This function when passed a valid ISBN number will attempt to locate the title, authors, publisher, edition and volume from Powell's Books website. I'm sure this could be refined a bit but it worked for a purpose.

By : rellik

<?php
// This script looks up a user entered ISBN number on Powells Books to pull the
// book record from to save the users time and us errors.

// The ISBN number will be passed to us via the variable isbn through http post

function isbn($isbn) {

if(!empty($isbn)) {
$title = $author1 = $author2 = $author3 = $publisher = $edition = $volume = $price = $coursenumber = $coursename = "";

$findarecord = mysql_query("SELECT * FROM books WHERE isbn='$isbn'");
while ($info = mysql_fetch_array($findarecord)) {
if(empty($title)) {
$title = $info["title"];
}
if(empty($author1)) {
$author1 = $info["author1"];
}
if(empty($author2)) {
$author2 = $info["author2"];
}
if(empty($author3)) {
$author3 = $info["author3"];
}
if(empty($publisher)) {
$publisher = $info["publisher"];
}
if(empty($edition)) {
$edition = $info["edition"];
}
if(empty($volume)) {
$volume = $info["volume"];
}
if(empty($price)) {
$price = $info["price"];
}
if(empty($coursenumber)) {
$coursenumber = $info["coursenumber"];
}
if(empty($coursename)) {
$coursename = $info["coursename"];
}
}

if(empty($title) || empty($author1) || empty($publisher) || empty($price) || empty($coursenumber) || empty($coursename)) {

$lookuphost = "www.powells.com";
$lookuphosturl = "/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-$isbn";
$fp = fsockopen($lookuphost, 80);
$buf = "";
fputs($fp, "GET $lookuphosturl HTTP/1.0\r\n Host: $lookuphost\r\n\r\n");
while(!feof($fp)) {
$buf .= fgets($fp,1000000);
}
fclose($fp);
if(empty($title)) {
@$title = trim(strip_tags(substr($buf,strpos($buf,"<!-- BEGIN BASIC INFO -->")+111,90)));
if(ereg(" by",$title)) {
$title = trim(substr($title,0,strlen($title)-5));
}
}
if(empty($publisher)) {
@$publisher = trim(strip_tags(substr($buf,strpos($buf,"<B>Publisher:</B>")+17,100)));
@$publisher = trim(substr($publisher,0,strpos($publisher,"Subject:")));
}
if(empty($edition)) {
@$editionraw = trim(strip_tags(substr($buf,strpos($buf,"<B>Edition Number:</B>")+22,4)));
@$null = ereg("([0-999])",$editionraw,$editionnum);
$edition = $editionnum[0];
}
@$authorsraw = trim(substr($buf,strpos($buf,"<B>Author:</B>")+14,250));
if(empty($author1)) {
@$author1 = trim(substr($authorsraw,0,strpos($authorsraw,"<B>Author:</B>")));
}
if(empty($author2)) {
@$author2 = trim(substr($authorsraw,strpos($authorsraw,$author1)+strlen($author1)+15,100));
@$author2 = trim(strip_tags(substr($author2,0,strpos($author2,"Publisher"))));
}

// Clean up vars
$title = stripslashes(str_replace("&nbsp;","",trim($title)));
$author1 = stripslashes(str_replace("&nbsp;","",trim($author1)));
if(strlen($author1)<=1) {
$author1="";
}
$author2 = stripslashes(str_replace("&nbsp;","",trim($author2)));
if(strlen($author2)<=1) {
$author2="";
}
$author3 = stripslashes(str_replace("&nbsp;","",trim($author3)));
if(strlen($author3)<=1) {
$author3="";
}
$publisher = stripslashes(str_replace("&nbsp;","",trim($publisher)));
$edition = trim($edition);
$volume = trim($volume);
}

if(empty($title)) {
$title = "";
$author1 = "";
$author2 = "";
$author3 = "";
$publisher = "";
$volume = "";
$edition = "";
$price = "";
$coursenumber = "";
$coursesection = "";
$coursename = "";
}
return array("isbn"=>$isbn,"title"=>$title,"author1"=>$author1,"author2"=>$author2,"author3"=>$author3,"publisher"=>$publisher,"edition"=>$edition,"volume"=>$volume,"price"=>$price,"condition"=>"0","coursenumber"=>$coursenumber,"coursesection"=>"","coursename"=>$coursename);
}
}
?>

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