Google Books Search Results

azjakec · August 17, 2012

Google has changed its url syntax for search results pages so that, for me currently, the Google Books Zotero translator does not work quite as intended. From looking at the translator code, it seems to be structured so that, like on a Google Scholar search results page, on a Google Books search results page there should be a 'save to Zotero' folder icon in the Firefox url bar such that if clicked, a sheet appears that allows the user to select which items from the search results page should be added to the library. With the new syntax, this does not occur. The old syntax still generates a Google Books search results page that activates the proper behavior if you enter the url with old syntax manually, but just going to Google and searching for a book does not.

old syntax from the Google Books translator file that works if entered manually:
http://books.google.com/books?q=asimov&btnG=Search+Books

same query with the new syntax that does not generate icon:
https://www.google.com/search?q=asimov&btnG=Search+Books&tbm=bks&tbo=1

adamsmith · August 17, 2012

thanks - unfortunately this isn't as trivial to fix as I thought it might be - the old code does some funky stuff that doesn't work any more (specifically, since you seem to be pretty code savy: Zotero used to get the titles to display in the select box from the "alt" attribute of the book cover image and that attribute is empty in the new searches)
and that part should probably be rewritten entirely to cover both the old and the new layout.

Issue here: https://github.com/zotero/translators/issues/439

aurimas · September 5, 2012

Translator has been updated. Please wait 24 hours for the translator to update automatically or update manually (Troubleshooting Translator Issues #5) and see if the problem is fixed.

dipahart · September 18, 2012

THANKS!