A homebrewed program for viewing image archives (cbz, cbr,...)

[rkomar]

Whoops! I should note that on old devices, the default image viewer is called jpegviewer.app. So, for those devices, the lines in extensions.cfg should look like:

jpg:@JPEG_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_JPG
jpeg:@JPEG_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_JPG
png:@PNG_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_PNG
bmp:@BMP_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_BMP
tif:@TIFF_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_TIFF
tiff:@TIFF_image:2:pbimageviewer.app,jpegviewer.app:ICON_TIFF

I think the picviewer.app application arrived in the firmware version 4 and later devices.

[Telev]

Thanks rkomar

[starr974]

Thanks rkomar

i will test it tonight.

[f_coco]

hi, rkomar.
Use this app reading japan manga on my PB840 for 2 weeks.
It really works great.
Hope you can add a reading direction option to the settings manu.
So that i don't need to pressing left button to change the direction each time i open a new zip file.
I think this reading direction option can work like this:
if you choose reading left->right, when you open an zip file, the reader will load the left part of the first page by default.
if you choose reading right->left, when you open an zip file, the reader will load the right part of the first page by default.
Thanks in advance!

[rkomar]

Opening books takes place in the Library application, before pbimageviewer.app is called, so it is beyond my control. What I can do is add the preferred reading direction to the Configuration menu in pbimageviewer, so that it starts up in the correct mode.

[rkomar]

Okay, I uploaded the new version (v1.2.1) with the reading direction Configuration item to the first message in this thread. All newly opened archives will have the reading direction set to the Configuration value (default is left-to-right). The reading direction is also now saved in the settings file, so it will be the same when an archive is reopened.

[f_coco]

thanks for the update. it works great.

[Darkjuda]

Hey!

That is cool! I was tired of converting my .cbz in .epub!

But unfortunately it doesn't work for me.
First of all, I didn't find the extensions.cfg in the system/config folder.
Maybe because of the new firmware or because I have a recent model (PocketBook 630 (Sense)).

I also put the app in the applications folder and open the app in my reader. It asks me to find a folder and crashes when I touch the "ok" button.

Maybe I didn't edit the default.cfg (renamed in 630.cfg) correctly?

I don't know.

[rkomar]

Try copying the 840.cfg file to 630.cfg; the two devices look to be similar in capabilities. I guess I'll have to update the config files for the new devices.

The extensions.cfg file doesn't exist by default on newer devices. You'll have to create the file in the /system/config directory. However, if you're using a user profile, then you need to put the externsions.cfg file into the /system/<profile name>/config directory instead. You'll know that you got the extensions.cfg file right if the cbz/cbr/... files start showing up in the Library app.

I don't have an OK button in my directory chooser widget. My devices are firmware version 4, or earlier. Is yours using firmware version 5? If so, did you install the pbimageviewer.app-fwv5 version of the application?

[Darkjuda]

Well, first of all, thanks for answering.

The 840.cgf has the exact same settings than the 630.cfg I create. So, no problem here.
I didn't remember which app version I took, so I took the fwv5 one and put it instead of the other one.
I also created the extensions.cfg file.

And now, It... works verry well! I see the cbr and cbz, and I can open the app itself.
The problem probably came from the version I took in the first place.

Still, I have one question, how do I remove the settings bar in the top of the screen?
It's already de-activated in my global settings, and doesn't appear when I read my .epubs books or mangas, but it still appears when I read a .cdz our .cbr which reduce the picture size....
Does this have to do with my 630.cfg?

[rkomar]

You can enable/disable the status bar via the "Toggle status bar" item in the second menu (touch the upper right of the screen, or select the "More..." item in the main menu). You can also select whether you want to start new books with or without the status bar in the "Configuration" menu.

I don't use the global setting; maybe I should look into using it to select the default configuration setting the first time the program is run.

[Darkjuda]

Okay, here's my feedback.

That did the trick. It's nice to have that lot of options to read my mangas!

Nevertheless I think it lacks some options.... like stretching. I know, a lot of people would found it outrageous to disform the picture, but I would be nice to have a option that maybe detect the comic/manga cases borders so the whole screen is really used by the pictures.
I manage to do it when converting my cbz into epub by choosing the "Illiad" profile in the freeware"Calibre". [The "Ipad" profile has the good resolution but some of the picture doesn't appear correctly on my PB.]

Also, it doesn't have anything to do with pbimageviewer, but when I send a cbz/cbr book to my PB using Calibre, it took me 20 minutes for a 50megas file!!!
And when I transfer it without Calibre, directly copy-paste it in the foler, it takes about 1min.

I wonder what's the problem.... it doesn't take that long to tranfer and 50megas epub file using calibre, just about 1-2 minutes.

