Book Finder Script

This script allows you to easily insert the details of a book into your vault.

We use Google books api to get the the details. You don't need an API key because we're only exploring publicly available information.

Installation

We'll need to install a QuickAdd BookFinder script for this to work. You will need to put the user script into a Macro choice that activates it from the main menu. You can find the script here.

1. Save the script (BookFinder.js) to your vault. Make sure it is saved as a JavaScript file, meaning that it has the .js at the end. Important: Do not save scripts in the .obsidian directory - they will be ignored. Valid locations include folders like /scripts/, /macros/, or any custom folder in your vault.
2. Create a new template in your designated templates folder. Example template is provided below.
3. Open the QuickAdd settings, click Add Choice, and select Macro. You decide what to name it. I named mine Book. This is what activates the macro.
4. Click the configure button (⚙️) on the macro choice to open the Macro Builder.
5. Add the user script to the command list.
6. Add a new Template step to the macro (the Template button in the command bar). This will be what creates the note in your vault. Settings are as follows:
   1. Set the template path to the template you created.
   2. Enable File Name Format and use {{VALUE:fileName}} as the file name format. You can specify this however you like. The fileName value is the name of the Book without illegal file name characters.
   3. The remaining settings are for you to specify depending on your needs.

You can now use the macro to create notes with book information in your vault.

Example template

![poster]({{VALUE:Poster}})

**Author**:: {{VALUE:authors}}
**Title**:: {{VALUE:title}}
**Category**::{{VALUE:categories}}
**Status**:: 📥

**Related Books**
### Core Questions for Me

### Actions

### My Notes

## Details
{{VALUE:description}}

Usage

It's possible to access whichever JSON variables are sent in response through a {{VALUE:<variable>}} tag (e.g. {{VALUE:Title}}). Below is an example response for the Book 'Flowers for Algernon'. From personal experience this JSON is messy enough that we might want encourage people to extend the JS code to extract additional info

{
  "kind": "books#volumes",
  "totalItems": 119,
  "items": [
    {
      "kind": "books#volume",
      "id": "6P_jN6zUuMcC",
      "etag": "FpDPG4koVaQ",
      "selfLink": "https://www.googleapis.com/books/v1/volumes/6P_jN6zUuMcC",
      "volumeInfo": {
        "title": "Flowers for Algernon",
        "authors": [
          "Daniel Keyes"
        ],
        "publisher": "Houghton Mifflin Harcourt",
        "publishedDate": "2004",
        "description": "Oscar-winning film Charly starring Cliff Robertson and Claire Bloom-a mentally challenged man receives an operation that turns him into a genius...and introduces him to heartache.",
        "industryIdentifiers": [
          {
            "type": "ISBN_13",
            "identifier": "9780156030083"
          },
          {
            "type": "ISBN_10",
            "identifier": "015603008X"
          }
        ],
        "readingModes": {
          "text": false,
          "image": true
        },
        "pageCount": 324,
        "printType": "BOOK",
        "categories": [
          "Fiction"
        ],
        "averageRating": 4,
        "ratingsCount": 179,
        "maturityRating": "NOT_MATURE",
        "allowAnonLogging": true,
        "contentVersion": "1.3.3.0.preview.1",
        "panelizationSummary": {
          "containsEpubBubbles": false,
          "containsImageBubbles": false
        },
        "imageLinks": {
          "smallThumbnail": "http://books.google.com/books/content?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=5&edge=curl&source=gbs_api",
          "thumbnail": "http://books.google.com/books/content?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&printsec=frontcover&img=1&zoom=1&edge=curl&source=gbs_api"
        },
        "language": "en",
        "previewLink": "http://books.google.ca/books?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:Flowers+for+Algernon&hl=&cd=1&source=gbs_api",
        "infoLink": "http://books.google.ca/books?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&dq=intitle:Flowers+for+Algernon&hl=&source=gbs_api",
        "canonicalVolumeLink": "https://books.google.com/books/about/Flowers_for_Algernon.html?hl=&id=6P_jN6zUuMcC"
      },
      "saleInfo": {
        "country": "CA",
        "saleability": "NOT_FOR_SALE",
        "isEbook": false
      },
      "accessInfo": {
        "country": "CA",
        "viewability": "PARTIAL",
        "embeddable": true,
        "publicDomain": false,
        "textToSpeechPermission": "ALLOWED",
        "epub": {
          "isAvailable": false
        },
        "pdf": {
          "isAvailable": true,
          "acsTokenLink": "http://books.google.ca/books/download/Flowers_for_Algernon-sample-pdf.acsm?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&format=pdf&output=acs4_fulfillment_token&dl_type=sample&source=gbs_api"
        },
        "webReaderLink": "http://play.google.com/books/reader?id=6P_jN6zUuMcC&hl=&source=gbs_api",
        "accessViewStatus": "SAMPLE",
        "quoteSharingAllowed": false
      },
      "searchInfo": {
        "textSnippet": "WINNER OF THE HUGO AWARD AND THE NEBULA AWARD The classic novel that inspired the Academy Award-winning movie Charly Daniel Keyes, the author of eight books, was born in Brooklyn, New York, and received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from ..."
      }
    },