I have a problem to solve. I will try and explain it as best I can
what I think I want, please answer the question by first telling me if
what I have suggested is doable and then better ways of doing it.

I have a huge stack of collectable books to sell, I would like to use
amazon.com and half.com to sell them.

I would like to be able to either scan the barcodes on the back or if
that is not possible enter the ISBN numbers by hand.

This information could go into something like a simple text file.

Then I would like a program, I understand something like Perl, to read
the text file and output the going "used price" rates of the books at
half.com and amazon.com.

so for example I have four books i want to sell and I want to know
which website has the highest price.


Here are the steps I would like to do;

Step 1. Process the pile of books all at once; that means scan the
books, or get the ISBN into a text file

IE. On the back of the book there is an ISBN, and a barcode.
Eg. 1852640723 is the isbn and 9781852640729 is the barcode number.

Do I need a special handscanner and software? can I only do it by
entering the ISBN's by hand?



Step 2. Save the file of ISBN numbers OR barcode numbers in a text
file.

ie
ISBN's 
0385414455
1852640723
0060186879
0534538673

or if possible

Barcode numbers
9780385414456
9780534538675
9780060186876
9781852640729

Step 3. I upload the file for perl??? or a computer program etc
process it???


Step 4. output to a webpage and/or .csv file. It is important that the
order be the same as entered!


Site	ISBN		Title							Price
----	----------	----------------------------------------		------------
Half 	0385414455	The Gringo Amigo (Hardcover, 1991)  			$2.73 
Amazon 	0385414455 	The Gringo Amigo (A Double d Western)			$2.44


Amazon 	1852640723	Coins of England and the United Kingdom			$32.95
Half	1852640723	Coins of England and the United Kingdom 		Not in stock
Half 	1852640723	Standard Catalog of British Coins 			Not in stock

Amazon 	0060186879	In Awe							$2.24
Half	0060186879	In Awe: A Novel 					$1.70
Half	0060186879	In Awe 						 	$7.06

Amazon  0534538673	Methods Toward a Science of Behavior and
Experience	$50.00
Half	0534538673	Methods Toward a Science of Behavior and Experience
	$60.00


**Important points to note 
-sometimes the ISBN doesnt work
-half.com may have two matches for the same isbn eg paperback &
hardcover.


So to summerize my question is

1. Is it possible to input by scanning barcodes or do I have to type
the ISBN's?
2. If it is possible what do I need to scan barcodes?
3. What computer program or Perl Script do I need?
4. What do I need to tell the programer so they can build it?
5. How much will it cost?

---

Request for Question Clarification by joseleon-ga on 17 Sep 2003 00:11 PDT

Hello, 

Before post an answer the question I answer your main points:

1. Is it possible to input by scanning barcodes or do I have to type
the ISBN's?
The ISBN is inside the barcode, at least here in Spain, so you don't
have to type it.

2. If it is possible what do I need to scan barcodes? 
Just a barcode reader, it connects to your keyboard and writes the
barcode as if you were typing it, aren't very expensive, $150 or so.

3. What computer program or Perl Script do I need? 
A custom one, you need a developer to build such script.

4. What do I need to tell the programer so they can build it? 
The specifications you post here must be enough for any programmer to
build an initial prototype, after that, you just need to answer
specific questions from him/her.

5. How much will it cost?
Depends a lot of the developer, you can post a question requesting to
develop such software or go to http://www.rentacoder.com to let
developers bid for your project.

Tell me if this info is useful to and don't hesitate to request more
info.

Regards.

---

Clarification of Question by jba2905-ga on 17 Sep 2003 10:12 PDT

Thanks for the response.

I want to find out specifically about the barcodes and ISBN's.

It seems that sometimes the barcode and the ISBN are similar, in other
cases they are not.

I do not know what the barcode information is exactly but If I look on
the back of the book, it has an isbn, a barcode, and a series of
numbers under the barcode.

E.g. on the back of one book it has the following information

ISBN 0-471-38981-1
Barcode lines
9 780471 389811

In another case there does not seem to be a similarity.

ISBN 0-07-2320710
Barcode lines
9780072320718

The "8" on the end should be a zero???

So to clarify I do not know if you can scan the barcode and extract
the ISBN

Basically where I want to start  with a pile of books and end up with
a listing on ama zon or ha lf.com

I am happy to type the ISBN's in by hand but it would be a bonus to be
able to use a scanner with the barcodes.

The other part is that I want to be able to communicate to the
programmer what my needs are, I understand that programmers think a
lot differently and I need to communicate what I want so they can
produce a program that will do what I want, and with as few test
versions.

---

Request for Question Clarification by googleexpert-ga on 17 Sep 2003 11:00 PDT

Hi jba2905,
I thought I would answer some of your questions.  Specifically, 2,3,4.
2.  You can pick up a barcode scanner called "CueCat".  I have not had
the chance to use this device, but I know you can find many on
ebay.com:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?cgiurl=http%3A%2F%2Fcgi.ebay.com%2Fws%2F&krd=1&from=R8&MfcISAPICommand=GetResult&ht=1&SortProperty=MetaEndSort&query=cuecat

3.  From what I found, Perl seems to be popular amongst CueCat users. 
You can find many scripts and even articles that details how to use
CueCat for scanning barcodes from books such as the following:
http://www.ddj.com/documents/s=1498/ddj0101pl/0101pl001.htm

4.  You can find many scripts/programs online that deal with using the
CueCat device.  If you are familiar with Perl, you don't have to ask a
programmer to build this program.

Please let me know if this helps you with your problem.

---

Request for Question Clarification by googleexpert-ga on 17 Sep 2003 22:52 PDT

Based on the Before/After Hack output for your test book, It seems
like the Before Hack output generated usable information:
barcode=9781852640729\x00 or ISBN: 1852640729
However, I tried other scripts and programs and could not get the same
output.

With that in mind, I think you will need a programmer to write this
script for you.
The stumbling block for me in writing this script is Decoding the
CueCat's Scanned Output with Perl.
Hopefully, another Researcher can help you out with that.

Just to be sure, have I answered your question completely?

---

Clarification of Question by jba2905-ga on 18 Sep 2003 09:39 PDT

Yeah that sounds great, could the only point that I wanted to
understand better is the scanning of the books. I gave the example
above of how the ISBN and the number under the barcode have one digit
difference on some books. If you could find some information/link that
would explain what that that is all about and if it decodes I think
that that would complete my question!

Thanks for all the great help!

---

Request for Question Clarification by googleexpert-ga on 19 Sep 2003 17:36 PDT

From what I have read from this link:
http://isbntools.com/cc.html

It seems like that one digit difference seems to be a Check Digit. 
However, that would make the ISBN Number 9 digits long instead of 10. 
Anyway, I strongly suggest you look at the information at the link I
provided.

Have I provided a complete answer to your question?