I am Kevin Donaldson, proprietor of Bridgetown Books and ersatz programmer. This is my creation and I am hopeful that it will be found useful by the public. Please feel free to email questions or slings and arrows to bridgetownbooks@yahoo.com.As I am always ridiculously busy, email is the best and only way to get my attention. The forum is no longer available.
Cato is a database created to help booksellers list and maintain data related to their stock. It is designed sothat users can tailor it to their own needs: keep, crunch, change,organize and analyze book data, sales data and to create useful reports. Practically any query of the data can be fulfilled by anyone within the program without resorting to a difficult query language.
Like many booksellers, I currently use HomeBase 2.3, which is a fine program, but it is becoming threadbare and showing its age. I triedHomeBase 3.0 and found it to be horribly lacking and a step backwards. Having programmed most of my life, I decided to take a whack at creating my own program.
The criteria I have used in planning and creation are as follows:
Ease-of-use with a standard look-and-feel so it runs the same on any platform.
Runnable on as many computers and OSes as possible.
The user must have complete and utter control over the data.
As close to HomeBase 2.3 as possible to help others make the transition.
Easily extensible by use of templates where possible.
Data compatibility with as many other programs as possible.
Program must be free to download and use.
The latest version is always available here: Cato
Cato is written in Java using a flat-file database, runnable on many different systems, but not currently networkable.
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System Requirements: The only requirement is that the device be able to run the Java SE JVM 1.6 or newer. This includes Windows 2000 or newer, Mac OS10.5 or newer, and most, if not all, modern Linuxes. Due to the nature ofJava, a processor running 2Ghz or faster is recommended, although 1.5Ghz Atom or Pentium M and above is usable. Java 1.6 is required for the simple, yet elegant looking Nimbus look-and-feel. The windows are designed to fit on an 800x600 pixel screen, although 1024x768 or greater is recommended.
Install:The program is designed to be installed and run from anywhere on your hard drive, or any other storage device you may have. Due to intensive reading and writing of data, a hard drive is recommended over a USB thumb drive or similar.
File Structure: The program and all of its support files live in the main Cato folder. There are a few folders, all with specific purposes, as follows:
system: This folder holds all the database files, backups, logs, formatsand files necessary for Invoicing.
exports: All export files are stored here, exports being books for listing or deletion on various listing sites. Exports will have a venue(listing site) name and a date stamp, as well as a three-character extension as part of the file name so it is easy to identify them.
images: Can hold all of your book scans and photos if desired.
uploads: Can hold any other files you wish to upload, such as zips of images.
How Can You Help: While this program is nearing the end of its beta period, it is not recommended that you use it for your everyday work. Yet. However,please take it for a spin, kick the tires and let me know what you like and what you dislike about the program. Also, if it does funny things that it should not do, let me know as well. I want this to be the best program available for what it does and every bit of feedback helps.
Reporting is currently incomplete. While most can be manually generated from Book and Sales tables, others will need to be hardcoded. If there isan number or answer you cannot find, let me know and I will add it to the Reports menu. If you wish to donate an attractive Invoice template,it will be most welcome. Any HTML editor program may be used. Seethe Invoice section of this Help file for more information.
If this documentation is anywhere wrong or unclear, please let me know as well. I wish to make the program easily accessible and usable to all, despite some possibly confusing and difficult features.
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Getting Started: Download and unzip the program. Most OSes will automatically unzip it for you after double-clicking on it. If not, you will need an unzip program to do the deed. You should find a folder containing aCato.jar file and several other folders. Place this main folder and its contents wherever you would like the program to live. It is completely portable.
Open the main folder and double-click on the Cato.jar file to start the program.
Click on File and select New
You should now get small window asking for a new database name. Enter is and click OK.
Cato will now go about creating your new database and open the Settings window for you when it is complete. Take the time to fill this information in now as it is necessary.
The first tab will be your business information. All of these fields are available to be used on Invoices.
