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Offline Mode
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You're in the middle of checking in a stack of books when your internet goes down. You wait for a few seconds to see if it'll come back up, but . . . no dice. There are a lot of things on your to-do list today, and leaving this project for later is quite unappealing. So what do you do?
Work offline. Yep, you can do that now.
Summary/Overview
Offline Mode enables you to continue working in Circulation while the connection to your server is down. It has three functions: Check In, Check Out, and Inventory.
Offline Mode is independent from Alexandria Librarian. It can't show you any historical data, but it will allow you to continue.
While You're Offline
When your internet goes down or connection with the server is otherwise lost, Alexandria will ask if you want to work in Offline Mode. Click Work Offline to continue.
Communication with the Server has been lost.
Attempting to reconnect...Work Offline Close
Screenshots
Functions
While in Offline Mode, you can perform three functions: Check In, Check Out, and Inventory. Choose the function you wish to perform, then type in the patron and/or item barcode
Offline Mode is independent from Alexandria Librarian. It can't show you any historical data, but it will allow you to continue
Data Storage
Data is stored in your browser's local storage, so you can't begin working in Offline Mode in one browser and continue working in another browser later. But if you accidentally close the tab or window and open it again, your unsaved offline data will still be there—that is, unless you clear your browser storage. Don't do that unless you really want to.
Mobile
Offline Mode can be used on your mobile device, even when your server is online. Why would you want to do that? One word: inventory. That's right, you can process inventory from your phone.
GIF screenshot
Transaction Log
The transaction log lists all of the transactions you've processed since beginning Offline Mode. Select a transaction for the option to remove, then either click the X or hit delete on your keyboard. To remove a transaction, select the item and then either click the X on the right or hit delete on your keyboard.
NOTE: Nice, but not a requirement: You should be able to select multiple lines at once using your system shortcut (shift, command).
After recording, the Item Barcode is cleared with every scan, and displayed in the log. During Check Out, the Patron Barcode persists. If the cursor is clicked in the Patron Barcode field, or if the mode changes, clear the Patron Barcode.
Save to File
Use Save To File to save your current transaction log to local storage.
- On a mobile device,
Are you finished for the day but the connection is still down? Save your progress.
You shouldn't have to use this option very often, if at all, but it's there in case you need it.
Save your transaction log to local storage.
Selecting ‘Save To File’ saves as a transaction file in plain .txt format, to your Desktop or Downloads or whatever your download behavior is. The transactions recorded in this file need to be in circulation script format and include all necessary commands to specify the modes as well the barcodes involved, just like the file that would be uploaded to the server when ‘Upload’ is selected.
When you're offline, we can't tell which site you're working on, so you can only use Offline Mode for one site at a time. But if you need to work at multiple sites and can't upload your data in
Offline Mode is only meant to be used for one site at a time.
- If you need to work at multiple sites, you can n the rare case the user will be working at multiple sites, they could save to file and move to another site. Are the file names different? how can they tell what data is for what site if they've switched?
Save to File
After you save the file, would you like to clear the transactions from Offline?
Clear Don't Clear
When the v7 Server is available again, the transactions can be sent to the v7 Server to be executed via a Transaction Script process in the operations manager.
Back Online
Alexandria will ping your server every 10 seconds to see if it's back online. We don't want to interrupt what you're doing, though. When a connection is reestablished, the General Alert will sound and the connection indicator at the bottom left of your screen will turn green. At this point, you can continue working in Offline Mode or log in and upload your transaction log.
Log In
Now that your server is back online, you'll need to log in before uploading your data. We just want to make sure you're still you, and your data is being uploaded to the correct library.
When you're offline, we can't tell which site you're working on, so you'll need to log in
When you're offline, we can't tell which site you're working on, so you can only use Offline Mode for one site at a time. If you need to work at multiple sites
- If you need to work at multiple sites, you can n the rare case the user will be working at multiple sites, they could save to file and move to another site. Are the file names different? how can they tell what data is for what site if they've switched?
- When the v7 Server is available again, the transactions can be sent to the v7 Server to be executed via a Transaction Script process in the operations manager.
- The name of your site is listed at the bottom left.
Switch Site
Once you've logged in, the name of the site you're working in to is on the bottom left of the screen. If you find you're logged in to the wrong site, click the site name at the bottom of the screen to open the Switch Site menu.
When you switch sites, the data remains–it doesn't upload automatically, it doesn't clear.
The Switch Site option will become available when connection to the server has been established and the user is logged in. On mobile, the site will show the site code instead of the name. Clicking the site name/code brings up a menu that shows the full site name and the option to Switch Site. When you switch sites, the data remains. (It does not upload automatically, it does not clear.)
Upload
Upload is available when
- you're logged in,
- there is a connection to the server,
- and there are transactions to be uploaded.
Uploading will process all transactions at the site you're logged in to, then it will clear all of the entries from the log.
When you upload, the log is cleared, the browser database is cleared, and a snackbar message tells you e.g. “15 transactions have been queued in Operations Management.” (NOTE: We know this number from the number of lines in the log.) NOTE: If this is a lot of work, note here, and skip for now.
- When the v7 Server is available again, the transactions can be sent to the v7 Server to be executed via a Transaction Script process in the operations manager.
