Mobipocket Developer Center -

Welcome to Mobipocket Developer Center

eBookBase Retailer Integration

Getting Started
Overview Steps to Integrate What's new in V3 Mobi Reader Desktop eBookstore FAQ
eBookbase V3
Create a Purchase Transaction Download of free sample ebook User Logon User Online Library User Device Management Testing
Samples for eBookbase V3
Generate the Hashcode parameter for NewTransaction (ASP)Generate the Hashcode parameter for NewTransaction (JSP)

Home | Hide TOC |

Add to Favorites

Mobi Reader Desktop eBookstore Integration

Starting with the release of Mobi Reader 5.0, the PC based Mobi Reader Desktop client includes a built-in functionality which enables users to browse an eBookstore, purchase and download items directly from within the software.

To be listed as an eBookstore in Mobi Reader Desktop, an eBookbase Retailer must follow these steps:

Implement eBookbase DRM version 3. See the required steps to integrate eBookbase
Implement a user logon validation web service, and provide the URL to Mobipocket
Implement a "Forgot password" link for user account,
Provide the URL of the home page of your eBookstore to Mobipocket for inclusion in the Reader Desktop list
Add further optional integration of your eBookstore with Reader desktop functionalities

Implement a user logon validation web service

To authenticate a user when activation or reactivation of an ebook file is required, Mobi Reader Desktop requires the user to logon to the retail site where the ebooks were purchased. Mobi Reader Desktop gets the Username and Password from the user and sends these parameters to eBookbase. eBookbase in turn calls a user logon validation web service URL provided by the retail site, with the Username and Password as an input parameter. The URL returns the UserID corresponding to the user account in the retailer's system. This UserID must be the same identifier as the RetailerUserID parameter passed in the NewTransaction web service

Syntax of the logon validation URL:

http://myvalidationURL?Username=MyUser&Password=MyPassword

The ValidationURL must accept two parameters in GET mode: Username and Password

Output of web service:

Important: the response of the web service must have the text/xml MIME Type. Example in ASP: Response.ContentType = "text/xml"

Successful logon:

<User><Id>My UserID</Id></User>

Error cases:

<Error><Code>my error code</Code><Description>my error desc</Description></Error>

"Forgot password" link in Online Account Logon dialog box

If the user has forgotten the password of his account, he can click on the Forgot password link in the Reader Desktop logon dialog box to retrieve the password by email. This links to a custom URL on your site that you must specify by including the following META tag in the html header of the home page of your Reader Desktop eBookstore:

<html> <head><br><METANAME="mbp:forgotpassword" URL="myforgotpasswordURL"> </head>

Further optional integration of your eBookstore with Reader desktop functionalities

Customizable links in Reader Desktop navigation bar

In the picture above which represents the Reader Desktop navigation bar, the link and label for "Science Fiction" is customizable.

To make a custom link appear on any one of the web pages of your ebookstore, you must include the following META tag in the html header of the page:

<html> <head> <META NAME="mbp:link" CONTENT= "ScienceFiction"URL="category.asp?id=20"> </head>

N.B. : The URL is a link to the page on your site that is displayed when the user clicks on the item in the navigation bar; the blue arrow icon is currently not customizable

Free sample download links

You can include a link on the detail page of an ebook for the user to download a free sample. The free sample download is a service provided by eBookbase. In order for the sample ebook download to integrate with Reader Desktop, i.e. display of progression of the download, and when download is complete, sample ebook opens directly in Reader Desktop, you must use the custom javascript command window.external.download.

Example: <a onclick="window.external.download('http://www.mobipocket.com/webservices/download/demo.asp?BookID=3250&CommerceID=MYCOMMERCEID&BookBuyURL=MyURL"> Download Free Sample</A>

N.B. : BookID is the ID of the eBook as provided in the eBookbase meta-data available in the Retailer's account
CommerceID is the string that is provided by eBookbase to the Retailer when his eBookbase account is activated.
BookBuyURL is the URL of the web page that you wish to redirect the user to at the end of the sample ebook in order to purchase the ebook.

Integration with Search box in Reader Desktop

When the user types a string in the Search box of the Reader, the search results page that is called is a custom web page defined on your retail site.

To specify the URL of the search page, include the following META tag in the html header of the home page of your eBookstore:

<html>< br><head><br><METANAME="mbp:search" URL="mysearchURL"> </head>

mysearchURL is the URL of a web page which accepts two parameters in GET mode:
Search : string entered by the user in the Search box
Type : type of search selected by the user = "All", "Title", "Author", "Publisher" or "Abstract"

Example : http://mysearchURL?Search=vinci&Type=Title

N.B.: If no <META NAME="mbp:search"> tag is found on the start page, the Search box is greyed out or hidden by the Reader.

The output of the search results is an XML structure conforming to a Mobipocket-defined format. The Reader will display the results using the integrated list view, as in the picture below.

The required XML output is defined as follows:

<Root> <Item> <Name href="URL of Book Detail page">Title of eBook</Name> <Author href="URL of Author Detail page">Author Name</Author> <Genre href="URL of Subject list page">Subject/Category</Genre> <Publisher href="URL of Publisher page">Publisher Name</Publisher> <Price></Price> <Currency></Currency> <Rating></Rating> <FileSize>Size in KBytes</FileSize> <Abstract></Abstract> <Cover href= "URL of Cover"/> <Sample href="URL of Demo Book File" /> </Item> </Root>