Once complete, click on the User-Defined Fields tab:
There are four sections here. Cato allows for five prices for each item. Each pricing is a Venue and can be an online listing service, like AbeBooks or Amazon, or can be In-Store, Mail-Order, etc., however you set your price points. You can also enter a monthly cost associated with listing at that venue. This dollar amount can be left blank as it currently will only used for some reports.
There are two user-named fields available. These are part of each book record and the field can be named whatever you care to name it. Any alphanumeric data may be stored in either field, up to 255characters. Currently, if you name one of the fields Amazon,it can be used to store some Amazon information. There are no other current programmatic uses for these fields, although this is a possibility in the future.
There are three tax fields available which can be named as needed. These will show in the invoice window where the applicable tax can be checked to automatically calculate it and add it to the total(cost-discount+shipping). For the percentage field, enter it as a percentage and not a decimal. Thus, 5% is entered as 5 and not.05.
The final grouping allows you to set the date format, the currency symbol and whether the weights and measures are in Imperial or Metric. These will be used for reporting, Invoicing and catalog files.
The final tab, Misc:
There are three sections. Basic allows you to set which website is used to look at pricing, pull down ISBN-related bibliographic data and toset where your book images are stored on your hard drive. Cato will let you know if there at least one matching image for each book ID number. The ISBN Access Key is where you can enter the key needed to use isbndb.com to look up ISBNs.
The second section allows you to list which payment options are available for invoicing. Here, you would enter Cash, Traveler's Check, MoneyOrder, Credit Card, Livestock, First-born, etc., whatever methods you accept for payment from customers.
The last section allows you to turn Warnings on and off and set the Auto-increment feature on or off, along with the starting ID number.
Once you have entered all of your data, click on Save and the original window will return to the fore and several more options will now be available. The big feature you will see is that the main window is also a note pad where you can enter and save notes, to do lists, etc. It is text-only and files are stored within the database, allowing you to leave notes for yourself and other users to see.
Now, since your database is set up, you will need to import some books. Click on the Books icon to open the Book List window. This is where you will see all of your books currently held within the database:
Now, click the Import button and you will see a standard file chooser window. Choose a database file to import. The best choice is a complete HomeBase 2.3 export file followed by a UIEE file. Other formats are available, but they are severely lacking in data. Please note that HomeBase Backup files are not usable for this purpose, nor will they ever be. The format is too complicated and full of extraneous data to be used. Select the file and click Open.
A new window will pop up asking for Format and Selection.It is important that you set the two drop downs appropriately. The first should match the format of the file you are importing. Note that HomeBase_2_3.txt is used for both HomeBase 2.3 and 3.0import/export files. The second drop down allows for Merge andReplace. Replace will delete ALL current books in the database and include only those you are Importing. Merge will keep all current books and add in those in the import file. Note that in a merge,duplicates will be duplicated! The merge does verify if a book listed in the import file already exists by Book ID number, but adds the new one with a -2 appended to the end of the ID number.
Once the import process is complete, you will be presented with a small information window showing how many records were processed. The BookList window will now be populated with your books, a preview of the selected book (the line in the table grid that is selected), and some totals beneath that.
This bottom section showing the totals is very importantit only displays information on the books listed above. Thus, if you filter out some of your stock using the filter fields below the toolbar, the totals will update to only include the books listed. This very powerful feature allows you to create very tailored reports. As well, this is a very important concept regarding Cato. On any window that lists items, they can be filtered to show only a portion of all the entries. Any operations, such as a print or export will only use those showing in the list. To perform an operation to affect all entries in the database, all filters must be removed.
From here, you are on your own to poke around and see what everything does. Please note that there are some very powerful features that are not immediately obvious and you will need to delve further into this documentation to use them:
Filters and filtering commands;
Global Find and Replace;
Templates;
Many features to the Book Entry window, including Spellcheck, Snippets (macros), Data Verification (auto-replacement function), negative price to exclude from exporting to a Venue, etc.
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Anatomy of a Window: Only the main window has a menu bar. All windows have a horizontal tool bar across the top with large, rectangular buttons(except the Book Edit window which has a vertical tool bar along the left-hand side. This is a very large window.)
