Tag Archives: export

System Tweaks: Abuse Prevention

Recently there has been a large amount of requests on the system that are either by an automated system or one or two overzealous individuals. Specifically involving requests for charts and exports (CSV) of information. After a few days of research and data collection, an automated system has been created to help ensure that this does not become a detriment for all NovelRank users.

Image courtesy of RowdyKittens on FlickrHere’s the info you need to know.

If the database is currently overloaded by too many requests or is working very hard on a current requests (in regards to time), you may receive an error page when attempting to export CSV data. Simply retry your request a few seconds later (in most cases). In the case of charts, a message will be displayed in the chart area notifying of the server overload.

All of these abuses are NOT from user accounts, but individual book pages (details page). Thus, I’ve only implemented these methods to address the problem areas. I reserve the right to, in the future, implement the same measures for user comparison charts and user CSV exports.

I hope this results in a continued fast NovelRank experience for everyone.

Image courtesy of RowdyKittens on Flickr

New CSV Export – Full Date and Time Data

Details Page New CSV ExportHey look, a new feature! Added by request (thanks Tom from Greece), there is a new CSV export option available for you. When you are viewing a book’s detail page, you can use the button at the top to expand the Export to Excel/CSV options.

Daily Sales Estimate CSV ScreenshotFrom there you will see a new link that will start the download of a single CSV file that contains the date, hour, and day of the week (screenshot is an early version) of every sale since tracking began. It’s sorted by newest dates first, but the date is in a standardized format which will allow you to sort the spreadsheet in the opposite direction using your spreadsheet program.

Previously, this data was only available through the charts and only for recent sales (for visibility), so this new feature provides a lot of functionality for quickly analyzing sales estimate data on your own. Finally, all CSV exports have been improved to support the newest domains on NovelRank: Italy, Spain, and China. Apparently, nobody noticed that these were not being exported. Don’t worry though, I noticed, and it is now fixed!