While working with some book data, I needed to merge the old ISBN-10 and ISBN-13 data. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any C# code to do the conversion. Search for "ISBN C#" in Google only return book stores with C# books.
So here is a little class that will convert and validate ISBNs. Here’s how the code would look:
string isbn10 = "0830818030";
string isbn13 = ISBN.Convert10to13(isbn10); // returns "9780830818037"
string isbn = "083081803X"; // this one has a bad checksum (last digit)
string correctIsbn = "";
if (!ISBN.IsValid(isbn, out correctIsbn)) {
isbn = corretnIsbn; // returns "0830818030"
}
An ISBN object can also be instantiated and used:
IBSN myBook = new ISBN("0-83081-803-0");
string isbn13 = myBook.ISBN13; // returns "9780830818037"
string isbn10 = myBook.ISBN10; // returns "0830818030"
Here is the class:
public class ISBN
{
public ISBN(string isbn)
{
SetIsbn(isbn);
}
private string _isbn10 = "";
private string _isbn13 = "";
public string ISBN10
{
get
{
return _isbn10;
}
set
{
string corrected = "";
if (!IsValid(value, out corrected) && corrected == "")
throw new Exception("invalid ISBN");
SetIsbn(corrected);
}
}
public string ISBN13
{
get
{
return _isbn13;
}
set
{
string corrected = "";
if (!IsValid(value, out corrected) && corrected == "")
throw new Exception("invalid ISBN");
SetIsbn(corrected);
}
}
private void SetIsbn(string isbn)
{
isbn = CleanIsbn(isbn);
if (isbn.Length == 10)
{
_isbn10 = isbn;
_isbn13 = Convert10to13(isbn);
}
else if (isbn.Length == 13)
{
_isbn13 = isbn;
_isbn10 = Convert13to10(isbn);
}
}
private static string CleanIsbn(string isbn)
{
return isbn.Replace("-", "").Replace(" ", "");
}
public static string Convert10to13(string isbn)
{
return Convert10to13(isbn, true);
}
public static string Convert10to13(string isbn, bool throwError) {
// remove - and space
string isbn10 = CleanIsbn(isbn);
if (isbn10.Length != 10 && throwError)
throw new Exception("ISBN must be 10 characters long");
// 1) Drop the check digit (the last digit)
isbn10 = isbn10.Substring(0, 9);
// 2) Add the prefix '978'
string isbn13 = "978" + isbn10;
// 3) Recalculate check digit
isbn13 = isbn13 + Isbn13Checksum(isbn13);
return isbn13;
}
public static string Convert13to10(string isbn)
{
return Convert13to10(isbn, true);
}
public static string Convert13to10(string isbn, bool throwError)
{
// remove - and space
string isbn13 = CleanIsbn(isbn);
if (isbn13.Length != 13 && throwError)
throw new Exception("ISBN must be 13 characters long");
// 1) Drop the check digit (the last digit) and prefix '978'
string isbn10 = isbn13.Substring(3, 9);
// 2) Recalculate your check digit using the modules 10 check digit routine.
isbn10 = isbn10 + Isbn10Checksum(isbn10);
return isbn10;
}
public static bool IsValid(string isbn)
{
string correctIsbn = "";
return IsValid(isbn, out correctIsbn);
}
public static bool IsValid(string isbn, out string correctISBN)
{
// remove - and space
isbn = CleanIsbn(isbn);
if (isbn.Length == 10) {
return ValidateIsbn10(isbn, out correctISBN);
}
else if (isbn.Length == 13)
{
return ValidateIsbn13(isbn, out correctISBN);
}
else
{
correctISBN = "";
return false;
}
}
private static string Isbn10Checksum(string isbn)
{
int sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 9; i++)
sum += (10-i) * Int32.Parse(isbn[i].ToString());
float div = sum / 11;
float rem = sum % 11;
if (rem == 0)
return "0";
else if (rem == 1)
return "X";
else
return (11 - rem).ToString();
}
private static string Isbn13Checksum(string isbn)
{
float sum = 0;
for (int i = 0; i < 12; i++)
sum += ((i % 2 == 0) ? 1 : 3) * Int32.Parse(isbn[i].ToString());
float div = sum / 10;
float rem = sum % 10;
if (rem == 0)
return "0";
else
return (10 - rem).ToString();
}
private static bool ValidateIsbn10(string isbn, out string correctISBN)
{
correctISBN = isbn.Substring(0, 9) + Isbn10Checksum(isbn);
return (correctISBN == isbn);
}
private static bool ValidateIsbn13(string isbn, out string correctISBN)
{
correctISBN = isbn.Substring(0, 12) + Isbn13Checksum(isbn);
return (correctISBN == isbn);
}
}
I initially wanted to also make a method that would add back in the correct dashes, but I found out that the make up is based on country and publisher codes assigned by the International ISBN Agency which regularly updates the list of codes making it pretty much impossible to permanantly functionalize.
John, any objection to my using this code in a project? Looks quite helpful.
Regards,
– Matt
Go for it. That’s what it’s there for!