Negotiating with OLBs on file formats

Before you send your entire listing to any OLB you must first negotiate with them on suitable file formats for sending For Sale (add and remove) and Wants (add and remove) records to them. The formats can vary greatly but Bookmine comes with formats already set up to handle additions and deletions (for items For Sale and Wanted) on the most popular OLBs operating at present (ABE, Bibliocity, Bibliofind, Interloc). All these formats are preceded by an x so that they appear at the end of the format selection drop down list box. For example the formats for ABE are called "xABE Add For Sale(UIEE format)","xABE Delete (UIEE format)", "xABE Wants Add (UIEE format)" and "xABE Wants Delete (UIEE format)".

Typically you send theOLB samples, 10 or so records, of items For Sale and items Wanted and the corresponding files for removing them . In all you will have to agree on formats, for each OLB, for the following files:

An add file for sending items For Sale

A delete file for removing items For Sale items

An add file for items you wish to post as Wants

A delete file for removing your Wants

Note: Most OLBs accept a single UIEE file that contains command codes specifying the action to be taken for each record sent. If the OLB confirms that they accept UIEE formatted records use the standard formats already set up for ABE, BiblioCity, BiblioFind and Alibris. These formats are prefixed with an x to identify them as being export formats and are already associated with the corresponding onlne catalogues. All you have to do is tick a radio button and Bookmine will output the files required to maintain your inventory on the corresponding OLB.

If the OLB directs you to send them test samples of the formats you will use:

1.Add 5 or 10 records from Stock to a temporary catalogue called TempSaleAdd (use any name you wish for this, but make it distinctive and meaningful). These records will be sent as samples of Items For Sale.

2.Go to the output form.

3.Select the output format to use for the to be sent. For example if you are testing ABE, select the format called xABE Add For Sale(UIEE format) from the format selection box, etc. If a format is not already available for the OLB you are about to subscribe to, you can set up a new one that complies with the requirements laid out by the OLB. This is best achieved by copying an existing format and modifying it so that it agrees with all their requirements. Most OLBs will accept any type of file but you must be consistent. You may have to go through a few iterations of these steps before the OLB is happy with the format. Usually you send your records in a text delimited format where each record you send is on a single line and the fields are separated by a character which is agreed upon by you and the OLB. Note: this character must never be used as part of the normal text in any field in your Stock records. A good example of characters to use are ~ or % or * or |. Several of the formats provided use the tilde(~) as the field separated. (If they accept UIEE formats, these are already set up for the most popular OLBs. They only differ in the prefix for the ID field which is included as an aid to help you identify the source of an order.).

4.Start output. Save the output in a file. Call the file OLBAdd.txt or some such name. You should save it in the AppRootDir/pubs/misc directory (where AppRootDir is the name of the directory where Bookmine is installed. You will need this precise path and filename for the next step.

5.Send the file to the OLB (they will provide an electronic address to send it to). Most likely you can send the file(s) via FTP or as an attachment or an inclusion to an email message. Ideally you will use FTP to send it to them or they may direct you to their automatic upload facility via their Web page(using Netscape or Internet Explorer).

Repeat these steps for the For Sale Delete file and the Add and Delete files for Wants.

Once a format has been decided upon do not modify the format again. Note the name of the format agreed upon.