Sigil 0.5.3 keeps rebuilding my content.opf file from scratch

[mtrahan]

Old routine, new problem? I've been doing the same thing in the content.opf files I've been working on for a year now and recently Sigil started rebuilding them from scratch, saying they were broken. Only things I add is:

<dc:identifier opf:scheme="ISBN">ISBN#</dc:identifier>
<dc:date opf:event="original-publication">2008-10-14</dc:date>
<dc:date opf:event="epub-publication">2012-04-30</dc:date>

Unless I'm mistaken, I've been doing exactly this for a year, adding these 3 informations, and I've never had any problem. What am I doing wrong here? Or what is wrong with Sigil?

Thank you in advance,

Michael

PS. Feel free to move my post to the ePub forum if it happens to be an ePub problem and not a Sigil problem.

Edit: And when content.opf file is rebuilt, all the files in the spine lose their order. Why is that?

[DiapDealer]

Are you sure you're not overwriting something with those additions? I'm only asking because I can add those three items to existing epubs and save them with no broken/rebuilt OPFs.

My guess is you might be overwriting the existing dc:indentifier entry—which is also being referenced as the unique-identifier in the "package" tag. That will result in a broken/rebuilt OPF. You'll want to add the ISBN identifier to the dc-metadata... not overwrite the existing one.

Edit: And when content.opf file is rebuilt, all the files in the spine lose their order. Why is that?

In short... the spine order is lost BECAUSE the opf had to be rebuilt. It also loses the metadata that was previously defined. I realize that's not a very satisfying answer, but it's why I always make sure I have a good backup copy of the epub before I make any manual changes to the OPF... because one simple "Save" when your OPF file happens to be in a funky state, and you suddenly have a lot of stuff to fix.

One more reason to use Sigil's GUI metadata editor to initially add new metadata. You can always alter the details manually later if need be.

[mtrahan]

Overwriting? You mean that if there is already a <dc:identifier id="bookid">urn:uuid:KEY</dc:identifier> in my content.opf file, I can't add the ISBN aswell in the way I've been doing it? Dang, how come I don't know that and FlightCrew never told me?

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

One more reason to use Sigil's GUI metadata editor to initially add new metadata. You can always alter the details manually later if need be.

Whoa! I'm not very proud to say that I never noticed that there was a 'More' box in the metadata editor that gave access to something else than title/author/language... Is that something new? I can't believe I never saw that. Thank you for that. In my specific case, for example, is there a way to add those two separate dates — original-publication and epub-publication — with the GUI editor? Doesn't seem so. Closest match is "Date of publication".

Well... Thanks a lot. This was quite helpful. Good thing I posted this question, it was about time I learn about this GUI medata editor! Karma for you!

[Toxaris]

Actually the more option is there for quite some time. At least in 0.3 I believe.
The metadata you can add there are the official metadata according to the specs. You cannot add metadata there which is not according to the spec. So, if you want to add the metadata for series Calibre style, you cannot do that (as an example). You need to paste that directly in the opf.

[mtrahan]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

Actually the more option is there for quite some time. At least in 0.3 I believe.
The metadata you can add there are the official metadata according to the specs. You cannot add metadata there which is not according to the spec. So, if you want to add the metadata for series Calibre style, you cannot do that (as an example). You need to paste that directly in the opf.

Okay, so what do you all do in case of a book with paper and ePub versions published at different times? Do you put both dates somewhere in the metadata or you just keep one?

Is my first solution acceptable? This one:

<dc:date opf:event="original-publication">2008-10-14</dc:date>
<dc:date opf:event="epub-publication">2012-04-30</dc:date>

That is if I stop overwriting the dc:identifier entry...

Thanks again,

Michael

[mmat1]

Originally Posted by mtrahan

And when content.opf file is rebuilt, all the files in the spine lose their order.

There's a simple workaround. Immediately after rebuilding, the files in the file-browser window are still in the old (correct) order. Now change the position of just one file by dragging it to a new place and then drag it back. The spine will be updated with the old order.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by mtrahan

Okay, so what do you all do in case of a book with paper and ePub versions published at different times? Do you put both dates somewhere in the metadata or you just keep one?

Is my first solution acceptable? This one:

<dc:date opf:event="original-publication">2008-10-14</dc:date>
<dc:date opf:event="epub-publication">2012-04-30</dc:date>

That is if I stop overwriting the dc:identifier entry...

Those two entries shouldn't cause any problems if added to the OPF manually. Or you could use the pre-fabbed "Date of creation, Date of modification, Date of publication" basic items to initially create the metadata entries... then manually alter them to your desired "original-publication" and "epub-publication" titles later.

[mtrahan]

You guys rock—thanks again!