Smooth Upgrade

Kaplooey Mom — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:05:15 GMT

Okay, so while I was happy with my account at Drundo, they did away with the account level I was on, but grandfather’d me in at my original level. All was hunky dory.

Last week, I get the message that they’ve ‘upgraded’ all the legacy accounts to the new equivalent. Higher price, without my permission, and while some parts were upgraded, others were downgraded.

So after consulting with the House Finance Manager (husband), I went looking for a new hosting company and plan.

I settled on webhost4life, and last night, began what I thought was going to be a tortuous session, and loss of email for days. Boy, was I surprised.

I grabbed the files from the old server, bought a new domain, then went and ordered the advanced package, with my new domain. Smooth enough. They up sold turbocharged – more disk space for a piddling amount which was fine – and soon I had a brand spanking new website. Time to migrate kaplooey. The only issue there was that I had to ask the helpdesk to fix the email on the kaplooey domain. within 30 minutes of the ticket, I had kaplooey email back up and running on the new server, transparent to outlook.

While migrating this blog, I upgraded to dasBlog 2.3. Smooth there as well, since this is not using a database.

So, I have a new web host, more space and features, for less than what I was originally paying before, even before my upgrade.

Part of the deal with webhost4life was 5 sql databases (It was a time limited offer, so good luck if you go after it. So I’ll be working more on my personal applications. Trying to fit it all into 1 was annoying.

Also, just to let you know, I’ve been on Twitter (as @kaplooeymom) more than here lately, cause it’s easier to do one-liners than blog entries.

Getting Book Info from Various Web Services

Kaplooey Mom — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:02:34 GMT

Hi, I’m Leah and I’m a bookaholic.

In my quest to tame my addiction, I’m working on a little app to keep track of what I have and what I want. Kind of like Library Thing without any of the social stuff. And not necessarily a browser based system.

So, I’ve got a WPF client that will go out and touch four (so far) different web services to get the xml about a particular book – based on isbn or isbn13.

Getting the Data

There are some other choices out there, but I concentrated on the main ones, as far as information is concerned. In alphabetical order: Amazon, ISBNdb, Library Thing, and Library of Congress. Here’s how to get the XML from each service.

(note – blog jet is not the best at formatting the xml, and this is my first time at a serious tech post, so pretend all is properly indented until I get it cleaned up)

Amazon

First, get a key. Then make your url like this:

http://webservices.amazon.com/onca/xml?Service=AWSECommerceService&SubscriptionId=YOURKEYHERE&Operation=ItemLookup&ResponseGroup=Medium&ItemId=0441172695

Then, here’s what your xml looks like:

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 

- <ItemLookupResponse xmlns="http://webservices.amazon.com/AWSECommerceService/2005-10-05">



- <OperationRequest>



- <HTTPHeaders>



  <Header Name="UserAgent" Value="Mozilla/4.0
(compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; 


InfoPath.1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.04506.648; .NET CLR 3.5.21022; .NET CLR
3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729)" /> 


  </HTTPHeaders>




  <RequestId>38eed815-71e3-420b-902f-ade8746fb3ca</RequestId> 



- <Arguments>



  <Argument Name="Operation" Value="ItemLookup" /> 



  <Argument Name="Service" Value="AWSECommerceService" /> 



  <Argument Name="ItemId" Value="0441172695" /> 



  <Argument Name="ResponseGroup" Value="Medium" /> 



  <Argument Name="SubscriptionId" Value="YOURKEYHERE" /> 


  </Arguments>




  <RequestProcessingTime>0.0165120000000000</RequestProcessingTime> 


  </OperationRequest>




- <Items>



- <Request>



  <IsValid>True</IsValid> 



- <ItemLookupRequest>



  <Condition>New</Condition> 



  <DeliveryMethod>Ship</DeliveryMethod> 



  <IdType>ASIN</IdType> 



  <MerchantId>Amazon</MerchantId> 



  <OfferPage>1</OfferPage> 



  <ItemId>0441172695</ItemId> 



  <ResponseGroup>Medium</ResponseGroup> 



  <ReviewPage>1</ReviewPage> 


  </ItemLookupRequest>



  </Request>




- <Item>



  <ASIN>0441172695</ASIN> 



  <DetailPageURL>http://www.amazon.com/Dune-Messiah-Chronicles-Book/dp/0441172695_

 %3FSubscriptionId%3YOURKEYHERE%26tag%3Dws%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26_

 creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3D0441172695</DetailPageURL> 



