Getting data into LibriDirect

Once you have successfully shared your local Dropbox account with our LibriDirect servers you will be able to upload book data and make it available for use on your website.

Uploading via Dropbox

Installing the Dropbox program on your computer will have created a new Dropbox folder on your local drive. If you don't know where it is then these instructions from Dropbox should help.

When you linked your Dropbox account to your LibriDirect account a new folder will have been created in your Dropbox folder on your computer. This new folder is named "viaLibri" and is located inside another folder called “Apps” and will contain a file called "place-your-files-here.txt." The viaLibri folder is where you should copy the files you want to upload to us. It is the only folder in your Dropbox account that we have access to.

When you place files in this folder Dropbox will automatically process them and let us know that there are new files to add or update on your site. We will then import them into our system. This should happen within a minute of you adding the files, but can sometimes take longer.

Once we have finished importing a file we will automatically remove it from the folder, and from Dropbox, so that it doesn’t use up your Dropbox storage quota. As a result of this you should be careful to only place copies - and not orginals - in this folder. Otherwise you will lose access to them on your own computer.

Preparing a data file containing all your book information

You need to create a tab-delimited upload file that will include the data for all the books you want to appear on your website. (A tab-delimited file is a computer file that stores data in a standard format where each record is on a separate line and all fields are separated by a TAB.) In most cases the program you use to catalogue your books will have an export function that can create this file for you.

We currently support exports from the programs below. Click on the name of the program to see instructions for exporting your data.

• Bookhound
• Bookseller
• Homebase 3

Don’t worry if we don’t yet support the program you use – we can easily add it. Email us at support@vialibri.net and we will sort it out.

You can upload a fresh export file at any time you like, you just need to copy it to your Dropbox Apps/viaLibri folder. These files should always include all the books you want to show on your website. If the data file is missing some books we will assume that you have sold them and they will be removed them from the website.

Uploading your image files

For us to import your images they need to be named in a certain way. This tells us which book the image is for.

The file name has two parts: the first is the book’s ID in your database and the second is the image number. These two parts are separated by an underscore. For example, if you have four images for a book with the ID 123ABC you should name them like this:

• 123ABC_1.jpg (or 123ABC.jpg)
• 123ABC_2.jpg
• 123ABC_3.jpg
• 123ABC_4.jpg

Once all your images have been named in this way you can copy them into your viaLibri Dropbox folder and we will import them from there. After an image has been imported it will be removed from your Dropbox folder, so it is important that you also keep the originals of these files in a separate folder.

Sometimes an image might stay in your Dropbox folder when all the others have been imported. The most common reasons for this are:

• It’s the wrong type. At the moment we only take JPEG images (these usually have the file extension .jpg or .jpeg).
• The filename does not correspond to a book that is in our database. If the book wasn’t in the data file you gave us, or has been sold, then we don’t import the image.
• Something else went wrong. Email us at support@vialibri.net and we can sort it out.