NAME

PICA::Record - Perl extension for handling PICA+ records

DESCRIPTION

Module for handling PICA+ records as Perl objects.

INTRODUCTION

What is PICA+?

PICA+ is the internal data format of the Local Library System (LBS) and the Central Library System (CBS) of OCLC, formerly PICA. Similar library formats are the MAchine Readable Cataloging format (MARC) and the Maschinelles Austauschformat für Bibliotheken (MAB). In addition to PICA+ in CBS there is the cataloging format Pica3 which can losslessly be convert to PICA+ and vice versa.

What is PICA::Record?

PICA::Record is a Perl package that provides an API for PICA+ record handling. The package contains a parser interface module PICA::Parser to parse PICA+ (PICA::PlainParser) and PICA XML (PICA::XMLParser). Corresponding modules exist to write data (PICA::Writer and PICA::XMLWriter). PICA+ data is handled in records (PICA::Record) that contain fields (PICA::Field). To fetch records from databases via SRU or Z39.50 there is the interface PICA::Source and to access the experimental CBS webcat interface there is PICA:Webcat.

You can use PICA::Record for instance to convert between PICA+ and PicaXML, to process PICA+ records that you have downloaded with WinIBW or download records in native format via SRU or Z39.50.

To get an insight to the API have a look at the examples (directory examples) and tests (directory t) included in this package.

METHODS

new ( [ ...data... ] )

Base constructor for the class. A single string will be parsed line by line into PICA::Field objects, empty lines and start record markers will be skipped. More then one or non scalar parameters will be passed to append so you can use the constructor in the same way:

my $record = PICA::Record->new('037A','a' => 'My note');

If no data is given then it just returns a completely empty record. To load PICA records from a file, see PICA::Parser, to load records from a SRU or Z39.50 server, see PICA::Source.

copy ( )

Creates a clone of this record by copying all fields.

all_fields ( )

Returns an array of all the fields in the record. The array contains a PICA::Field object for each field in the record. An empty array is returns if the record is empty.

f ( $tagspec(s) )

Shortcut for method field.

field ( $tagspec(s) )

Returns a list of PICA::Field objects with tags that match the field specifier, or in scalar context, just the first matching Field.

You may specify multiple tags and use regular expressions.

my $field  = $record->field("021A","021C");
my $field  = $record->field("009P/03");
my @fields = $record->field("02..");
my @fields = $record->field("039[B-E]");

sf ( [ $tagspec , $subfield ] | $spec )

Shortcut for method subfield.

subfield ( [ $tagspec , $subfield ] | $spec )

Shortcut method for getting just the subfield's value of a tag (see PICA::Field). Returns a list of subfield values that match or in scalar context, just the first matching subfield.

These are equivalent (in scalar context):

my $title = $pica->field('021A')->subfield('a');
my $title = $pica->subfield('021A','a');

You may also specify both field and subfield seperated by '$'. Don't forget to quote the dollar sign!

my $title = $pica->subfield('021A$a');
my $title = $pica->subfield("021A\$a");
my $title = $pica->subfield("021A$a"); # this won't work!

If either the field or subfield can't be found, undef is returned.

You may also use wildcards like in field() and the subfield() method of PICA::Field:

my @values = $pica->subfield('005A', '0a');    # 005A$0 and 005A$a
my @values = $pica->subfield('005[AIJ]', '0'); # 005A$0, 005I$0, and 005J$0

values ( )

Shortcut method to get subfield values of multiple fields and subfields. The fields and subfields are specified in a list of strings, for instance:

my @titles = $pica->values( '021A$a', '025@$a', '026C$a');

This method always returns an array.

You may also use wildcards in the field specifications, see subfield() and field().

main_record ( )

Get the main record (level 0, all tags starting with '0').

local_records ( )

Get a list of local records (holdings, level 1 and 2). Returns an array of PICA::Record objects.

copy_records ( )

Get the copy records (level 2, all tags starting with '2'). Returns an array of PICA::Record objects.

is_empty ( )

Return true if the record is empty (no fields or all fields empty)

delete_fields ( <tagspec(s)> )

Delete fields specified by tags. You can also use wildcards, see field() for examples Returns the number of deleted fields.

append ( ...fields or records... )

Appends one or more fields to the end of the record. Parameters can be PICA::Field objects or parameters that are passed to PICA::Field-new>.

my $field = PICA::Field->new('037A','a' => 'My note');
$record->append($field);

is equivalent to

$record->append('037A','a' => 'My note');

You can also append multiple fields with one call:

my $field = PICA::Field->new('037A','a' => 'First note');
$record->append($field, '037A','a' => 'Second note');

$record->append(
    '037A', 'a' => '1st note',
    '037A', 'a' => '2nd note',
);

Please not that passed PICA::Field objects are not be copied but directly used:

my $field = PICA::Field->new('037A','a' => 'My note');
$record->append($field);
$field->replace('a' => 'Your note'); # Also changes $record's field!

You can avoid this by cloning fields:

$record->append($field->copy());

You can also append copies of all fields of another record:

$record->append( $record2 );

The append method returns the number of fields appended.

replace ( $tag, $field | @fieldspec )

Replace a field. You must pass a tag and a field. Attention: Only the first occurence will be replaced so better not use this method for repeatable fields.

sort ( )

Sort all fields. Most times the order of fields is not changed and not relevant but sorted fields may be helpful for viewing records.

add_headers ( [ %options ] )

Add header fields to a PICA::Record. You must specify two named parameters (eln and satus). This method is experimental. There is no test whether the header fields already exist.

to_string ( [ %options ] )

Returns a string representation of the record for printing. See also PICA::Writer for printing to a file or file handle.

normalized ( [ $prefix ] )

Returns record as a normalized string. Optionally adds prefix data at the beginning.

print $record->normalized();
print $record->normalized("##TitleSequenceNumber 1\n");

See also PICA::Writer for printing to a file or file handle.

to_xml ( )

Returns the record in PICA XML format. Make sure to have set the default namespace ('info:srw/schema/5/picaXML-v1.0') to get valid PICA XML. See also PICA::XMLWriter.

INTERNAL METHDOS

_get_regex ( $reg )

Get a complied regular expression

SEE ALSO

At CPAN there are the modules MARC::Record, MARC, and MARC::XML for MARC records. The deprecated module Net::Z3950::Record had a subclass Net::Z3950::Record::MAB for MAB records (you should now use Net::Z3950::ZOOM).

TODO

The to_string, to_xml, and normalized methods should be integrated into PICA::Writer or vice versa.

Full Unicode support may need some more testing and bugfixes.

The SRU interface to fetch PICA+ records is still limited.

More points are in the file TODO in this distribution.

AUTHOR

Jakob Voss <jakob.voss@gbv.de>

LICENSE

Copyright (C) 2007,2008 by Verbundzentrale Goettingen (VZG) and Jakob Voss

This library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself, either Perl version 5.8.8 or, at your option, any later version of Perl 5 you may have available.

cpanm PICA::Record

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install PICA::Record