BookLens: The AR Book Information App
Installing & Running BookLens
Method 1: For running the application alone
- Download the BookLens Android Package APK located in the root directory of BookLens
- Install it on your Android device. You might need to enable the installation of unknown apps.
- You can create a new account and the app will redirect you to login
Method 2: For running the application and testing
Please Note: This method requires having a local.properties file to access the API keys as well as a google-services.json file to connect to the Firestore.
- Install Android Studio Android Studio Hedgehog | 2023.1.1 Patch 2
- Clone the BookLens Repository
- Enable debug mode on your Android device and allow USB debugging
- Connect Android device with USB
- Run MainActivity
When running the app, all the dependencies will automatically be installed.
Using BookLens
To use BookLens users might have an Android device that is version 9 or higher with a camera and internet access.
Login and Registration
Users must create an account with an email address and password to use the app. Upon signing in they will be able to see the camera view on the scanning activity.
AR Overlay
To capture a book cover, hold it centered so it fills the frame. Make sure the background is clear of writing and that there is appropriate lighting. BookLens works best with large fonts and regular typefaces. If scanning takes more than 15 seconds try resetting the activity by clicking off onto History or Favourites and back onto Scan a Book.
Ratings
Each button on the overlay connects to a detailed activity. The ratings activity will take you to a page with the book’s rating, gathered from Google Books and Open Library. Clicking the See Reviews button will take you to an activity where you can view the New York Times description and link to the review of the book if it is available.
Price Comparison
The price comparison page shows the MSRP and Google Books prices if they are available and specifies which one has the lowest price. A link on the Google Books field will take you to the store page to purchase the book.
Recommendations
The recommendations activity shows a list of recommended books by genre. Clicking on one of the recommended books will take you to a page with the book’s rating and description.
Related Media
The related media page will show any adaptations of the book. Below will be the sites it is available to be purchased or streamed on, these can be clicked on to link to the store or streaming page.
Fan Communities
The fan communities activity will show Reddit, Fandom, and Archive of Our Own links. Clicking Read More will take you to the webpage (note that this content is unmoderated.)
History
The history button in the bottom menu will take you to an activity with a history of all the books you’ve previously scanned. By clicking the heart next to a book it will be added to your favourites list.
Favorites
The favourites list can be accessed through the button on the bottom menu and will show the books you’ve favourited. They can be unliked from the favourites list or history.
Log out
The users can click on the exit sign on the right hand side of the top bar next to the BookLens logo. This will open a dialog prompt asking the users whether they would like to log out. Once the users click yes, the app will sign them out and redirect them back to the login page.
Running Tests
- Instrumented tests are located under the folder: /BookLens/app/src/androidTest/java/com/example.
- Unit tests are located under the folder:/BookLens/app/src/test/java/com/example.
To run tests, click into those directories mentioned above, select a test class and right click, selecting Run ‘Testname’.