[Android App] Calibre Companion content server integration

[chaley]

Originally Posted by Perkin

No, Tablet was awake throughout, and no screen rotation (I kept it in portrait mode and didn't move the tablet to cause activity resetting). Sorry.

Well, I sort-of expected that. No reason why this should be easy.

I have changed CC and calibre to do deletes as one transaction instead of many, adding the progress dialog in the process. This removes that update you noticed. I haven't found a conclusive reason to believe that the update is the culprit, but it is useless work so removing it is good. As a side benefit, performance is much better. These changes should be available in Friday's calibre release (they aren't yet in "trunk"). I have also added several "defensive" changes to CC to check for things that should never happen. These also might fix it.

At this point I want to wait until Friday to see if the problem goes away.

Thank you (!) for reporting the problem and helping me (try to) find it. Given that I cannot reproduce it, information like yours provides the only pointers I have toward whatever we might have done to create this problem.

[Perkin]

You're quite welcome, glad to help perfect an (two) excellent program(s).

[micster]

Originally Posted by chaley

...We understand that a general OPDS browser would be a good thing, but there are issues.

Could you expand on what issues exist when creating a general OPDS browser? I have seen several requests for this feature in either a plugin or built into the native functionality of Calibre, but no explanation on what is holding it up.

Thanks,
Mic

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by micster

Could you expand on what issues exist when creating a general OPDS browser?

This thread is about the Android app Calibre Companion (CC). The OPDS broswer being talked about is the possibility of adding a browser to this android app.

Originally Posted by micster

I have seen several requests for this feature in either a plugin or built into the native functionality of Calibre, but no explanation on what is holding it up.

You can see my confusion when you start talking about the main calibre program in an android app thread. I agree that being able to browse a OPDS feed and add books directly to calibre would be good thing.

That said, I can see arguments against adding a general OPDS browser to CC, but I would love to hear the challenges involved in possibly adding this item to CC.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

That said, I can see arguments against adding a general OPDS browser to CC, but I would love to hear the challenges involved in possibly adding this item to CC.

One plus point that would interest me is that it would mean that CC should also be able to work with Calibre2Opds generated catalogs. There is already a iOS application for Apple devices that can do this (called e-Book Search) but it would be nice to have one for Android as well.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by micster

Could you expand on what issues exist when creating a general OPDS browser? I have seen several requests for this feature in either a plugin or built into the native functionality of Calibre, but no explanation on what is holding it up.

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

That said, I can see arguments against adding a general OPDS browser to CC, but I would love to hear the challenges involved in possibly adding this item to CC.

First, and agreeing with DoctorOhh, adding a general OPDS client to CC is not the same thing as adding one to calibre. A calibre-based client should be its own discussion.

As for extending CC's browser, the issues are mostly related to metadata and user experience. If we limit ourselves to calibre's content server, then we can guarantee that we have the metadata to do book matching (on-device), format matching (extensions), and to display book metadata details. Non-calibre OPDS servers don't supply the UUID to do matching and don't supply the path information to do format replacement. Finally, the metadata supplied is not consistent and is not in any way complete, complicating the wireless connection side of CC's house. We decided that we would rather focus on excellent calibre integration at the expense of generality.

Of course we could build a general client, but for the reasons given above it would not offer the same functionality. This would be confusing for our users. As there are other ways to accomplish the same thing, for example FBReader's OPDS client, that integrate well enough with CC's book-scan-on-connect, we aren't in a hurry to open this door.

[Perkin]

@chaley, just updated and tried the same operation - deleting 300+ books from calibre.
Worked perfectly, no freezing/FC, much quicker as well.

Thanks.

*Now back to main topic *

[chaley]

Originally Posted by itimpi

One plus point that would interest me is that it would mean that CC should also be able to work with Calibre2Opds generated catalogs. There is already a iOS application for Apple devices that can do this (called e-Book Search) but it would be nice to have one for Android as well.

What do you mean by this? Is there a web server involved, or is the client operating on a folder tree? If there is a web server, then don't the various Android OPDS clients work?

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by chaley

We decided that we would rather focus on excellent calibre integration at the expense of generality.

When you came up with the content server integration without the general OPDS it was obvious to me that it was a quality of experience move, focusing on calibre integration.

Originally Posted by chaley

As there are other ways to accomplish the same thing, for example FBReader's OPDS client, that integrate well enough with CC's book-scan-on-connect, we aren't in a hurry to open this door.

I concur in your emphasis on a quality, consistent, calibre integration focus for this app. Thanks for providing a broader explanation on this topic.

[itimpi]

Originally Posted by chaley

What do you mean by this? Is there a web server involved, or is the client operating on a folder tree? If there is a web server, then don't the various Android OPDS clients work?

I did not think that there were free-standing OPDS clients (although I guess I could be wrong about that)? I know various reader apps have that capability built in, but a free-standing one is likely to have a richer user interface I would have thought? Also, if CC supported this, then it can do the job on behalf of reader apps that do not support OPDS directly.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by itimpi

I did not think that there were free-standing OPDS clients (although I guess I could be wrong about that)? I know various reader apps have that capability built in, but a free-standing one is likely to have a richer user interface I would have thought? Also, if CC supported this, then it can do the job on behalf of reader apps that do not support OPDS directly.

I have only used the OPDS client contained in reader apps. In particular I have used the one in FBReader, which has a quite reasonable UI.

There is one possible existing standalone OPDS client that I know of: a paid app called Calibre Library. Its blurb claims that it works with "stanza sources", and it is definitely not a reading app. I haven't bought and tried it, so I cannot say whether or not it works or whether its UI is good. I doubt that it integrates with calibre to the same extent that CC does, but it might be a fine general browser.

[ellett]

I can get everything I need between the wireless and content server modes. Please continue on the "quality" path; that was definitely the correct decision.

[ncguy68]

I often use the content server connection to load new books from Calibre. I often add books in batches of a dozen or more. As it works now I have to select each book one by one and download it to my tablet. Is there any future plans to add the ability to select a 'batch' of books and have them all downloaded at once?

Thanks for a wonderful app that continues to improve with every update.

[PeterT]

@ncguy68: I wonder whether the ReadingList plugin could help here? Not sure whether it works with the Calibre App but... if it did all you would have to do is add books to a predefined list in calibre; the list of course would be set to auto sync with the device when it is attached.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by ncguy68

I often use the content server connection to load new books from Calibre. I often add books in batches of a dozen or more. As it works now I have to select each book one by one and download it to my tablet. Is there any future plans to add the ability to select a 'batch' of books and have them all downloaded at once?

Thanks for a wonderful app that continues to improve with every update.

Bulk downloading is on the list, but it isn't at the top. Before that is cleaning up preferences, separation of the content server IP address from the wireless device IP address (CS will be able to use URLs and 3G), and style control.

PeterT's suggestion is a very good one. Personally I think it is better than bulk download. When you add the books to calibre or decide you want books on your device, add them to a reading list. Set that reading list to auto-sync. The next time you connect your device to calibre (as a wireless device), reading list will automatically send the books. You don't even need to touch your computer's keyboard; simply connect, the transfer happens automatically, then disconnect. Because it supports separate lists per device, it even works in a multi-device household.