Windows are generally either List windows or Edit windows, or a combination of the two. All List windows have filter fields just below the tool bar, followed by the list itself in a table. The table can be sorted by a column by clicking on the column header. Tool bar buttons include Add, Edit, Delete and Print buttons. Below the list may be some data regarding the what is currently shown in the list. Edit windows have Print, Cancel, Save and Help buttons (since the Help button in the main window becomes inaccessible while the Edit window is open.) The combined List/Edit windows are only available from the Book Edit window/
A Help button will always be available and will open this document if clicked.
In the List windows: The Add button will open a blank Edit window to add a new entry. The Edit button will open the Edit window, but populated with the data for the currently-highlighted entry in the table. The Delete button will ask if you wish to delete the currently-highlighted entry in the table. The Print button will print the entries currently listed in the table after asking you which columns you wish to have printed.
In the Edit windows: The Print button will print the Edit window as shown. The Cancel button will discard any changes you have made and close the window. The Save button will save your changes and close the window.
There are several other buttons available on different screens and they will be described under the proper heading.
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Filters and Operators: All of the List windows have from 1 to 8 filter boxes where you can enter search criteria to limit the number of entries shown in the list. The following operators are available to enter at the beginning of the filter to help include or exclude entries:
* = Search anywhere in the field. Thus, entering "*pear" in the filter will include any entry that contains "Shakespeare","Anjou pear", etc., in the specified field.
~ = Exclude any entry which begins with what follows. Thus, "~shake"will exclude any entry that starts with "Shake" such as"Shakespeare", "shakedown", "Shake andBake", etc., in the specified field.
> = Show all entries greater than this value. Thus, ">corn"will exclude anything before it in the alphabet (letter-by-letter),in the specified field.
(> followed by a space eliminates all blank entries.)
< = Show all entries less than this value. Thus, "<corn"will exclude anything after it in the alphabet (letter-by-letter), in the specified field.
(< followed by a space eliminates all non-blank entries.)
@ = Show only those entries within this range. This filter command is a bit tricky. The format is "@x@y", which is inclusive of x but exclusive of y. For example, "@a@c" and will show all entries from a to c, including all a and b, but excluding any c.
Any other characters used will include only those entries that begin with the entered filter.
Please note that case is completely ignored and that they work with numbers,such as prices, as well. It is best to play with these until you understand them.
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Book List Window: The Import button imports any number of listings from a text file. Formats currently available are:
Amazon Bookloader
Cato, a native format which stores all 47 fields
Homebase 2.3 Comma Delimited with Header (This format allows the use of a Quantity field)
Homebase 2.3 (Standard Homebase 2.3/3.0 export format)
UIEE
The Export button exports the current listings showing in the window. Uses the same formats as the Import. There is an additional HTML export format available as an example of how listings can be exported in a text or HTML format for use in creating catalogs, mailers, or webpages.
The Reprice button reprices all currently showing listings, either by:
a flat amount;
a percentage;
rounding;
a completely new value.
Select the desired column you wish to reprice in the first drop down, then select the Change Type in the second. For the Amount field, use a minus sign to drop prices. For percentages, do not use fractions or decimals. For example, to raise prices by 5%, enter "5". To lower prices by 7.5%, enter "-7.5". There is no undo for these changes, but the database is automatically backed up prior to making the adjustments. The "Include in Update?"checkbox is checked for all affected records.
The Replace button allows you to select a field and a new value to enter into it. Once you select the Field, the Value drop down becomes available, pre-populated with all values available for that field, as well as allowing a free-form entry if the field allows it.
The Copy button initiates a global search and replace function. You will need to specify the old field, the old text and the new, or replacement, text as well as what field to put the replacement text in. The database will be automatically backed up prior to performing the operation. The Cut checkbox will cause the From value to be deleted from the original field. The Replace drop down also allows the text to inserted at the beginning or the end of a field. Check Insert Space? if you need a space between.
