Programming app for pocketbook advice

[phaeri]

Help, I have pocketbook lux 4, I know java but I'm willing to learn C for this.
I really really really want to have a function which allows me to randomly open a book in my library. For those moments when I can't decide what to read among my 200 ebooks.

First, Is this doable? As in, what are the limits of the apps.
Second, where can I find actual documentation. What I find is like 10 years old, so not sure I can use on lux 4.

Seeing how active this forum is, thought I might ask here. I did find some recent github projects but not sure if i can program something that has access to the library.

[EastEriq]

Speaking off the head without looking into, but I have the impression that for that a shell script in the applications/ directory should be easier to put together than a compiled executable linked with whatever sdk. Like in, count all the *.epub files in candidate directories, pick the $RANDOM-th pathname, and call the reader app with that as argument. Of course there might be fancier or obscurer ways, like querying the native book database.

[jrw174]

Shell script is easiest way to go

Some psedo code(not tested just how I would approach it)

#!/bin/sh
#Get connection to DB and select the count of book IDs
declare -a numOfBooks=$(sqlite3 /system/explorer-3/exlplorer-3.db "SELECT ID FROM BOOKS_IMPL")

#Use random to get an ID
size=${#numOfBooks[@]}
randomBookID=$(($RANDOM % $size))

#Somehow, invoke reader program to open the ID

[phaeri]

that is a great starting point! thank you! I will experiment a bit!

[dmalinovsky]

Originally Posted by phaeri

I really really really want to have a function which allows me to randomly open a book in my library. For those moments when I can't decide what to read among my 200 ebooks.

I have similar problem choosing a random book to read but I went the other way using book tracking websites like GoodReads or StoryGraph. They both allow to sort items in the random order.

It sound like an overkill but this way you can also populate your to-read list.

[jrw174]

See my GitHub link for a sample shell script I made that interacts with the databases for a better idea than the pseudo code I wrote above.

https://github.com/jjrrw174/PocketBo...ith-PB-Library

[imustafin]

If you really want to learn some C or C++ you still can!

Not much has changed and the "10 years old" documentation is pretty relevant today. I found the code examples from https://github.com/pmartin/pocketbook-demo/tree/master very helpful. For the SDK usage, I followed https://github.com/Skeeve/SDK_6.3.0.

I guess it should be possible to connect to PB's sqlite databases similarly to the scripts from this thread.

Also, there are some projects allowing you to write programs in other languages:

• Go https://github.com/dennwc/inkview. Looks very promising. Check the issues for active forks. I never tried it personally.
• Python https://sourceforge.net/p/pocketbook...ree/pyinkview/. Indeed "like 10 years old" and might require an older SDK. I never tried it personally.
• Eiffel https://github.com/imustafin/wrap_inkview. Made by me, I can help if needed