  <SalesRank>8349</SalesRank> 



- <SmallImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL._SL75_.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">75</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">45</Width> 


  </SmallImage>




- <MediumImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL._SL160_.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">160</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">95</Width> 


  </MediumImage>




- <LargeImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">475</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">283</Width> 


  </LargeImage>




- <ImageSets>



- <ImageSet Category="primary">



- <SwatchImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL._SL30_.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">30</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">18</Width> 


  </SwatchImage>




- <SmallImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL._SL75_.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">75</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">45</Width> 


  </SmallImage>




- <MediumImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL._SL160_.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">160</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">95</Width> 


  </MediumImage>




- <LargeImage>



  <URL>http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/712XDW1BRHL.gif</URL> 



  <Height Units="pixels">475</Height> 



  <Width Units="pixels">283</Width> 


  </LargeImage>



  </ImageSet>



  </ImageSets>




- <ItemAttributes>



  <Author>Frank
Herbert</Author> 



  <Binding>Paperback</Binding> 



  <DeweyDecimalNumber>813.54</DeweyDecimalNumber> 



  <EAN>9780441172696</EAN> 



  <ISBN>0441172695</ISBN> 



  <Label>Ace</Label> 



- <Languages>



- <Language>



  <Name>English</Name> 



  <Type>Original
Language</Type> 


  </Language>




- <Language>



  <Name>English</Name> 



  <Type>Unknown</Type> 


  </Language>




- <Language>



  <Name>English</Name> 



  <Type>Published</Type> 


  </Language>



  </Languages>




- <ListPrice>



  <Amount>799</Amount> 



  <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode> 



  <FormattedPrice>$7.99</FormattedPrice> 


  </ListPrice>




  <Manufacturer>Ace</Manufacturer> 



  <NumberOfItems>1</NumberOfItems> 



  <NumberOfPages>336</NumberOfPages> 



- <PackageDimensions>



  <Height Units="hundredths-inches">120</Height> 



  <Length Units="hundredths-inches">670</Length> 



  <Weight Units="hundredths-pounds">35</Weight> 



  <Width Units="hundredths-inches">410</Width> 


  </PackageDimensions>




  <ProductGroup>Book</ProductGroup> 



  <PublicationDate>1987-07-15</PublicationDate> 



  <Publisher>Ace</Publisher> 



  <Studio>Ace</Studio> 



  <Title>Dune
Messiah (Dune Chronicles, Book 2)</Title> 


  </ItemAttributes>




- <OfferSummary>



- <LowestNewPrice>



  <Amount>1</Amount> 



  <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode> 



  <FormattedPrice>$0.01</FormattedPrice> 


  </LowestNewPrice>




- <LowestUsedPrice>



  <Amount>1</Amount> 



  <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode> 



  <FormattedPrice>$0.01</FormattedPrice> 


  </LowestUsedPrice>




- <LowestCollectiblePrice>



  <Amount>1000</Amount> 



  <CurrencyCode>USD</CurrencyCode> 



  <FormattedPrice>$10.00</FormattedPrice> 


  </LowestCollectiblePrice>




  <TotalNew>42</TotalNew> 



  <TotalUsed>441</TotalUsed> 



  <TotalCollectible>10</TotalCollectible> 



  <TotalRefurbished>0</TotalRefurbished> 


  </OfferSummary>




- <EditorialReviews>



- <EditorialReview>



  <Source>Product
Description</Source> 



  <Content>Paul
Atreides, genetically bred and trained to become the leader of his planet, is still
subject_

to human frailties. The second book of the series.</Content> 


  </EditorialReview>



  </EditorialReviews>



  </Item>



  </Items>



  </ItemLookupResponse>

ISBNdb

Get a key. Then make your url like this (for isbn):

http://isbndb.com/api/books.xml?access_key=YOURKEYHERE&index1=isbn&results=details&value1=9780441172695

