Link checking method or tool

[albert0346]

Hi,

I want to create a website where people could see all the book titles and authors we keep in our library. In addition to these 2 columns in our book table I want to use a column in which are the links to the appropriate Amazon books where the users can read the book descriptions. The problem with this link column is that it could happen that Amazon no longer keeps a special book and displays instead a page on which it says something like the book is no longer available or that the address no longer exists. This info would not be very helpful for our users. So I thought I ask here if someone knows a method or tool which checks, for example every week, the addresses in this column if they still point to the original Amazon page.

If there is no method or tool then we could have a link to a book search engine. There the user could enter the book title and look for the description. I searched the Internet but could not find such an engine in the German language with book descriptions, they show ONLY book titles with author names. This method is not very user friendly, but still better than nothing. Do you know such a book search engine?

It would be nice if someone could help me.

Thanks in advance.

Albert

[albert0346]

It would be nice if someone has the time to give me an answer.

Albert

[not2easy]

Hello Albert, sometimes it is not just a matter of no one taking time to answer, if someone had the answer you seek I think they would take the time to let you know. The nearest thing I know of that might possibly give you what you want are related to Amazon's affiliate program. I do not know whether the tools I am familiar with are available in German or not.

You can create a set of links to specific products and show those pages on your site in an iframe. The links take people to Amazon to read reviews and/or buy the products. Amazon won't show links to items not available, they keep it all up to date. This is not exactly what you asked for but it is the closest thing I know of outside of a tool you build yourself or pay to have built.

[brotherhood of LAN]

I believe Amazon has an API that'd likely make the checking a lot easier, though I'm not sure on the finer details of whether it displays if a product is no longer available... likely it would do.

[albert0346]

Thank you both!

@brotherhod of LAN, I think you mean something I found on this page [docs.aws.amazon.com ], right? But with this I'd have to check first if the book is still available and if it is I could offer the link. But for this I'd have to write something in PHP which I don't know very much.

Albert

[not2easy]

There are scripts available, you may find some at the Amazon site. I use a perl script by Cusimano on one site and it works fine, you need to spend a lot of time setting it up and reading pages and pages of details, but you don't need to know more than html and how to follow directions to use it.

Most scripts are a little complicated because of the huge and varied inventory at amazon. Sorry I do not know of one that is only for books but the one I use can be configured for books only - and it could be set up for specific authors, but I'm not sure if it could do anything using a list of exact titles.

These types of scripts are usually intended for affiliate use so if you are not an affiliate they are sometimes free to use (the one I use is free) because the id will default to the script creator's account and they're happy to let you use the script. If you want to add in an id you would need an annual key.

[albert0346]

Do you mean this on the page [c3scripts.com ]? But this does NOT work for amazon.de!

Albert

[not2easy]

Sorry, I posted while you were editing your post - I do not know what scripts are available to work with Amazon.de, sorry. The script I mentioned includes language packs, but yes, it would take visitors to Amazon's .com site. Maybe check the .de site to see what they have that might be similar?

[andersonsmith]

You can try amazon API keys to adjust the books data and their links.

[albert0346]

I heard from Amazon that I CANNOT use the short description by copying it because of license problems. Could I then use it by using the API keys? Probably not.

Albert