RFS: Improvements to LT Series Pages

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RFS: Improvements to LT Series Pages

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1Keeline
Dic 13, 2017, 6:13 pm

By "RFS" I mean a "Request For Script".

It is no secret that I am particularly interested in juvenile series books and do a great deal of research on them. I also collect adult books in series such as the works of Clive Cussler and many other authors with recurring characters.

I find myself purchasing at new and used bookstores on a regular basis. The LT official app is generally very good if you have a data connection. I can use either WiFi or 4G on my iPhone and iPad devices. However, it is fairly common, even in the U.S., to be out of a data connection when visiting a used bookstore. This can occur when a 4G signal does not reach into an old building.

To get around this, for certain authors and series I am working to complete, I use an outliner tool called CarbonFin Outliner. It uses OPML, an XML standard to implement outlines and to-do lists. The program (and others) can import and export OPML content. Here is a sample of a very simple OPML export from CarbonFin Outliner that would be an ideal output for the script:



The corresponding series page has most of the information desired, including series name, author (on each title listing), volume number, and title. The book year is not shown on the series page and is optional. The series page does, when logged in, show which books I have for the _status='checked' values.

A TamperMonkey/GreaseMonkey script could have a button or link that would generate the OPML content and save it on the user's local system.
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Series pages would also benefit by linking to the corresponding FictFact.com page. It would be nice to have some syncing between LT and FF but that is probably too much to hope for. However, FF is good for keeping track of new additions to modern series and their release dates. Thus, if I have kept my FF entries up to date, I can see what I still need to buy. The LT series pages are about as good but the completeness will depend on whether someone is interested in the author or series to add the records (even for forthcoming books).

The search URL for something like the "Oregon Files" is:

https://www.fictfact.com/search/?search=%22Oregon%20Files%22

The most useful link on that page is:

https://www.fictfact.com/series/368/the-oregon-files

It may be simpler to work with the search URL since it is not readily possible to predict what number and form the direct series link will take. My example above of the Boy Hunters is not in FictFact.com so far.
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I have programming experience (PHP since 2000) but have not made a TamperMonkey/GreaseMonkey script. I have looked at some of the examples for LT but find that they are not as clear to me as other languages are. I've had some JavaScript experience but far less than my PHP. I am very comfortable with regular expressions and suppose that is going to be part of the process.

If someone wants to walk me through the process, provide suggestions, or make the script, I shall be happy to learn of it. I know a couple here have made some of the scripts for LT that I and others have used.

James D. Keeline