Searching Library Catalogues

DEVONagent Tips
1

I would like to be able to set up a search that searches a number of library catalogues including university libraries and, if possible, the British Library. Is this possible and if so how do I go about doing it?

Thanks for any help.

2

Do you want to access the libraries mentioned in this thread? Searching Library Catalogues

3

Mainly yes.

4

I should have added a request as to a way to do it!

5

Unfortunately these websites use various techniques to block bots, e.g. redirects based on JavaScript or unique URLs, and are not indexed by Google/Bing. Therefore it’s probably not (yet) possible to create plug-ins for them.

6

Okay, thanks for this. What I have had in the back of my mind is the facility that you get with something like ‘Endnote’ the bibliography application where, if I remember correctly, you can select various university library catalogues to do a batch search and the results can be imported. I can, of course, search the individual catalogues through Safari but it would be nice to be able to do it through Devonagent.

7

Do you know whether Endnote supports also these two library catalogues?

8

It certainly did so way back in 2001 when I last used it and I don’t suppose it has changed.

9

Endnote X6 (current version) includes connection files (online search) for both of these libraries. Does this screen shot help with setting up a search in DEVONagent? I would assume that for both libraries, one would need credentials to test access to the databases

754×869

10

Thanks for the screenshots! This seems to be a bibliography specific interface though, at least XML plug-ins can’t support this at the moment.

11

Thanks for all you are doing on this Christian, in plain man’s non-tech language am I right in saying that therefore it can not be done in Devonthink Pro/Devonagent? Once again thanks for your help.

12

At least theoretically it should be already possible to create a script (or smart template) for DEVONthink Pro but it’s probably a huge amount of work.

13

Okay, not worth the hassle. Thanks anyway, it was worth investigating. :slight_smile:

14

I was wrong, a simple plug-in should be doable (thanks to a hint from the author of Bookends):

copac.ac.uk/developers/webapi/
copac.ac.uk/search/form?ti=marple%20railway

I’ll have a look at this.

15

And here’s the first result:



<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">
<plist version="1.0">
<dict>
	<key>CrawlDelay</key>
	<real>0.5</real>
	<key>Description</key>
	<string>The British Library is the National Library of the United Kingdom. As a legal deposit library it receives a copy of every book published in the UK and Ireland. The collection includes 150 million items, in most known languages and includes manuscripts, maps, newspapers, magazines, prints, drawings, music scores and patents.</string>
	<key>EngineUrl</key>
	<string>http://copac.ac.uk/search?lib=British%20Library&amp;title=_agentQuery_&amp;page=_agentOffset_</string>
	<key>Identifier</key>
	<string>com.devon-technologies.bl.plugin</string>
	<key>Info</key>
	<string>British Library Plugin ©2013 DEVONtechnologies</string>
	<key>Keyword</key>
	<array>
		<string>bl</string>
	</array>
	<key>LinksMatching</key>
	<string>*&amp;rn=*</string>
	<key>LinksNotMatching</key>
	<string>*&amp;crns=*</string>
	<key>Name</key>
	<string>British Library</string>
	<key>NoTopics</key>
	<string>Published,Physical,Description,Author,Names,Language,Fol,Genre,Subject,Publication,Isbn</string>
	<key>OffsetPerPage</key>
	<integer>1</integer>
	<key>Operators</key>
	<integer>59</integer>
	<key>ResultsPerPage</key>
	<integer>25</integer>
	<key>Start</key>
	<integer>1</integer>
	<key>TextEnd</key>
	<string>&lt;p class="reporterror"&gt;</string>
	<key>TextStart</key>
	<string>&lt;dt class="title"&gt;Title&lt;/dt&gt;</string>
	<key>TitleEnd</key>
	<string>&lt;/dd&gt;</string>
	<key>TitleStart</key>
	<string>&lt;dt class="title"&gt;Title&lt;/dt&gt;</string>
	<key>Version</key>
	<string>1.0</string>
</dict>
</plist>

This could be easily adapted to other libraries by changing the EngineUrl key. More useful would be the possibility to customize plug-ins via the user interface instead of having to create multiple plug-ins of course :wink:

16

thanks. How do we use this? Is for DevonAgent or Devonthink?
Thank you!

17

This is for DEVONagent. You could e.g. create a new dummy plug-in (see File > New Plug-In…), edit it afterwards and replace its code with the above code.

Or you could save the code as a .plist file in the folder ~/Library/Application Support/DEVOnagent/Plugins and relaunch DEVONagent Pro.