Here’s what they give back:

<?xml version="1.0"
encoding="UTF-8" ?> 

- <ISBNdb server_time="2009-03-16T19:38:39Z">


- <BookList total_results="1" page_size="10" page_number="1" shown_results="1">


<BookData book_id="dune_messiah" isbn="0441172695" isbn13="9780441172696">


  <Title>Dune
Messiah</Title> 

  <TitleLong>Dune
Messiah (Dune Chronicles, Book 2)</TitleLong> 

  <AuthorsText>Frank
Herbert</AuthorsText> 

  <PublisherText publisher_id="ace_charter">ACE
Charter</PublisherText> 

  <Details change_time="2004-12-24T01:24:17Z" price_time="2009-03-16T16:59:06Z" _

 edition_info="Mass
Market Paperback; 1994-11-01" language="" _

 physical_description_text="4.2"x6.9"x0.9";
329 pages; 0.3 lb" lcc_number="" 

 dewey_decimal_normalized="" dewey_decimal="" /> 


  </BookData>

</BookList>


 </ISBNdb>

Library Thing

Another key needed. Make your URL like this:

http://www.librarything.com/services/rest/1.0/?method="librarything.ck.getwork&isbn=0441172695&apikey=YOURKEYHERE

Library Thing’s response:

<?xml version="1.0"
encoding="UTF-8" ?> 

- <response stat="ok">



- <ltml xmlns="http://www.librarything.com/" version="1.0">



- <item id="8183" type="work">



  <author id="54" authorcode="herbertfrank">Frank
Herbert</author> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/work/8183</url> 



- <commonknowledge>



- <fieldList>



- <field type="13" name="disambiguation" displayName="Disambiguation
notice">



- <versionList>



- <version id="848067" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1230621463">Tue,
30 Dec 2008 02:17:43 -0500</date> 



- <person id="501960">



  <name>alexdaw</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/alexdaw</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact><![CDATA[
A shorter version of this book appeared in Galaxy Magazine for July-September, 1969
]]></fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="26" name="lastwords" displayName="Last
words">



- <versionList>



- <version id="827623" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1230087264">Tue,
23 Dec 2008 21:54:24 -0500</date> 



- <person id="487278">



  <name>Grandeplease</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/Grandeplease</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact><![CDATA[
She led him back across the qanat into the darkness at the base of the massif and
its Place of Safety. ]]></fact> 



  <fact><![CDATA[
Epilogue . . . He strides through the long cavern of time, Scattering the fool-self
of his dream -The Ghola's Hymn ]]></fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="25" name="firstwords" displayName="First
words">



- <versionList>



- <version id="827605" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1230087106">Tue,
23 Dec 2008 21:51:46 -0500</date> 



- <person id="487278">



  <name>Grandeplease</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/Grandeplease</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact><![CDATA[
Excerpts from the death cell interview with Bronso of IX- Q: What led you to take
_

 your particular
approach to a history of Muad'dib? A: Why should I answer your questions? ]]></fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="2" name="placesmentioned" displayName="Important
places">



- <versionList>



- <version id="672922" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1224171231">Thu,
16 Oct 2008 11:33:51 -0400</date> 



- <person id="61056">



  <name>amweb</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/amweb</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact>Arrakis
(Dune)</fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="23" name="series" displayName="Series">



- <versionList>



- <version id="581299" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1220475254">Wed,
03 Sep 2008 16:54:14 -0400</date> 



- <person id="47275">



  <name>PhoenixTerran</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/PhoenixTerran</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact>Dune
(2)</fact> 



  <fact>Dune:
complete chronology (9)</fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="3" name="characternames" displayName="People/Characters">



- <versionList>



- <version id="289511" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1205984261">Wed,
19 Mar 2008 23:37:41 -0400</date> 



- <person id="138345">



  <name>jmjackson</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/jmjackson</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact>Paul
Atreides</fact> 



