Working with Full Text

Some records in the results returned from the /edsapi/rest/Search endpoint will have elements returned in the Record.FullText.Availability or Record.FullText.Availability.Links locations to indicate that full text is available from the EBSCO servers.

EBSCO Full Text Indicators

  • 'FullText.Text.Availability' set to '1' indicates that the record contains HTML full text.
  • 'FullText.Links[n].Type' set to 'pdflink' indicates that the record contains PDF full text.
  • 'FullText.Links[n].Type' set to 'ebook-pdf' indicates that the record contains PDF full text for an eBook.
  • 'FullText.Links[n].Type' set to 'ebook-epub' indicates that the record contains EPUB full text for an eBook.
  • 'FullText.Links[n].Type' set to 'other' indicates SmartLinks+ (labeled as "Linked Full Text" in the EDS UI).

EBSCO full text and full text URLs will not appear in the /edsapi/rest/Search response. The FullText.Links[n].Type indicator is present to let you know that you will find text if you issue a /edsapi/rest/retrieve request for the record.

Viewing the Response

This example shows the search and retrieve responses for a record that has both PDF and HTML full text available.

FullText: {
  Links: [
    {
      Type: "pdflink"
    }
  ],
  Text: {
    Availability: "1"
  }
}
FullText: {
  Links: [
    {
      Type: "pdflink",
      Url: The Url will contain an expiring link to the PDF.
    }
  ],
  Text: {
    Availability: "1",
    Value:  The Value will contain the full HTML text of the article.
  }
}

👍

Best Practice

It is recommended to use the indicators in the /edsapi/rest/Search response to paint HTML/PDF icons on the results list first. Then, call the /edsapi/rest/retrieve method for that record to fetch the full text and display it when the end user clicks on an icon.

🚧

Expiring Links

The URLs under FullText.Links expire. Your application should promptly issue a new /edsapi/rest/retrieve request upon a user clicking a full text link to obtain the PDF document's URL from the response. Avoid using the URL directly from the initial detailed record view, as it may expire before the user clicks it.

Full Text CustomLinks

You will also find different types of full text links in the CustomLinks element of the response. The record below does not have EBSCO full text links. The record has a link to access the full text on JSTOR.

FullText: {
  Text: {
    Availability: "0"
  },
  CustomLinks: [
    {
      Url: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1544-6360(2017)17%3a2%3c32%3aPennsylvania%20Legacies%3e2.0.TX%3b2-2&origin=EBSCO,
      Name: "JSTOR",
      Category: "fullText",
      Text: "Full Text from JSTOR",
      Icon: https://widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/openaccess/jstor/jstor_logo.jpg
    }
  ]
}
FullText: {
  Text: {
    Availability: "0"
  },
  CustomLinks: [
    {
      Url: http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=1544-6360(2017)17%3a2%3c32%3aPennsylvania%20Legacies%3e2.0.TX%3b2-2&origin=EBSCO,
      Name: "JSTOR",
      Category: "fullText",
      Text: "Full Text from JSTOR",
      Icon: https://widgets.ebscohost.com/prod/openaccess/jstor/jstor_logo.jpg
    }
  ]
}

APA PsycInfo Table of Contents

Some records retrieved from the /edsapi/rest/retrieve endpoint can be from APA PsycInfo. The records from APA PsycInfo will have the combination of the elements shown below to indicate that the Table of Contents is available.

Conditions to Indicate Table of Contents Available

FullText.Text.Availability is '0'

FullText.Text.Value shows the Table of Contents.

Tags in HTML Full Text

Similar to the tags found in the Data element of records, the HTML full text might also contain tags to either suggest how to format text or link to other information in EDS. Two examples are described below.

<emph>

The <emph> tag indicates that the terms in the full text should be emphasized. Use CSS to add italics or some other emphasis to this tag.

<eplink>

The <eplink> tag indicates that the link should point to a specific record (i.e., a Retrieve). See the example below from Research Starters.

&lt;p&gt;The scientific name for &lt;eplink linkfield="AN" linkkey="87321677"&gt;coyotes&lt;/eplink&gt;, &lt;emph&gt;Canis latrans&lt;/emph&gt;, means “barking dog,” which...

If we html entities decode this, the result is below.

<p>The scientific name for <eplink linkfield="AN" linkkey="87321677">coyotes</eplink>, <emph>Canis latrans</emph>, means “barking dog,” which 

In this text, we recommend pointing your users to a page that will show the results of a /edsapi/rest/retrieve call where the database code of the /edsapi/rest/retrieve call matches the current database code (in the case of Research Starters, it is ers) and the accession number found in the linkkey element. Similar to the searchLinks example, you should manipulate these links to match the expectations of your application. We recommend the following replacement pattern. The {currentdb} is the dbcode for the current record.

  • Replace <eplink with <a
  • Replace </eplink with </a
  • Replace linkkey=" with href="/path/to/retrieve?db={currentdb}&an=
<p>The scientific name for <a linkfield="AN" href="/path/to/retrieve?db=ers&an=87321677">coyotes</a>, <i>Canis latrans</i>, means “barking dog,” which...