Defining a Custom Circulation Slip

You can edit the fields in Horizon’s default circulation slips to create customized slips. You can also copy the default slips and edit them to create new slips. You specify the information that Horizon includes on each type of circulation slip and how that information displays in these views:

Circ_slip. This view holds the formatting and identifies where Horizon should find most of the content for a circulation slip.
Circ_slip_message. This view lets you create messages and link them to a specific circulation slip for a specific location and ITYPE. (For example, the due date circulation slip for the audio-visual location and ITYPE videocassette could include a message that says, “Please rewind videos before returning them to the library.”)

To define a custom circulation slip

1 Open the circ_slip view in the Table Editor.
2 Do one of these options:
Choose the circulation slip that you want to change, or create a new circulation slip.
If you want to copy an existing circulation slip and modify it, do these steps:
Click once on the slip you want to copy to highlight it.
Choose File>Copy Record.

Horizon displays the Edit Circulation Slip window:

 

3 Choose the Circulation Slip Field that you want to change, or create a new one.
4 Complete or update these fields:

Field

Action

Code

This is a read-only field that displays the code for the circulation slip that you are editing.

Description

Enter a description for the circulation slip.

(For example, enter “due date slip”, “hold slip”, or “needs cataloging”.)

Location

Enter or choose the location for which you are setting up the slip.

Section

Mark the button to specify where you want this information to display:

Header
Body
Footer

Information in a header or footer position prints once on each circulation slip. Information in a body position prints once for each item in the transaction.

Order

Enter a number to specify the order in which this piece of information should display.

Field Type

Enter or choose the field type code for the field that you are entering.

You must use a predefined code. (For a list of codes and their descriptions, see Using Field Type Codes.)

Label

Enter a label that describes the contents of the data element.

(For example, enter “Item Barcode”.)

This text prints on the circulation slip.

Column

If you want Horizon to retrieve information from a table, enter the name of the column from which the information comes.

(For example, enter “name” to print the data from the “name” column of the borrower table.)

If you leave this field blank or use a non-existent column name, no information prints. (For a list of tables and columns, see the Table Structures Guide.)

Data mask

Specifies how to mask or format the field data. For more information on masking, see Masking Information on Patron Receipts.

Max. Len.

Enter the maximum field length for the data element.

This is useful to make columns for payment or fee data, or to assure that a long title fits on the space provided. For slips, this is useful for hiding sensitive information (such as showing only one or two characters for a patron name) and for truncating long strings of data.

For example, to show only the first character for the borrower’s first name, select the bfirstn option from the Circulation Slip Field drop-down list. Then, type 1 for the Max. Len. field.

Min. Len.

Enter the minimum character length for the field.

This sets the padding for a field (using spaces for missing characters up to the minimum length) if the value is under the specified value, thus allowing you to format the slip so that columns line up correctly and everything is justified appropriately.

For example, if the string value of borrower first name is “Bob” and it is followed by the next field string of borrower last name with a value of “Smith”; if you set the Min. Len. to 20 on the bfirstn field from the Circulation Slip Field drop-down list; and if the string is right-justified, it prints as:

BobSmith

Note: If you want a space between Bob and Smith, you need to insert a 1-space literal text field between them.

If the same string is left-justified, it prints as:

Bob Smith

This example pads 17 spaces (20 minus the number of characters in the specific name value) in front of “Bob”, while the second example pads 17 spaces after the name.

Append to Previous

Mark this box if you want to keep this data element on the same line as the previous one.

Justify

Click the justification option you want to use.

5 To specify how to display the borrower name, use the bfirstn, bmiddn, blastn, and btitln codes. You select these in the Field Type field by either typing the value or using the Codes button to select the appropriate value.
6 To format a date and time field, complete step 6 in Formatting Date and Time on Receipts and Notices.
7 Save your changes.
8 If you want to create or edit a message for this circulation slip, continue with Creating a Circulation Slip Message .

 


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