Using Google Book Classes in Mashups

Excerpt from talk given at IUG 2008 in Washington,

D.C

Annette BaileyUniversity Libraries Virginia Tech

April 29, 2008

Part 2

Google Book Classes

Mashing a Service into the III Catalog Display

• MAJAX mashes catalog data into other web pages

• Now we’ll mash data from another service into the library catalog

Google Book Search Book Viewability API

• Programmatic client-side access to small set of Google Book Search information• Provides thumbnails of book covers• Provides link to Google’s book

information, preview, or full text pages• Provides information on whether Google

has full text, partial preview, or no preview

• Indexed by ISBN#, OCLC#, LCCN#• Released March 2008

Goals

• We want to incorporate information from Google Book Search into our catalog• E.g., allow users to see a preview of

a book if one is available from Google

• Or use Google’s book covers• Without JavaScript coding• (even though Google’s API requires

JavaScript coding as it is)

Google Book Classes

Demo

Google Books Demo

Buttons appear if Google Book Search has a partial preview of book

Google Books Demo (2)

Buttons appears if Google has a partial preview of book

Google Book Classes

• A JavaScript library and set of classes that simplify using the Google Book Search Book Viewability API• Can be used on any web page,

including inside the Millennium system

• Usage is much like MAJAX• Available from libx.org/gbs

Using Google Book Classes(on general web server)• Upload a copy of gbsclasses.js to your server• Include gbsclasses.js in a <script> tag in the

target page

• Include the class(es) in <span> tags

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yourserver/yourpath/gbsclasses.js"></script>

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://yourserver/yourpath/gbsclasses.js"></script>

<span title=“ISBN:0596002556” class=“gbs-thumbnail”></span>

<span title=“ISBN:0596002556” class=“gbs-thumbnail”></span>

GBS Identifiers• <span title=“IDENTIFIER”

class=“GBS-CLASSES”></span>

• IDENTIFIER can refer to ISBN #, OCLC #, or LCCN#

• Alternate syntax: use * as IDENTIFIER

ISBN ISBN:006073132X

OCLC OCLC:57207630

LCCN LCCN:2004022563

Using Google Book Classes in Millennium1. Include gbsclasses.js in HTML

template file via <script> tag• E.g. toplogo.html

2. Use III fieldspec token to insert HTML that includes the Google Book Classes into the briefcit.html file

briefcit.html

briefCitPub <div>

A Google Preview Button

<div class="briefCitPub"><table><tr><td style="text-align:left" width="65%"><!--{fieldspec:Vbp260}--></td><td width="35%"><span style="display:none" title="*" class="gbs-link-to-info gbs-if-partial gbs-remove-on-failure"><!--{fieldspec:Vbi020}--> <img src="http://code.google.com/apis/books/images/api-example2.png"></span></td></tr></table></div>

<div class="briefCitPub"><table><tr><td style="text-align:left" width="65%"><!--{fieldspec:Vbp260}--></td><td width="35%"><span style="display:none" title="*" class="gbs-link-to-info gbs-if-partial gbs-remove-on-failure"><!--{fieldspec:Vbi020}--> <img src="http://code.google.com/apis/books/images/api-example2.png"></span></td></tr></table></div>

Inside “Publisher” box

Insert 1x2 HTML table

260 Field goes in left column

hide span initially Link to info page – but only ifGoogle has a partial view

Remove span if Google does not index this ISBN

III will put first 020 Field here

briefcit.html

Currently Supported Google Book Classes• Thumbnails Image

• gbs-thumbnail• Wrap span in a hyperlink

• gbs-link-to-preview• gbs-link-to-info• gbs-link-to-thumbnail

• Conditionals: only keep span if …• gbs-if-noview• gbs-if-partial-or-full• gbs-if-partial• gbs-if-full

• Remove if Google does not index book• gbs-remove-on-failure

• Multiple classes can be combined

Google Book Classes: Summary

• Google Book Classes allows the use of the Google Book Viewability API in mashups• Without requiring any

JavaScript or AJAX knowledge• Allows integration in places

(such as III briefcit.html) where control of a page is limited

Acknowledgements

• Dr. Godmar Back• Assistant Professor

Computer Science

Questions?

Thank you!

http://libx.org/gbs

Contact us:

libx.org@gmail.com