(If you are using regular expressions, check the Regex check box. The fields use standard Java character escaping. The use of regex is very much beyond the scope of this document as it is very complex. Indeed, it has been known to cause many a programmer to jump out of their window. Not to worry as most programmer's work out of their parents' basements. It was a simple feature to add and has been included for only the geekiest of users. Eventually, I will include some examples to show what regex can do.)
The Clear button clears out all of the Filter fields and displays all records.
The Images button checks the images folder for matching images and updates the Has Image? checkbox for each listing.
Rounding Mask:
Rounding requires a mask of 4 characters or more, a character followed by a period followed by two more characters, at minimum. The mask represents the single dollars and cents of a price.
0 = ignore digit
1 = round digit down to 0
5 = round digit up if 5+ and down if less than 5
9 = round digit up
U = round digit up to 0 or 5
D = round digit down to 0 or 5
. = decimal
Any other character will be treated as a 0, that is, ignored.
Examples:
0.11 will round off any cents down to 00
0.55 will round .45+ up to the next dollar, .44 down to .00
U.11 will round off the cents and will round the price up to the next $5 multiple.
010.00 will set the tens column to 0, although I am unsure why you would do this. :)
All masks must be in a proper format, or wackiness may ensue.
Book Edit Window: This window is a bit of a monster. Due to its size, the toolbar runs vertically along the left-hand side. This window can only be opened from the Book List window.
Toolbar Buttons:
Save: Save any changes to this listing. The only required fields are theBook ID, Title, and the first venue price field (List #1). Once saved, this window will close.
Save/+: Save the current listing and then clear all fields to prepare for another listing.
Sell: The Sell button immediately brings up a Sales Edit window, populated with data from the listing being edited.
Snippet: Bring up a Snippet menu. Snippets are macros that you can create to assist you in data entry. Please see the Snippets help section for more information of how to create and use them and what features are available.
Print: Sent a screenshot of the current listing to the printer.
ISBN: Collect bibliographic data from the currently selected website(Settings window) and enter it into the current listing.
Price: Search for prices for the current book. The website used can be selected in the Settings window. Clicking this button will bring the default web browser to the fore and open the specified site.
Validate: Validate performs a number of tasks. It performs a basic spellcheck on the book title and the comments fields. The contents of any field that can be populated from a table is verified against the available entries in that table. All appropriate Data Validation entries are applied. These are basically auto-corrects that you can create. See the Data Validation help section for more information. Finally, a very simple process is used to verify if the listing is aFirst Edition and if the book has a dust jacket. Any errors that the validation process finds but is unable to correct is lit up in red, allowing you to make any desired corrections. Finally, it inserts the current Time and Date in the Validated Date field to show that the listing has been inspected for errors.
ValidateAll: Validates the current record and then steps through each record that has not been marked as validated, i.e. does not have an entry in the Validated Date field.
Save: Saves the current record after validation. If "Validate All"has been selected, brings up the next record and validates it. After the last record is validated, the window will close.
Skip: Skips the current record that is being validated and brings up the next.
Cancel: Cancels any changes to the current record and closes the window. This will exit out of the validation process, as well.
The buttons with the triple-dots opens a List/Edit window for the associated field. The button is always to the right of the field except for theSize button, which is on the left. The edit window allows you to add an entry to that table which you will still need to select after completing the addition.
When an Author is selected, if the Real Name field is populated, the entry will be entered as "pen name, pseud; real name".
When a Publisher is selected from the drop down, additional data may be available by double-clicking on the field, as indicated by the dot in the label to the left. A small, yellow popup window may appear showing date ranges, locations and information regarding identifying FIrst Editions. Selecting an entry will populate the PLace field.
The "Include in Update?" check box indicates if the record has changed and should be included in the next export. You can check it or uncheck, if needed. It will be checked automatically if other fields have been changed.
There are five price fields, or Venues (or, if unnamed, they default to being called List #x). Enter a price of -1 in a field if you do not want the book to be exported to that venue at all. Thus, if the second field is for Amazon, you could enter -1 for a price to prevent it from being exported to Amazon if the book is not acceptable for listing there (such as Teacher's Editions, Galleys, etc.) Do be sure at least one of the venue fields has a positive dollar amount entered into it.
