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Home > Minerva > Cataloging > How To's > Drag and Drop in GUI Cat

How To Drag and Drop in GUI Cat

Introduction

Within the Minerva GUI Cat client software there are three distinct ways of moving data from one place to another:

  • Windows copy, cut and paste
  • MARC field drag and drop, for moving one or more MARC fields from one bib record to another, or within a given bib record
  • Item record drag and drop, for moving item records from one bib record to another, or to re-order item records attached to a single bib record

Windows Copy, Cut and Paste

Most text within GUI Cat editing windows can be cut, copied and pasted using the normal Windows methods.  Some folks prefer to use the short-cut keys Ctrl-C, Ctrl-X and Ctrl-V to respectively copy, cut and paste highlighted text.  This works with everything except MARC field labels and indicators.  Different rules apply to the first five columns in any edit screen, in respect to cutting and pasting as well as cursor movement and control key operation.

MARC Field Drag and Drop

So, you want to move that great contents note from the bib record of the hard cover edition over to the bib record for the large type edition?  You would like to use two or three of those well-crafted subject headings from the record for the fourth edition into the record for the second?  Maybe there is a note in the bib record that really should be moved into the item record of the library where the record originated?  MARC field drag and drop makes all these tasks easy and quick.

The technique is simple, but peculiar.  It seems almost silly to describe it in such detail.  On the other hand, absent such a description, it could take many frustrating attempts to get it right.  So, here goes...

To use drag and drop to copy a single field:

  1. Bring both the source and the destination editing windows onto the screen, side by side. The vertical tiling icon from the top right of the GUI Cat screen is the best tool for doing this.It will work for any mix of bib and item records. However, working with more than three records at a time is very cumbersome.
  2. Point at the MARC field tag, click the left mouse button and hold it down.The entire field with all its subfields should appear highlighted. (If your finger slips off the mouse button, the field will remain highlighted, but cannot now be copied. Click the field again to remove the highlighting, then begin again and do not release the mouse button util the drag to the destination area is complete.)
  3. With the mouse button still held down, move the pointer to the beginning of the field contents area of the line in the destination record where you would like the field copied. Release the mouse button. The field should appear on the line where you dropped it, pushing whatever was there previously down one line. Note: the operation will fail if you release the mouse button with the mouse pointer positioned over a MARC field tag value or over the indicators columns. It must be positioned over the beginning of the contents area.

Variation: You may highlight multiple fields in the source record by clicking once on the MARC tag of each.  They can be moved as a group as long as you click and hold down on the last field to be selected.

Drag and drop works for one or multiple fields within GUI Cat.  The fields need not be in sequence.  Read How To  Drag and Drop Items for details.

Item Record Drag and Drop

Clicking on the Items tab of a GUI Cat record display presents the Item Summary Screen, a list of all the item records attached to that bib record.  It is sometimes necessary to move items from one bib record to another.  To do this:

  1. Bring both the source and destination Item Summary windows onto the screen, side by side.The vertical tiling icon does a good job of that.
  2. Click once on the line number for the item record in the source window, and release.The entire line should appear highlighted.
  3. Click again on the line number, but this time hold down and drag the mouse pointer to the destination Item Summary window. Position the pointer in the line number column at whatever point you would like to insert the item record. Release the mouse button. The item appears on the destination item listing and disappears from the source item listing.
  4. Be sure to add the appropriate bib record location value. If appropriate, e.g. the moved item was the last attached to it, delete the source bib record.

Note that item drag and drop actually moves the item record.  No additional save operation is necessary.

This technique can also be used to re-sequence item records so they appear in alphabetical order by library name.  While this is done automatically every month or so, OPAC results will be instant if done manually.