[Alexandria-list] MCU provider

[Cathal Mc Ginley]

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On Tue, 24 Mar 2009 10:19:51 +0100
"Miguel J. Jiménez" <MiguelJose.Jimenez at isotrol.com> wrote:

> The latest version of Alexandria (0.6.4.1) does not update the Spanish
> ISBN provider... This one changed URL a few months back, and thus does
> not work as a valid provider anymore.
> The new URL is:
> 
> http://www.mcu.es/webISBN/tituloSimpleFilter.do?cache=init&prev_layout=busquedaisbn&layout=busquedaisbn&language=es

Hi Miguel,

I had briefly tested the MCU provider before I released 0.6.4.1, but
probably with only one or two ISBNs. It seemed to work okay, so the
old URLs still seem to work some of the time...

For example, it works for me when I start Alexandria 0.6.4.1, put
"Spanish Culture Ministry" at the top of the Providers list and "Add
Book..." with ISBN "8420474630". The status bar says "Found at Provider
'Spanish Culture Ministry'".

When I select "Display Online Information > Spanish Culture Ministry"
for that book, it pops up a URL starting with
http://www.mcu.es/cgi-brs/BasesHTML/isbn/BRSCGI.... which is the old
URL base, but does refer to a page listing the book.

However, when searching for books on the MCU site starting at the new
URL you gave me, I came across this error message at one point:

   Las consultas a la base de datos tienen un límite de espera que ha
   sido sobrepasado. Por motivos técnicos, para repetir la consulta debe
   acceder de nuevo a la base de datos a partir de la página inicial.

Which (according to my automated translation) implies that only a
certain number of searches can be performed before a limit is reached.
Then, going back to the search page and searching makes it work again...

If this is the case, I may have to re-write the provider using
Ruby-Mechanize (to make it easier to search using POST forms). That's
not a major problem though, roughly a day or two's work. I intended to
re-write this provider eventually anyway.

>

It would be very helpful if you could give me a list of 10 to 20 ISBNs
of Spanish books which you know can be found on MCU. That way, I can
run tests to see what the root of the issue really is, as well as
writing a test to verify that the new provider works as intended.

Thanks,

   -   Cathal.
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