Please note that there is a Status field and a Quantity field. Both are used and can be automatically updated if you sell a book. Depending on what export format you use, either or both are consulted. For example, if you use the HomeBase 3.0 import/export format, the quantity field is ignored and only the Status field is used. If you like, you can also use the Quantity field, although only one copy will be listed. If you sell a copy, you can drop the quantity by 1and the "Include in Update?" will be checked, making the book relist with the next export. If the quantity goes to zero, be sure to set the Status to "Sold", as well. You should be careful that if you sell a book that both of these fields are properly updated.
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List/Edit Windows:
Presents the available values for a field or drop down:
Binding Styles: Specifies type of boards or wraps used, such as Cloth, Leather, etc.
Binding Types: Specifies Hardcover, Softcover, Cassette, CD/DVD, etc. In Homebase, this field is hidden and cannot be normally edited, but is attached to a Binding Style.
Book Conditions: Short condition descriptions of books, such as Poor and Very Good.
Book Sizes: Book sizes, such as Quarto, Duodecimo, etc.
Catalogs: Categories for your books.
DJ Conditions: DJ conditions, such as As New, or Fair.
Editions: Edition description, such as Second Edition or First Thus.
Languages: The language that the book is in.
Printings: Printing description, such as Third Printing or Reprint.
Signed: Description of how the book is signed, such as Signed By Illustrator.
The Sort button sorts the list alphabetically.
The window below the toolbar is fully editable. Changes will only be saves if the Save button is clicked.
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Wants List Window:
Presents the list if all current Wants listed in the database, Pending orFound. The Export button here creates a file that may be uploaded to a site which tracks Wants. Currently, only Abe is supported.
Wants Edit Window:
Allows adding or editing of a Want. As shown by the dot in the label to the left, double-clicking on the Client field will open a Client edit window, allowing you to add or edit a Client record.
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Invoices
Invoices are templated, allowing you to create customized invoices for your customers. Double clicking the Client field will open a window allowing you to edit or add a client. Use the +Book and -Book buttons to add or remove books from the invoice. The +Book button opens a new Sales Edit record. The -Book button will delete the selection and double-clicking on a sale in the little table will open it for editing.
Custom Invoices can be created with an HTML template (named Invoice.html), using the following tokens:
[[name]]
[[address1]]
[[address2]]
[[address3]]
[[city]]
[[state]]
[[country]]
[[postalcode]]
[[phone]]
[[fax]]
[[email]]
[[taxid]]
[[invoicenumber]]
[[date]]
[[client]]
[[user]]
[[comments]]
[[shipto]]
[[paymentmethod]]
[[taxes1]]
[[taxes2]]
[[taxes3]]
[[discount]]
[[shipping]]
[[taxes]]
[[finaltotal]]
[[salestable]] * Use <table>[[salestable]]</table> Table attributes may be specified in the <table> tags. The inner code will be automatically supplied.
Each token is tied to an entry in the Settings window regarding your business, or to a field in the Invoice itself. Any or all of the tokens may be used and Cato will substitute the proper values at print time.
Remove all tags between <head> and </head>. They are not needed. Images may be used and it is recommended that they be kept in the system folder with Invoice.html
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FTP Window:
This window is different from others as it handles your FTP accounts and uploading your files to the various venues to update your inventory.
Use the add/edit/delete buttons to maintain your upload accounts. In the edit window, enter a Name for the account, which can be whatever you desire. The hostname is the URL address that you wish to upload to. If there is a specific folder that you upload to, include it into the path. Cato will open the host and then move to the proper folder. Username and password are what are required to login to that specific site. The Venue you select is which price you want to be exported for that site and the Upload Format is the desired format to export to. After completing the entry and saving it, it will populate the main table. Cato should automatically negotiate the proper FTP connection, regardless of whether encryption is required or not.
