SDS-Labels

SDS-Labels is a static web-based application for generating shipping labels to be used by the Statewide Delivery System, a service managed and coordinated by the State Library of Ohio. More information about the service can be found on the State Library's website.

Tools Used

SDS Labels uses the following libraries:

• Bootstrap 5.0 alpha
• TaffyDB

Notes on Usage

TaffyDB consumes a JSON file, output.json, of the shipping label data and creates a JavaScript-like database of the entries:

// Initialise TaffyDB from JSON file
function initDB() {
    let xmlhttp = new XMLHttpRequest();
    xmlhttp.onreadystatechange = function () {
        if (this.readyState === 4 && this.status === 200) {
            data = JSON.parse(this.responseText);
            db = TAFFY(data);
            db.sort("name"); // Alphabetize
            loadOptions();
        }
    };
    xmlhttp.open("GET", "output.json", true);
    xmlhttp.send();
}

If the JSON structure is malformed, the entries will not populate the dropdown menus. If the dropdown menus are empty, verify the structure of the JSON data, and correct it. A single label object will look like the following:

  {
    "id": 9999,
    "libid": 900,
    "name": "A Single Library",
    "address": "123 Very Nice Rd.",
    "city": "Columbus",
    "state": "OH",
    "zip": 43201,
    "seo": "XXX",
    "hub": "ZZZ",
    "route": 9999,
    "latitude": "39.98153098",
    "longitude": "-82.99600477",
    "is_primary": true
  }

The output.json content may occasionally need to be updated to add entries as new libraries enter the program. When adding a new library, append their new entry to the end of the output.json file and increment the previous entry's id value by "1" to get the value for your new entry. It is not necessary for new entries to be sorted alphabetically in the output.json file; the libraries will be displayed alphabetically in the web form. The critical thing to remember is that the id value must be unique.

When adding a branch location for an existing library in the list, you can duplicate the "libid" value for the branch, but the "is_primary" value must be set to "false" for the new branch. Only 1 entry per libid can be flagged as "true" in the "is_primary" field.