The CSV file can now accept a variable number of columns defined in any order. This order is defined by the first line in the file, which must start with a #. To define your columns, use these column names:
isbn, title, subtitle, author, copyright, publisher, genre, score, read, format, own, collection, loan, series, series_vol, comment, price, custom, custom2, customDate, customSwitch, customFloat, link, tags
For example, the previous versions of Book Crawler used this format:
#isbn,title,subtitle,author,copyright,publisher,genre,score,read,format,own,collection,loan,series,series_vol,comment
If the first line in the CSV file does not start with a #, the above format is assumed.
The CSV file can have up to 24 comma-delineated columns. A row may have empty columns.
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ISBN – A 10 or 13 character ISBN, may also be set to 0. This field must only contain digits, optionally followed by an x or X.
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Title – Title of book **
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Subtitle – Subtitle of book **
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Author – Author of book **
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Copyright – Copyright, (MM-DD-YYYY)
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Publisher – Publisher **
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Genre – Genre **
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Score – Score, (0-5). This field must only contain digits.
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Read – Read status, (MM-DD-YYYY or 1 to indicate distant past, "Yes" or "No" will NOT be accepted)
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Format – Book format **
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Own – Own status, (0 or 1, defaults to 0)
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Collection – Name of collection **
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Loan – Name of person/place lent **
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Series – Name of series **
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Series Volume (series_vol) – Volume number of series, (integer). This field must only contain digits.
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Comment – Edition comment **
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Price – Edition price. This field must only contain the value, e.g 5.43.
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Custom 1 (custom) – Edition custom field **
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Custom 2 (custom2) – Edition custom field **
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Date (customDate) – Edition custom date field. (MM-DD-YYYY or 1 to indicate distant past)
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Switch (customSwitch) – Edition custom boolean field. (0 or 1)
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Decimal (customFloat) – Edition decimal custom field. This field must only contain a value, e.g 5.43.
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Link – Edition custom link field. Link is a string and can be used as a URL to open other applications on your device from Book Crawler (will just be treated as a string if it is not a valid url).
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Tags – Tags are strings. There can be as many as you want and they are separated by ";". As an example, "New ; Test" will create two tags New and Test.
** An entry may be “quoted” to allow for commas in the field. e.g., “Gone, but not forgotten” (if this title is not placed in quotes, the comma will delineate the following field.
A CSV entry will add a new entry into the database except in the following two cases:
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A valid ISBN is provided, marking a unique entry
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An isbn value of 0 is specified along with an author and title
If the entry is already present in the database, it will be updated, otherwise, it will be added as new.
Examples of valid entries:
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0,"Gone, But Not Forgotten",,Philip Margolin,01-01-1993,,mystery,,,,,wish list,,,,,
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,Book Title,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
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,"Postmortem",,Patricia Cornwell,01-01-1990,,,5,1,,,,,Kay Scarpetta,1,
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0,Perfect Nightmare,,John Saul,01-01-2005,,horror,4,08-20-2009,,,,,,,
Using Excel
Excel will automatically remove empty columns in the front and back if they are empty. You can set an ISBN to 0 and a comment to "" to prevent this from happening. Also, you may want to ensure that excel will handle the dates and ISBN numbers appropriately. Thirteen digit numbers may be re-formatted to decimal format and, in the process, will be truncated. Please see this article to fix the ISBN reformat. Book Crawler does not currently accept dates with a year represented by two digits (eg 01/01/98). To prevent this from happening, click FORMAT > CELLS > Custom. In the text box in the middle of the dialog box type mm-dd-yyyy then click OK. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you are still having problems!