Step 1 - Preparing the System

To start, contact Interleaf to ensure that the plugin system is enabled in the configuration file on your Koha database.

Once this has been confirmed, go to Koha Administration > Global System Preferences > UseKohaPlugins.

Ensure this system preference is set to Enable.

Step 2 - Installing the Plugin

Go to- https://github.com/bywatersolutions/koha-plugin-coverflow/releases and download the most recent .kpz file. 

On your Koha system go to Koha Administration > Plugins > Manage Plugins > Upload Plugin.

Click the Upload plugin button and on the new page that comes up, choose file and select the .kpz file you just retrieved to upload.

Step 3 - Setting up the Report

Once the Coverflow plugin is uploaded it needs to be linked to a specific report on your system to find the titles that it is going to display. The ideal report for this is the one provided below and will find a random selection of 10 titles added to your system in the past 30 days:

SELECT distinct(b.title),i.biblionumber,bi.isbn,b.author, bi.itemtype, i. dateaccessioned

FROM items i 

LEFT JOIN biblio b on i.biblionumber=b.biblionumber 

LEFT JOIN biblioitems bi on i.biblionumber=bi.biblionumber 

WHERE DATE_SUB(CURDATE(),INTERVAL 30 DAY) <= i.dateaccessioned

AND bi.isbn is not null 

ORDER BY rand()

LIMIT 10

If 30 days is not appropriate for your library it is possible to change the time period of the report by altering it in the line:

WHERE DATE_SUB(CURDATE(),INTERVAL 30 DAY) <= i.dateaccessioned

The number of items displayed can also be changed by editing the number in the final line LIMIT 10.

CAUTION: The larger the number of items being displayed the longer it will take for the OPAC to display them. It is unwise to vastly increase both the amount of days searched for and the limit on the number of items displayed, as this can slow the system to a crawl. The items will display in a random order, so even a modest amount of items will provide a variety of displays. 

Copy and paste the report to your system through Reports- Guided reports- Create from SQL. Give it a name like Coverflow New Titles, so its function is clear even at a glance. This will avoid it being mistakenly edited in the future, which could prevent the coverflow from working. Take a note of the number of this report. 

Step 4 - Configure the plugin

Once the report is created, it is possible to link it to the Coverflow Plugin and configure other features of the tool.

Return to the Plugin area of your Koha system. Beside the Coverflow Plugin go to the Actions button and hit configure. 

This will bring up a new page, with a large white box in the centre. 

Copy and paste the information below into this box:

  id:

  selector: #coverflow

  options:

    style: coverflow

    buttons: true

    autoplay: 4000

    loop: true

After pasting this into the configuration put in the number of the report created earlier in the first line. For instance, if the report was number 10, the first line should be id: 10. 

There are several other options that can be configured here, but there are two main ones to be addressed. 

1. Under link options you choose to use the images as links to the records within your OPAC and to have the titles of the items appear underneath them in the coverflow.

2. You can limit the height and width of the covers. As a rule of thumb, start with 200 pixles high and 150 in length and adjust from there. 

Your final screen should look something like this:

Hit Save Configuration.

Go to your OPAC and confirm that the Coverflow is displaying. It should look something like this: