[Android App] Beta version: Android app to connect as a device to calibre using wifi

[JDriver]

Originally Posted by chaley

@JDriver: reading that debug log, it looks like your device might have gone to sleep and shut down the network connection. Hard to know for sure, but that would account for it.

I took on board the indications that the problems were wifi based. There have been other issues, unconnected with this app also. So two new wifi access points later it works like a dream. So many thanks
My books are all in epub or mobi format, and I note that Kindle for Android 'doesn't play nicely', does that mean it would be better to use a reader which will work with both formats, or will the KfA problem be solved in a leter release?

[Tattncat]

Will it work with Nook Tablet? My Tablethas not been rooted and my msd card is just a standard one.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

After connecting, nothing happens. This seems counter intuitive. Perhaps a message telling the user it is time to send some books from Calibre to the device

This is not a bad idea. It didn't occur to me that we would need something like that because of course when the user plugs in a device using a cable, the device doesn't say anything. However, in our case where the device has its own UI, perhaps it should.

If the phone goes to sleep I can't reestablish my connection to Calibre. The wireles connection from the server side is still on, but the client in the device can't find it. I'm forced to go to Calibre, disconnect and restart the connection.

Does calibre companion still think it is connected? If not, then we might have a timing problem where the phone has disconnected but the server doesn't know it yet. I am not sure what to do about that...

Now, this is perhaps a bit unfair, but this is what I thought I'd be able to do.
Since my library is in the cloud, I wan't to be able to access it at any time, no matter what device I'm on. I assumed Calibre Companion would do that for me and I would stil be able to find the books I want.
I'm using Box and I can off course get to my library through the Box client for Android, but since file names aren't always intuitive I'm not always able to find what I'm looking for.

If you were expecting an android implementation of calibre, then sorry, that won't happen. However, see below ...

Now, being able to initiate downloads from the Android app would be a godsend.

We plan to add a content server client, which might help here.

I am also looking at being able to talk back to calibre through the device interface. This creates no end of challenges, primarily because calibre is not designed to permit that. There are also several user interface issues that have no obvious resolution. I hope to eventually provide something, but I might fail. We will see.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by JDriver

I took on board the indications that the problems were wifi based. There have been other issues, unconnected with this app also. So two new wifi access points later it works like a dream. So many thanks

Good!

My books are all in epub or mobi format, and I note that Kindle for Android 'doesn't play nicely', does that mean it would be better to use a reader which will work with both formats, or will the KfA problem be solved in a leter release?

There isn't anything we can do about KfA, so no, it won't be solved. We might be able to launch KfA, but as far as I can tell we will never be able to get it to open a particular book.

If some other reader works for you then by all means use it. However, no other reader will work with Amazon's DRM. I don't know of a reader that works with Amazon's syncing. If either of these are important to you then you should stay with K4A.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Tattncat

Will it work with Nook Tablet? My Tablethas not been rooted and my msd card is just a standard one.

I have no idea.

Does the tablet run android 2.3 (gingerbread) or later? If not, then the answer is a clear "no, the app will not work." If the tablet does run gingerbread or later, then there is a chance, but the real answer will depend on what B&N did to android when they built the tablet.

In any event, to run our app you must be able to install apps from google play. Does the nook tablet have a google play client?

[Kumabjorn]

Originally Posted by chaley

This is not a bad idea. It didn't occur to me that we would need something like that because of course when the user plugs in a device using a cable, the device doesn't say anything. However, in our case where the device has its own UI, perhaps it should.

Initially I didn't see it as only a recipient controlled from within Calibre. Now I'm a little more clear about that. Perhaps you just need a succinct explanation in the Intro. It says it is syncing library and metadata and then it leaves an empty screen. If syncing is taking place, it becomes confusing if the screen remains the same.
While on the topic of syncing, some kind of progression report (bar) is soothing for the impatient user.

Originally Posted by chaley

Does calibre companion still think it is connected? If not, then we might have a timing problem where the phone has disconnected but the server doesn't know it yet. I am not sure what to do about that...