There are three items to attend to for each entry which must be set every time you wish to perform an upload. If you do not want a venue to be uploaded, just uncheck the Up? check box. The default for the Book File drop down is Updated Books. You can also select None if you just want to upload an ancillary file and select All Books to export and send your entire database. You may also select Since, the entered date being the last time you uploaded your listings. Following these are all of the previous export files you have created that are located in the exports folder. If you need to resend a file, or have created a special export file, you can choose it here. For additional file, the default is None, but you can select any file which is located in the uploads folder.
Both of these drop downs are created on the fly. Just close the window and reopen it to include any files you may have recently added since the last time you opened the window.
The Send button will, for each account listed, export the requested file, open an FTP connection and upload the appropriate export file and additional file. It closes the FTP connection and then moves to the next account, skipping any where the Up? checkbox has been unchecked. Once the process is fully complete, you will see get a message noting which uploads were successful and which failed with an error message. If an export file was generated, the Include in Update checkboxes are automatically cleared. If an upload failed, you can retry by just sending the file that was generated.
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Data Validation List Window:
This list window is available from the Tables menu. Data Validation records are, in effect, simple one-to-one substitutions of field values and can be assigned to the following fields:
Author
Binding Type
Binding Style
Book Condition
Book Type
Catalog
DJ Condition
Edition
Illustrator
Keywords
Language
Location
Place
Printing
Publisher
Signed
Size
Title
If the field value matches the Incorrect value, then the Correct value is substituted. For the Correct value, a Snippet can be triggered instead by putting the Snippet name inside double square brackets. These are useful during the validation process to correct common mistakes or to trigger Snippets to make more extensive edits.
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Snippets List Window:
Snippets are a simple macroing system allowing you to automate repetitive tasks while entering or editing book data. They only work on the Book Edit screen and will not carry information over from other windows. Snippets can be played from the Snippet button and they can be triggered during the Data Validation process.
Each Snippet has a name, which can be pretty much anything and should be chosen to help you remember what the Snippet does. The text field holds commands, as explained below, and plain text. Commands change the focus of the text cursor from field to field, edit the field, and allow for human input. The following commands are available in a Snippet:
[[clear]]--Clears the contents of the current field.
[[eof]]--Moves the text cursor to the end of the current field.
[[enter]]--Causes the enter key to be pressed.
[[ask-xxx]]--Pops up a query box with the question, "xxx". Human must enter text and click OK to enter it into the field.
[[set-xxx]]--Sets the value of anon-editable drop down or check box field to "xxx". For check box fields, use "t" for true, or checked, and "f"for false, or unchecked.
[[field-xxx]]--Moves the cursor to field"xxx", leaving it at the beginning of the field. Acceptable field names are:
author
bindingstyle
bindingtype
bookcondition
booktype
catalog1
catalog2
catalog3
comments
cost
date
djcondition
edition
firstedition
hasdj
height
illustrator
includeinupdate
isbn
keywords
language
location
pages
place
printing
private
publisher
quantity
signed
size
status
title
weight
width
as well whatever you have named the 5 venue price fields and the 2 user-named fields.
[[seekend-n]]--moves the cursor just past the first occurrence of n.
[[seekstart-n]]--moves the cursor to the first occurrence of n.
[[caret-n]]--places the cursor at position n.
[[pick]]--creates a popup of the allowable values in a field and lets you choose as if you were editing the field directly.
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Import/Export Tokens:
Finally, the following tokens are used by Cato in importing and exporting book listings. They are meant to be as general as possible to handle any book format thrown at it, but there are a few tokens that are venue-specific.
Line starts with:
# = comment; ignore this line.
$ = import only; ignore if exporting. No spaces needed after either mark.
@ = export only; ignore if importing.
Directives
[[addsonly]] = only export listings where the status is not Sold and the quantity is greater than 0
[[deletesonly]] = only export listings newly marked as sold or with 0 quantity
[[doublequotes-x]] = x is the escape char for quotes, Q(uote ") or B(ackslash \)
[[delimiter-x]] = x is the delimiter type: C(omma) P(ipe) T(ab) R(eturn)
[[encoding-x]] = x is the file encoding type. Windows uses ISO8859_1.
