are NOT merged (and don’t like

talking about it) •  I am THE library systems person and I am

NOT a developer

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“I’m Not a Developer …”

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… Fatal Error!

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TXT ME PLZ KTHXBY

•  Students want text reminders since using email isn’t “cool”

•  We want to provide text message reminders, but can’t afford the text message product (sorry III reps)

•  Can’t use the “send an email to number@provider.com” solution because of how our patron load is set up

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Solution?

Foundation – David Noe’s IUG 2015 presentation

“Automating Custom Patron Notices and Messages Using SQL”

– New Twilio text notification add-on for ILLiad Idea

– Use PHP to execute SQL query, then pass along to Twilio to send text messages

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Challenges …

So how do we … – Develop the right SQL query? – Build the %#@& thing without IT/developer

assistance? – Find a server to run the PHP script? – Get patrons signed up?

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Reclaim Hosting •  Built for educators/institutions •  Great technical support •  $25/$45 a year depending on how much

storage you need •  Needed for: running and scheduling PHP

script •  Ask for:

– PostgreSQL-enabled server – Whitelist your database server IP

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SierraDNA

•  Our PHP script runs a PostgreSQL query, so need to be able to talk to the database server

•  Contact III for access •  Needed for: pulling patron/item data •  Recommend dedicated login for this with

Sierra SQL Access application the only thing assigned

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Twilio

•  $1/month/number •  $0.0075/text message sent/received •  Excellent documentation and examples •  Needed for: sending/receiving texts •  Security/outside vendor review?

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Tools •  Text editor

– Sublime Text (free, but bugs you for $70) – Notepad++ (free) – Brackets.io (free)

•  Terminal emulator – PuTTY (free) – Terminal utility (native on Macs)

•  FTP client – FileZilla (free)

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Resources •  Manuals

–  PHP.net –  postgresql.org –  techdocs.iii.com/sierradna/

•  Forums –  stackoverflow.com –  Reddit

•  /r/phphelp •  /r/learnsql

•  Tutorials & Classes –  codeacademy.com –  W3schools.com

•  Peers –  Listservs, Twitter, email, phone

•  Repositories –  GitHub

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Workflow Issues

•  No consistent data in TELEPHONE/TELEPHONE2 fields in patron record

•  No way for patrons to self-opt-in to the service through patron account in WebPAC

•  Best bet? Manual process (meh)

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Local Workflow Outside Sierra 1.  Patrons sign up via web

form on the library’s website

2.  Notification emails sent to group who manually update the patron records

3.  Patron record manually updated by library staff

4.  Confirmation text message sent to patron via custom back-end HTML+PHP web form that connects with Twilio service

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Local Workflow in Sierra •  Patron record manually updated

–  PCODE2 = y –  NOTE field inserted with mobile number

•  Formatted as +17175551234

•  Modify patron load profile –  @ov_protect V104 (NOTE), F45 (PCODE2)

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Adding Link to WebPAC

Edit patronview_web.html to include a link to the signup form under a new <div class=“patActionItem”>

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Good artists copy, great artists steal. -  Unknown, generally attributed to Picasso

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(awesome artists license their work as CC-BY)

<?php

•  This code will eventually be on github.com/rmiessle/sierra-sms and the IUG Clearinghouse in a heavily documented form

•  Comments are removed for the presentation to make it easier to show

•  Want it sooner? Email me! •  Also have a script for non-hourly items

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The Code

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Function Junction

Functions are just blocks of code that can be called up at any time, saves having to have the same block of code in multiple places writeLog() outputs the number of notices sent into a file that is defined by the variable $logFile and then closes the connection the SQL server Example output: 10-06-2015 15:45:02 - 1 notices sent

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$variables, etc.

•  Set the timezone (not really a variable) –  (http://php.net/manual/en/timezones.php)

•  $messageCount – notices sent starts at 0 •  $logFile - what the log file is called (for

our writeLog() function) •  $fromNumber - our Twilio number •  $messageBody – the message we send

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SQL Credentials

This is a special variable that sets up your credentials to connect to your SQL database server

–  host (database URL) –  port (usually 1032) –  dbname (usually iii) –  user (Sierra user with Sierra SQL Access application) –  password (anyone who has access to this file can

see it) –  sslmode (require for security)

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No Records Found?

If no results are found after running the query, run the writeLog() function

– This just makes a note in the log file that 0 messages were sent

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SQL Query

•  Pulls the note from the patron record (mobile) and the item barcode (barcode)

•  Matches the note field and checkout record to the patron record, and the checkout record to the item record

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SQL Query (Continued)

•  Additional conditions: •  The patron record must have a NOTE field (x) •  PCODE2 must be y •  The NOTE field must:

–  Start with +1 –  3rd character must be 2-9 –  9 more digits (0-9) –  Be 12 characters long (+1 = 2, telephone with area code = 10)

•  The due timestamp must be between now and 15 minutes from now (900 seconds)

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Run Query, Send Results to Twilio •  Creates an array $people

containing each row returned by the SQL query with columns mobile and barcode

•  Loads the Twilio helper library (Twilio.php) to simplify sending the messages

•  For each row of the array, sends a text message that contains the message body and barcode for the item due

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Send the Results to Twilio (Cont.)

•  Redacts the message body in the Twilio logs

•  Adds 1 to the message count

•  Repeat until all rows are accounted for

•  When done, runs the writeLog() function to say how many notifications were sent

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?>

•  56 lines of code (without comments) •  NOTHING works right the first time •  Test as much as you can before going live •  Capture error messages and Google them •  Ask for help!!!

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/PATH/TO/

•  Files have to live somewhere on the server

•  It’s a good practice to not put the files in /public_html/ or /www/ folders on your server (if possible)

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ChRONo Trigger •  CRON job –executes PHP script on a schedule •  Runs every 15 minutes for hourly items •  Configured through Reclaim Hosting cPanel

interface •  */15 * * * php /PATH/TO/script.php

–  */15 = Run every 15 minutes –  2nd * = Run every hour –  3rd * = Run every day –  4th * = Run every month –  Command to execute the script

•  Email sent every time it’s triggered

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*Ding*

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Who’s Talking to Whom

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Reclaim Web

Server Twilio

Sierra DB

Success? •  72 patrons signed up since launch •  September signup drive – entered students into

a $10 gift card drawing •  Marketing committee push (balloons and candy) •  1st generation iPad at Circulation Desk with

shortcut to the form

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Future?

•  Integration with Sierra 2.0 Patron API? – Haven’t moved to SP3 yet …

•  Hold shelf notifications? – Need to find right SQL query

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Will This Work For You?

•  Budget for web hosting & Twilio service – Depending on volume of messages, probably

less than $100/year •  Unafraid of PHP, SQL, web servers •  No institutional issues with using 3rd party

providers •  Sense that patrons want this service

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Recommended Reading

“What is Code?” by Paul Ford – http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-

paul-ford-what-is-code/

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Links to Resources •  reclaimhosting.com •  twilio.com

–  twilio.com/docs/php/install - PHP Helper Library •  techdocs.iii.com/sierradna/ •  “Automating Custom Patron Notices and Messages

Using SQL” – IUG 2015 –  http://innovativeusers.org/conferences/search-

presentations.html •  Gettysburg College web form

–  https://www.gettysburg.edu/library/services/text-notifications.dot (please don’t spam us)

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Thanks!

rmiessle@gettysburg.edu @iconodule

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