If you're talking about a URL of the form:

example.com/form?title=foo&author=bar

...which then loads a form with "foo" placed in the "title" field and "bar"
placed in the "author" field, then yes - this is something that's
relatively easy to do depending on how you're building the form. Your
programming language of choice should be able to parse the querystring for
fields and their associated values. The same language can then define field
values based on those parsed values. It is then up to the user to make any
necessary adjustments, and hit the submit button on the form.

Or is your question more about a system that would take a URL of the form:

example.com/form?handle=1721.1/90974
or
example.com/form?issn=1234-5678

and then look up that identifier and fill the form with details such as
author, etc? In that case, then yes - it would depend on the qualify of the
APIs to which you have access. I've never worked with any, but provided
they exist (and that you have access), then what you describe is definitely
possible.

Do either of these describe what you're thinking of? Or did I completely
miss the mark?

Thanks,
Matt Bernhardt
MIT Libraries

On Fri, Apr 22, 2016 at 7:58 PM, Teague Allen <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> Hello collective,
>
> I've been given the opportunity to replace a much-detested PDF form used
> to request cataloging for items by our researchers that are published
> outside our organization. My hope is to create a web form that will
> automatically populate with title, author(s), and appropriate citation
> information if a URL/URI is entered. I imagine this can by done with a
> citation manager API, but would love to hear from someone who's already
> gotten beyond imagination.
>
> Any insight is very much appreciated,
>
> Teague Allen
> Librarian III (Metadata)
> RAND  Knowledge Services
>