Step-by-step guide

Import the patron photos

This guide explains how to load the photos of many patrons in one go, one file per patron, for example those extracted from another program. It is for whoever administers BiblioViva.

Time: 10 to 30 minutes, depending on the number of photos.
Account: admin. No other account can import photos.
Requirements: one photo per patron, in a file named after the card number; the patrons already imported.

The administrator can switch off patron photos: with photos switched off the Patron photos page does not exist (see Switch off photos or covers). For the photos of a single class there are more convenient ways: see Take patron photos and Take photos from a class picture.

Procedure

Prepare the photos

Name each photo after the patron's card number, followed by the extension: for example 0000001240.jpg for a card of an old format, U012345.jpg for a card of the current format. JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, HEIC and AVIF files are accepted.
Put all the files in a ZIP archive. Folders inside the archive do not matter: only the name of each file counts.

Note. BiblioViva resizes each photo to the set size and removes the image's hidden data (location, date, name of the device). The browser accepts archives up to about 32 MB: for a larger quantity split the photos into several archives, or use the computer folder described further on.

Upload the archive

Press Administration, then Imports, then Patron photos. The Import the patron photos page opens.
In the From a ZIP archive box, in the ZIP archive with the photos field, choose the archive.
If the archive's photo must replace that of patrons who already have one, tick Replace the photos already present. Without the tick the photos already present stay as they are.
Press Import the photos.

Check the result

Read the Result box. It reports how many photos were imported, replaced, left as they were because already present, how many files match no patron and how many are not readable images.
If there are files without a patron, press Download the list of files without a patron: the file foto-senza-utente.csv lists the names to check.

Use the computer folder (optional)

When the photos are many and the archive would be too large, the files can be copied into a folder on the BiblioViva computer. This step needs the help of whoever manages the computer.

Ask whoever manages the computer to copy the files into the folder indicated by the page, in the From the server folder box (it is the imports/photos folder of BiblioViva's data; the volumes are described in the technical guide) [VERIFY: the exact command to copy the files into the data volume, not described in deploy.md].
Refresh the page: the box says how many files there are.
If needed, tick Replace the photos already present.
Press Import from the folder.

Result

The patrons whose card numbers match the file names have the photo. The photo is seen in the patron's record and on the card. The message "Photos imported" confirms the import from the folder.

Possible problems

Many files have no patron: the file name does not match the card number: check the downloaded list and rename the files. The patrons must already have been imported.
"The file is not a valid ZIP archive." appears: the chosen file is not a ZIP. Create the archive again.
"The archive contains no files." appears: the archive is empty. Check that the files were compressed and not an empty folder.
Some photos are not readable: the Result lists the files that are not valid images: replace them and import them again.
A photo does not change: the patron already had a photo and Replace the photos already present was not ticked.
For those coming from Koha: photos are extracted with a ready-made query, which writes one file per patron with the card number as its name: see the technical instructions.