The MarcEditor component represents the public interface to MarcEdit’s global batch editing functions.  Designed using a notepad-like interface, the tool has been created to support the ability to load and edit records of any size.  The tool uses a number of paging and data loading techniques that all that enable the MarcEditor to edit records of any size and provide different page loading techniques to enable different navigation experiences.

The MarcEditor works by utilizing a mnemonic file format.  This file format represents a text-based representation of MARC data, and provides a familiar record viewing experience for anyone familiar with library integrated library systems or OCLC’s record editing format.

=LDR 00086nam 22003258a 4500
=001 ssj0000566787 
=003 WaSeSS 
=005 20120915070148.0 
=006 m\\\\\\\\d\\\\\\\\ 
=007 cr\cnu---auuuu 
=008 110912s2012\\\\nju\\\\\sb\\\\001\0\eng\d 
=010 \\$a 2011032490 
=020 \\$a9781119991519 
=035 \\$a(WaSeSS)ssj0000566787 
=040 \\$aDLC$cDLC$dWaSeSS 
=949 \\$aB$bHale, Nathan,$lEBOOK 
=949 \\$a306.362$bHale, Nathan,$lEBOOK 
=042 \\$apcc 
=050 00$aTK7882.I6$bL84 2012 ebook 
=082 00$a621.39/87$223 
=100 1\$aLueder, Ernst,$d1932- 
=245 10$a3D displays$h[electronic resource] /$cErnst Lueder. 
=246 3\$aThree D displays 
=260 \\$aHoboken, N.J. :$bWiley,$c2012. 
=300 \\$a1 online resource. 
=504 \\$aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 
=588 \\$aDescription based on print version record. 
=650 \0$aThree-dimensional display systems. 
=655 \0$aElectronic books. 
=776 08$iPrint version:$aLueder, Ernst, 1932-$t3D displays$dHoboken, N.J. : Wiley, 2012.$x9781119991519$w(DLC) 2011032490 

Above, you can see an example of MarcEdit’s mnemonic format.  The format utilizes new lines to represent the end of fields, blank lines to note the end of records, and an equal “=” sign to signify the start of a field.  Within each field, the format is defined by the data found in the leader, but in MARC21, a traditional field would look like:

equal sign + a three digit field number + 2 spaces + 2 indicator values with (\) representing a blank, followed by a subfield code ($) and the subfield values.

In MarcEdit, all non-Unicode data is represented via mnemonics.  This is primarily of use when data is in MARC8, and are used to stand in for the diacritics.  When in UTF8, diacritics are rendered if the user has a font capabile of displaying the characters.  When working with UTF8 data, no mnemonic data is used except for mnemonics relating to a literal dollar sign.  The “$” value is reserved to represent the subfield code.  This means that a literal dollar sign must always be represented as a {dollar} mnemonic.