Delicious Library 2 Import Query

[TVGuy]

I am sure this has been asked fourteen billion times. And if so, I apologize. But I did not fine an immediate answer with my cursory forum scroll.

I have downloaded the demo version of Bookpedia. I like very much.

However, when I exported DL2.0 to DL1.5 format (as per your site's instructions), and then imported into Bookpedia -- there is quite a bit of info not transferred. And this is probably due partly to the backward movement of the data from DL2.0 to 1.5.

I spent many hours several weeks back measuring the dimensions of all of my rare books and entering those numbers into DL2.0. Not only is this good for archiving purposes, but it better displays the sizes on the pretty virtual bookshelf -- which I like very much. This dimensional info does not get transferred to Bookpedia which means I would have to spend many, many hours re-inputting it. And this is not a happy thing.

Secondly, I see that my personal ratings from DL2.0 don't transfer to the 'My Ratings' field in Bookpedia. Again, I would have to go through and enter some five hundred or so little star ratings if I were to make the switch.

This is silly stuff, and I apologize for being so verbose. But I guess the simple question is, is there a DL2.0 import feature in the works that will get ALL the info from Delicious Library and place it into the appropriate fields (along with all of the custom covers that I have entered)?

Please say yes. I want to send you money.

- TVGuy

[Conor]

Thank you for the information. They did change a few things, like the addition of the amazon star rating was confusing the personal rating importer. Download the beta and it should import the two pieces of missing information.

[TVGuy]

Fantastic and quick response to my inquiry! Thank you.

So I re-exported from DL2.0 to DL1.5 (as per your site instructions). I then re-imported the resulting file into Bookpedia (Beta Version).

Indeed, the dimensional info came over. However, to take just one example. I have a book that I manually entered the size for that is listed in the Dimension field in DL2.0 as ' 4.8" x 4.0" x 0.5" '. In Bookpedia, the imported dimension field reads, ' 5.00 x 40.00 x 4.75 in '. That is odd.

Here is a common example so that you can try it for yourself. One of my books that was automatically entered by Amazon.com through DL2.0 is a book called 'The Real History of World War II: A New Look at the Past', ISBN #: 1402740905. DL2.0 automatically (through it's Amazon.com inquiry) inserted the dimensions '6.9" x 8.8" x 1.5" '. Bookpedia apparently imported the dimensional field as: '10.00 x 11.00 x 90.00 in'. Also odd.

Am I doing something wrong?

One other question. Does the 'read' check mark box from DL2.0 get imported to any specific field in Bookpedia? That is another entity that I would hate to go back and do over again from scratch (I do see that you have a 'last read' and a 'read count' field. But it doesn't seem to affect those).

Incidentally, I went ahead and bought the pedias today due to your quick response to my query and the general enthusiasm for you and your product on this site.

Thanks

[Conor]

Thank you for the information. I tweaked the beta a bit as what is labeled as the height is really the width of the book. You should now get 6.90 x 8.80 x 1.50 for the book in the description. Unfortunately I got the right numbers, if you continue to get the wrong numbers please send me your export XML file so that I can find out what format your numbers are in. The new beta should also set the current date for last read if the read checkbox was set in DL.

[TVGuy]

Hi, Conor

Thanks again for your quick replies to my previous postings.

Here, I think, is my last request to make the changeover from DL2.0 to the Pedias less painful.

My family makes great use of the 'owner' field in DL2.0. We have four family members and each has hundreds of books. It is desirable for us to be able to sort on who owns which volumes. You have a 'buyer' field, but this is not quite the same. I don't believe I have seen a similar field to 'owner' in your program.

If this 'owner' field could be transported over to Bookpedia, then my life will be complete.

... almost complete. I also like the 'rare' checkbox option in DL2.0. Although, this is a minor request and my handful of rare books can be reassigned easily to a custom field in Bookpedia.

Thanks again for your quick responses and quick updates!

[Conor]

Thank you for all the feedback and helping improve the import. Because we don't have a mapping for the owner field, making it one of the custom fields is not ideal as other users might already be using that field for something else. I was going to recommend to create 4 smart collections for each owner to export that you can then do a multiple edit on for each import and set a custom field with the information quickly. Unfortunately, Delicious Library does not have the ability to export a single collection. I have created another beta that will import the owner field to custom two and rare into custom three, be sure to download it soon as it's a limited time availability, after all you only need to do the import once.

[TVGuy]

Conor, you rock. I have never seen a developer so supportive of his customers.

And I am glad to bid goodbye to DL2.0 (which spent a fair amount of time crashing during my export procedure).


TVGuy