[[headerstart]] = for any format, marks start and end of header, sent once
[[headerend]]
[[footerstart]] = for any format, marks start and end of footer, sent once
[[footerend]]
[[recordstart]] = for any format, marks the tokens that define the listing being exported
[[recordend]]
[[skipnulls]] = no output if field is blank (for Cato, HB and UIEE)
[[isquoted]] = fields are surrounded by quotes
[[dateformat-x]] = date format for import dates {"MM-dd-yyyy", "MM/dd/yyyy", "dd-MM-yyyy", "dd/MM/yyyy", "yyyy-MM-dd", "yyyy/MM/dd"}
General Replacement Values
[[systemdate]] = current date
[[systemtime]] = current time
[[filename]] = the export file name for HB
[[d]] = output delimiter
[[crlf]] = carriage return/line feed
[[null]] = "", keeps previous token from being skipped by [[skipnulls]]... ironically
[[sizeunits-x]] = Change x to your desired unit. azon (IN, FT, MM, CM, M)
[[weightunits-x]] = Change x to your desired unit. hb3 & Az (LB, OZ, GR, KG)
[[categories]] = for hb3
[[pictureurl]] = setting + bookid.jpg
[[hardorsoft]] = Hardcover or Paperback
Special UIEE Tags
[[uieestatus]] = status 1 list, 2 sold/remove, 6 don't list, 7 on hold
[[uieesalesorwants]] = S or W code for X4 in uiee
Special Abe Tags
[[abetransaction]] = A = add, D = delete
[[abebinding]] = H = hardcover S = softcover taken from bindingtype
[[abehasdj]] = J for has jacket, taken from hasdj?
[[abeissigned]] = I for is signed, taken from signed not null
[[abefirst]] = F for First Edition, based on firstedition?
[[abeadds]] = number of adds in file
[[abedeletes]] = number of deletes in file
[[abecount]] = total of abeadds + abedeletes
[[abeuser]] = set to 1 as default, record number of user name
[[listingtype]] = hb3 defaults to Book if not a user field
[[synopsis]] = hb3
Special Amazon Tags
User1 or User2 must be have "Amazon" in the name for these tags to work
[[dateymd]] = pub date in yyyy-mm-dd format
[[amazonbinding]] = special binding value
[[amazoncondition]] = 1 - 11
[[amazonshipping]] = expedited shipping
[[amazoninternational]] = will ship international?
[[amazondj]] = 0-4
[[amazonsigned]] = signed by ?
General Data Tags
[[addeddate]]
[[author]]
[[binding]]
[[bindingstyle]]
[[bookcondition]]
[[bookid]]
[[booktype]]
[[catalogs]] = all three catalogs, comma separated if not null
[[catalog1]]
[[catalog2]]
[[catalog3]]
[[changeddate]]
[[description]]
[[cost]]
[[date]]
[[djcondition]]
[[edition]]
[[firstedition]]
[[hasdj]]
[[hasimage]]
[[height]]
[[illustrator]]
[[includeinupdate]]
[[isbn]]
[[keyword]] = any number of keyword entries
[[keywords]] = keywords strung into one field
[[language]]
[[list]] = will be substituted with venue pricing chosen on export
[[list1]]
[[list2]]
[[list3]]
[[list4]]
[[list5]]
[[location]]
[[pages]]
[[place]]
[[printing]]
[[private]]
[[publisher]]
[[quantity]]
[[recordno]] = the database record number. The HB format uses it.
[[signed]]
[[size]]
[[status]]
[[title]]
[[user1]]
[[user2]]
[[validateddate]]
[[weight]]
[[width]]
The tokens are used for one-to-one correspondence substitution wherever possible. Viewing both templates for Abe should give the general idea of how it all works and they can be used as a model to help create your own template, if needed.
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Amazon Information
Putting "Amazon" into the name of one of the fields enables it to store Amazon-related data. Name this field before importing your database and the fields will populate as best they can.
There are 5 values that are stored in between forward slashes:
Book Condition (1-11)
DJ Condition (0-4)
Product Type (Currently blank, except for 2 if the book has an ISBN.)
Ships Internationally (0-1)
Ships Expedited (0-1)
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