Data Submission Formats

Introduction

Data is submitted to the ISFDB either from the online editing tools, or by the Web API. Accepted submissions are placed in the submissions table in the MySQL database. The data submitted to the ISFDB must be a well-formed XML string. All submissions must contain the following:

• An xml header utilizing version 1.0, and a recommended encoding of iso-8859-1.
• The data must be enclosed within a set of IsfdbSubmission tags.
• The data must contain a valid registered user within a set of Submitter tags.
• The data must contain a subject heading within a set of Subject tags. This subject is displayed in the moderator queue, and is not integrated into the ISFDB data.

A stubbed out version of a generic submission looks like this:

 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1" ?>
 <IsfdbSubmission>
   <...Type...>
      <Submitter>Registered_User_Name</Submitter>
      <Subject>Subject Line That Will Appear in Moderator Queue</Subject>
      ...
   </...Type...>
 </IsfdbSubmission>

Author Related Submissions

There are two data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the authors table:

• XML:AuthorMerge - Merges two author records together.
• XML:AuthorUpdate - Updates an author record.
• XML:MakePseudonym - Makes an author record a pseudonym.

Note that there are no submission types to create or delete author entries. Author entries are created on demand when a title or publication requires them. Likewise author entries are deleted when no other records refer to them.

Publication Related Submissions

There are four data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the pubs table:

• XML:NewPub - Adds a new publication record.
• XML:PubDelete - Deletes a publication record.
• XML:PubUpdate - Modifies a publication record.
• XML:TitleRemove - Removes one or more titles from a publication record.

Title Related Submissions

There are six data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the titles table:

• XML:TitleUpdate - Modifies a title record.
• XML:TitleDelete - Deletes a title record.
• XML:TitleMerge - Merges two or more title records.
• XML:TitleUnmerge - Unmerges one or more title records.
• XML:MakeVariant - Makes the current title a variant title.
• XML:VariantTitle - Adds a variant title to the current title.
• XML:LinkReview - not yet online at this time.
• XML:LinkSerial - not yet online at this time.

Series Related Submissions

There is one data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the series table:

• XML:SeriesUpdate - Updates a series record.

Note that there are no submission types to create or delete series entries. Series entries are created on demand when a title requires them. Likewise series entries are deleted when no other records refer to them (theoretically).

Awards Related Submissions

There are three data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the awards table:

• XML:NewAward - Creates a new award record.
• XML:AwardDelete - Deletes an award record.
• XML:AwardUpdate - Deletes an award record.

Publisher Related Submissions

There are two data submission types necessary for the upkeep of the publishers table:

• XML:PublisherUpdate - Updates a publisher record.
• XML:PublisherMerge - Merges two or more publisher records.

Note that there are no submission types to create or delete publisher entries. Publisher entries are created on demand when a publication requires them. Likewise publisher entries are deleted when no other publications refer to them.

See Also

• Web API -- Page that describes the API within which these formats amy be used
• Help:Screen:EditPub -- detailed help on the various publication-level fields and how they are used.
• Help:Screen:EditTitle -- detailed help on the various title-level fields and how they are used.