  <fact>Alia
Atreides (St. Alia of the Knife)</fact> 



  <fact>Chani</fact> 



  <fact>Princess
Irulan</fact> 



  <fact>Duncan
Idaho</fact> 



  <fact>Stilgar</fact> 



  <fact>Gaius
Helen Mohiam</fact> 



  <fact>Edric</fact> 



  <fact>Scytale</fact> 



  <fact>Hayt</fact> 



  <fact>Bijaz</fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="21" name="canonicaltitle" displayName="Canonical
title">



- <versionList>



- <version id="278019" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1205206730">Mon,
10 Mar 2008 23:38:50 -0400</date> 



- <person id="118708">



  <name>ATimson</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/ATimson</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact>Dune
Messiah</fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>




- <field type="16" name="originalpublicationdate" displayName="Original
publication date">



- <versionList>



- <version id="96006" archived="0" lang="eng">



  <date timestamp="1194630684">Fri,
09 Nov 2007 12:51:24 -0500</date> 



- <person id="303911">



  <name>michaelhehir</name> 



  <url>http://www.librarything.com/profile/michaelhehir</url> 


  </person>




- <factList>



  <fact>1969</fact> 


  </factList>



  </version>



  </versionList>



  </field>



  </fieldList>



  </commonknowledge>



  </item>




  <legal>By
using this data you agree to the LibraryThing API terms of service.</legal> 


  </ltml>



  </response>

Library Of Congress

No key needed (yay!). Your URL like so:

http://z3950.loc.gov:7090/voyager?version=1.1&operation=searchRetrieve&query=9780441015610&maximumRecords=100&recordSchema=dc

And they give back:

<?xml version="1.0" ?> 

- <zs:searchRetrieveResponse xmlns:zs="http://www.loc.gov/zing/srw/">



  <zs:version>1.1</zs:version> 



  <zs:numberOfRecords>1</zs:numberOfRecords> 



- <zs:records>



- <zs:record>



  <zs:recordSchema>info:srw/schema/1/dc-v1.1</zs:recordSchema> 



  <zs:recordPacking>xml</zs:recordPacking> 



- <zs:recordData>



- <srw_dc:dc xmlns:srw_dc="info:srw/schema/1/dc-schema" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" 


xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" 

 xsi:schemaLocation="info:srw/schema/1/dc-schema
http://www.loc.gov/standards/sru/resources/dc-schema.xsd">



  <title>Dune
messiah /</title> 



  <creator>Herbert,
Frank.</creator> 



  <type>text</type> 



  <type>Science
fiction. gsafd</type> 



  <publisher>New
York : Ace Books,</publisher> 



  <date>2008.</date> 



  <language>eng</language> 



  <subject>Dune
(Imaginary place)--Fiction.</subject> 



  <identifier>URN:ISBN:9780441015610</identifier> 


  </srw_dc:dc>



  </zs:recordData>




  <zs:recordPosition>1</zs:recordPosition> 


  </zs:record>



  </zs:records>



  </zs:searchRetrieveResponse>

Conclusion

Library Thing’s api is useless to me in this format. LOC is good, but a little terse. For my purposes, I’ll probably search ISBN db first, then if I can’t find it, look at amazon. Amazon’s info is designed, and licensed, for marketing purposes, so you’re supposed to be linking back to the website for purchases. If this becomes a public app, I may reverse the lookup order.

Feel free to let me know if there are other reliable, and sizeable, databases with web service access out there.

Next up, sometime – building an app in WPF, and LINQ to XML.

</geekalert>

Important Links

Kaplooey Mom — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:25:46 GMT

Recorded Here until I get a chance to move them to the sidebar:

Blogs

Links

XLNT Online To Do Tool!

Kaplooey Mom — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 13:34:25 GMT

Recommended To Do Site: ToodleDo. Easy Peasy(tm) set up, integration. No Hierarchies, but who cares? Inline editing is GREAT. They have an API which the geek me will check out soon. I like this much better than any of the other online list management apps.

Kaplooey Blog! - websites

Smooth Upgrade

Getting Book Info from Various Web Services

Important Links

XLNT Online To Do Tool!