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Slides accompanying a demonstration of the Web site of the Museum of the History of Science (Oxford) at the 2011 Global EMu User Group meeting. It features the integration of the EMu collections management software in a WordPress theme.
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05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 1/15
Connected! How we Integrated our Collections in WordPress using the
EMu API Paul Trafford
October 2011
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 2/15
The promise
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 3/15
The problemw
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05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 4/15
Outline of a Solution
• Install WordPress CMS
• Customise MHS Theme
• Copy over, tweak, configure EMu PHP API
• Extend theme by developing library of EMU-specific functions.
• Reference in WP pages via shortcodes.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 5/15
Connected! 1/6
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 6/15
Connected! 2/6
WordPress integration of related resources
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 7/15
Connected! 3/6
Same interface as before. This actually searches across many fields (which we could allow user to define).
Same search options as before
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 8/15
Connected! 4/6
Hyperlinks to record details
Image thumbnail links to full size images
Combined List and Thumbnail views
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 9/15
Connected! 5/6Hyperlinks allowing onward navigation
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 10/15
Connected! 6/6
Searched creation place field for Nuremberg
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 11/15
User Benefits• Consistent look and feel• Closer Integration• Better navigation between objects and exhibits• Staff access to internal details (via WordPress
login). E.g. display of images without watermarks.
• Staff updates/edits possible of EMu-related information pages.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 12/15
System Development Benefits• One fewer web servers to maintain• Code all in one place• Great flexibility in developing collections
functionality and also in styling output.• Allows EMu data to be released according to
WordPress sessions.• Encourages cross-linking to/from e.g. exhibition
sites.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 13/15
Caveats• Low-level API means quite a lot of coding• Uses a copy of the PHP API bundle in a WordPress
directory -> manual updates• Some sorting queries appear inefficient (as at 4.0.01)• Name spaces: rename the EMu Query class and Fetch()
method.• Dependence: if WordPress is inaccessible then so is the
catalogue.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 14/15
WordPress: Search Interface
Standard HTML form specified by:<form action="results-list/" method="get"> ...
Indicate query type:
<input name="QueryName" type="hidden" value="BasicQuery" />Other options:
<input class="WebInput" name="ImagesOnly" type="checkbox" value="true" />
One search page for basic, field, advanced search. E.g.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 15/15
WordPress: Results Page
- results as a list view [print_emusearch_results]- display of object records[print_emudisplay_page]- narratives display [print_emunarrative]
A small set of pages, with the display of results data invoked via WordPress shortcodes:
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 16/15
EMu use within WordPress 1/3EMu functions Include EMu config and query class files:
<?php require_once( TEMPLATEPATH. '/emuphp5/config.php' ); require_once( TEMPLATEPATH. '/emuphp5/query.php' ); ...
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 17/15
EMu use within WordPress 2/3Build the query (as per documentation), e.g.<?php $query1 = new EMuQuery(); $query1->Table="ecatalogue"; ...// save resources by specifying the return of only what we need $query1->StartRec=$list_start; $query1->EndRec=$list_start+$list_size;// build up the query term and then execute it: $queryterm="(TitMainTitle contains '~$query')"; … $query1->TexqlTerm($queryterm); $results=$query1->EMuFetch();// proceed to process results in $results.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 18/15
EMu use within WordPress 3/3MHS developed a (cheeky?) watermarking solution within WP.
•Modification of supplied query.php (for security)•Uses GD library, doesn’t require ImageMagick•Includes session info (via wp-blog-header.php)•Modifies Show() function to display watermark depending upon image size and session state.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 19/15
Limitations• Not much documentation (and it’s not very
visible)• Use of Texxmlserver means it has no
understanding of EMu …• Authorisation (as defined in EMu registration)
has to be implemented some other way … • For a small organisation like MHS, roles in
WordPress may suffice
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 20/15
Conclusions• WordPress integration is fine• Implementation complete, but took some effort• Expect to develop further functionality, particularly 2-way
linking to/from existing Exhibition sites• Will seek to go beyond just object records• However, IMu offers a far more advanced (and
supported) option – in Web services and APIs.• Will investigate IMu concurrently.
05/10/2011 http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/ Slide 21/15
Any Questions?
Paul Trafford
Web Officer
Museum of the History of Science
Oxford OX2 8DD, UK