MarcEdit 7 is Here!

By reeset / On / In MarcEdit

After 9 months of development, hundreds of thousands of lines of changed code, 3 months of beta testing over which time, tens of millions of records were processed using MarcEdit 7, the tool is finally ready. Will you occasionally run into issues…possibly – any time that this much code has changed, I’d say that there is a distinct possibility. But I believe (hope) that the program has been extensively vetted and is ready to move into production. So, what’s changed? A lot. Here’s a short list of the highlights:

  • Native Clustering – MarcEdit implements the Levenshtein Distance and Composite Coefficient matching equations to provide built-in clustering functionality. This will let you group fields and perform batch edits across like items. In many ways, it’s a lite-weight implementation of OpenRefine’s clustering functionality designed specifically for MARC data. Already, I’ve used this tool to provide clustering of data sets over 700,000 records. For performance sake, I believe 1 million to 1.5 million records could be processed with acceptable performance using this method.
  • Smart XML Profiling – A new XML/JSON profiler has been added to MarcEdit that removes the need to know XSLT, XQuery or any other Xlanguage. The tool uses an internal markup language that you create through a GUI based mapper that looks and functions like the Delimited Text Translator. The tool was designed to lower barriers and make data transformations more accessible to users.
  • Speaking of accessibility, I spent over 3 months researching fonts, sizes, and color options – leading to the development of a new UI engine. This enabled the creation of themes (and theme creator), identification of free fonts (and a way to download them directly and embed fonts for use directly in MarcEdit within the need of administrator rights), and a wide range of other accessibility and keyboard options.
  • New versions – MarcEdit is now available as 4 downloads. Two which require administrative access and two that can be installed by anyone. This should greatly simplify management of the application.
  • Tasks have been super charged. Tasks that in MarcEdit 6.x could take close to 8 hours now can process in under 10-20 minutes. New task functions have been added, tasks have been extended, and more functions can be added to tasks.
  • Link data tools have been expanded. From the new SPARQL tools, to the updated linked data platform, the resource has been updated to support better and faster linked data work. Coming in the near future will be direct support for HDT and linked data fragments.
  • A new installation wizard was implemented to make installation fun and easier. User follow Hazel, the setup agent, as she guides you through the setup process.
  • Languages – MarcEdit’s interface has been translated into 26+ languages
  • .NET Language update – this seems like a small thing, but it enabled many of the design changes
  • MarcEdit 7 *no* longer supports Windows XP
  • Consolidated and improved Z39.50/SRU Client
  • Enhanced COM support, with legacy COM namespaces preserved for backward compatibility
  • RDA Refinements
  • Improved Error Handling and expanded knowledge-base
  • The new Search box feature to help users find help

With these new updates, I’ve updated the MarcEdit Website and am in the process of bringing new documentation online. Presently, the biggest changes to the website can be seen on the downloads page. Rather than offering users four downloads, the webpage provides a guided user experience. Go to the downloads page, and you will find:

If you want to download the 64-bit version, when the user clicks on the link, the following modal window is presented:

Hopefully this will help users, because I think that for the lion’s share of MarcEdit’s user community, the non-Administrator download is the version that most users should use. This version simplifies program management, sandboxes the application, and can be managed by any user. But the goal of this new downloads page is to make the process of selecting your version of MarcEdit easier to understand and empower users to make the best decision for their needs.

Additionally, as part of the update process, I needed to update the MarcEdit MSI Cleaner. This file was updated to support MarcEdit 7’s GUID keys created on installation. And finally, the program was developed so that it could be installed and used side by side with MarcEdit 6.x. The hope is that users will be able to move to MarcEdit 7 as their schedules allow, while still keeping MarcEdit 6.x until they are comfortable with the process and able to uninstall the application.

Lastly, this update is seeing the largest single creation of new documentation in the application’s history. This will start showing up throughout the week and I continue to wrap up documentation and add new information about the program. This update has been a long-time coming, and I will be posting a number of tid-bits throughout the week as I complete updating the documentation. My hope is that the wait will have been worth it, and that users will find the new version, it’s new features, and the improved performance useful within their workflows.

The new version of MarcEdit can be downloaded from: http://marcedit.reeset.net/downloads

As always, if you have questions, let me know.

–tr

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