Calibre Companion loses the connection, but Calibre believes they are still connected. When I try to reconnect from CC nothing happens. I have to close the connection in Calibre, re-open it and then connect from CC again in order to establish a connection. I use a D-LINK DIR 655 router if that is relevant.

Originally Posted by chaley

If you were expecting an android implementation of calibre, then sorry, that won't happen. However, see below ...
We plan to add a content server client, which might help here.

I am also looking at being able to talk back to calibre through the device interface. This creates no end of challenges, primarily because calibre is not designed to permit that. There are also several user interface issues that have no obvious resolution. I hope to eventually provide something, but I might fail. We will see.

Not an Android implementation of Calibre, but something that would allow me to access my books in Calibre even when I'm not home. I can do that fine with a USB cable right now as it is (but the WiFi connection is waaay cooler), I would love to connect to Calibre through the Internet when I'm in a boring meeting and read some Dave Barry under the table, when HR people are droning on about the need for sexual harassment seminars.

[chaley]

CC version 1.6.1 is available. The hope is that we have fixed most, if not all, of the out-of-memory errors.

[Adoby]

I would like to have CC always on. So that all I have to do is start my device and make sure it doesn't go to sleep (charge it). Then I should be able to connect to my device from Calibre, perhaps using the Google account name and password?

[fotophan]

I'm running CC (v1.6.1) on my Galaxy S2, and it's mostly good so far, so thanks to the Haley clan.

One small nit to pick: the directory select screen in the app comes up with the list (apart from the parent directory) in black on dark grey - very hard to see.

One request for inclusion: When connected by cable, I 'send to device' using

/Books/{author_sort}/{author_sort} - {series} {series_index:0>2s} - {title}

and I would prefer CC to honour this, rather than stack everything in /Books. I don't need to sort into folders by format.

Thanks for the good work.

Colin

[ellett]

I saw CC automatically update earlier today and was excited.

Selected it and really liked the new message and spinning circle progress indicator while it builds the display.

Then I pressed connect. The spinning circle came up for about three seconds and went away and nothing had changed. Still said connect, same display. Pressed connect again and the circle came up just for a blink and then everything was back where it was.

Restarted phone, restarted calibre (0.8.65), verified that wireless device connection was active, tried again, same results. First connect the circle spun for about three seconds, second try the circle barely blinked.

Added IP address and port, tried, circle barely blinked. Removed IP address and port and tried again, circle spun for about three seconds, next try barely blinked.

At this point I'm 100% dead in the water as far as sync is concerned.

calibre is throwing no error data.

Help!

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ellett

At this point I'm 100% dead in the water as far as sync is concerned.

calibre is throwing no error data.

Help!

Well, ^%^&. This is certainly not what we see.

Time to start at the beginning. What is in calibre's debug log after a connect attempt?

[Adoby]

I updated to the latest beta to test, and had trouble getting communication to work. No auto discovery and no luck even after IP and port was filled in. But after I rebooted my Xoom everything worked fine. Auto discovery worked again! Tranfering 1200+ books as I write this... Looks good so far...

[Mr. Goodbar]

Latest beta seems less stable from a connection standpoint. previous version was rock solid with a 591 book library. I could bulk add and delete without a problem. The latest version seems to consistently disconnect after deleting one book.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Mr. Goodbar

Latest beta seems less stable from a connection standpoint. previous version was rock solid with a 591 book library. I could bulk add and delete without a problem. The latest version seems to consistently disconnect after deleting one book.

Does CC disconnect but otherwise continue to run?

Could you post a calibre debug log? That will tell me exactly where in the message sequence it disconnects. It won't tell me why, but knowing the where will help.

[Adoby]

I have successfully transfered around 8000 small epubs. (I copied and renamed and modified metadata.)

But: After an initial successful transfer, during the next connection CC and Calibre seems to hang. Calibre at: "Get list of books on device", CC at: "Updating booklist and metadata", but never finish. Only way to fix this seems to be to uninstall and install CC again. Have also tried with 4000 books. Same problem.

Also: CC does not create subdirs, even if specified using "Configure Device". I use subdirs for each "genre" like this: {#coll}/{title} - {authors}. Works fine when connecting to folder on memory card as device. I then use these subdirs to create collections in Mantano to facilitate browsing.