Well, I guess I won't use calibre to transfer the cbz/cbr, as they still don't record the sorting informations (series, author,...), don't have their covers either, and I can only find them when sorting by folder or extentions. So, copy past them directly is faster, as it gave me the same results.

Finally, when I open the app itself.
If I have already opened a cbz/cbr this session (without restarting the PB), it will directly open the page I left at.

If it didn't, it shows me the directory chooser and still have the button "OK, choose that folder".
If I don't touch that button and touch the directory I put my cbz/cbr, It doesn't open the file but try to create a new one. I'll link a screenshot if you wish.

But etheirway, the "automatic way" works so I don't think I'll use it by opening the app itself.

[rkomar]

Thanks for the feedback. I'm guessing that you only want stretching when fitting the whole image into the display. I'll think about it, but it looks difficult to implement the way the current code works. Accommodating all the various fit modes is hard enough as it is, and adding different scale factors for the X and Y directions would make it doubly so. If there's a simple way to accomplish it, I'll do it, but I'm not promising anything at this point.

The CBR/CBZ/CB7/TAR archives don't have any metadata stored in them (e.g. TITLE, GENRE,...). Even if that information was stored in some special file inside the archive, I don't think the PocketBook devices would be able to automatically fetch it and add it to their database. So, organizing the archives into folders and choosing by file name is pretty much the only option.

If you launch an application from the Applications tab and then change to another thread (Main window, Library app,...), the application is still running in the background. If you try to relaunch it again from the Applications tab, it will just show you the currently running version. That's why it looked like it was opening to the last page you were looking at. If you quit the application (tap at top-left, or select Exit from main menu), then you'll get the directory chooser the next time you launch from Applications.

The directory chooser is only for choosing directories with image files in them; it doesn't choose files inside of them. PocketBook designed their interface so that file choosing is only done within the Library app. They don't offer a file chooser widget in the SDK. So, if you want to choose a particular archive file, you have to do it through the Library app.

I'm not sure why Calibre is so slow. I don't use it for transferring files, so I can't really comment on it. Maybe someone else can say something about it.

[Darkjuda]

Originally Posted by rkomar

Thanks for the feedback. I'm guessing that you only want stretching when fitting the whole image into the display. I'll think about it, but it looks difficult to implement the way the current code works. Accommodating all the various fit modes is hard enough as it is, and adding different scale factors for the X and Y directions would make it doubly so. If there's a simple way to accomplish it, I'll do it, but I'm not promising anything at this point.

I understand that.
All I can do is give ideas. I was thinking... maybe a ratio modifier. Let's say length and width have their dimensions displayed in poucentages instead of a distance value. So, the standard length would be 100% and the standard width 100%. If we can zoom the file, meaning we increase both length and width by the same value (eg: 10%), maybe we can separate the both value and only increment the width.
We could see in the option two lines, one length and one width both at a default 100% but could be modified separately between... let's say 50% and 150%.
That way we can choose a default value but we'll be still able to modify them depending the file.

Well, I don't really know myself if I'm talking to say nothing or if my answer clarifies things, but... that's all that passed my mind.

Originally Posted by rkomar

The CBR/CBZ/CB7/TAR archives don't have any metadata stored in them (e.g. TITLE, GENRE,...). Even if that information was stored in some special file inside the archive, I don't think the PocketBook devices would be able to automatically fetch it and add it to their database. So, organizing the archives into folders and choosing by file name is pretty much the only option.

That explains everything.

Originally Posted by rkomar

The directory chooser is only for choosing directories with image files in them; it doesn't choose files inside of them. PocketBook designed their interface so that file choosing is only done within the Library app. They don't offer a file chooser widget in the SDK. So, if you want to choose a particular archive file, you have to do it through the Library app.

Then what's the point of the directory chooser widget here?

Originally Posted by rkomar

I'm not sure why Calibre is so slow. I don't use it for transferring files, so I can't really comment on it. Maybe someone else can say something about it.

The what do you use?

[rkomar]

When the pbimageviewer application was first written by Michail Polubisok, it was only for reading image files found in directories. The directory chooser was used to select which directory to read the images from. Afterwards, I added support for archive files (CBZ,...). Since the archives are files rather than directories, you can't use the directory chooser to select them. Rather, you have to modify extensions.cfg and go through the Library tab to choose archives. Because of the way that PocketBook devices work, you need the two different ways of handling directories and files.

This isn't 100% true. You can use pbimageviewer as the default viewer for images by adding entries for them to the extensions.cfg file, and thus could do without the copy in /applications, but it doesn't hurt to have the option of opening directories available.


I copy files over WiFi using scp after installing the sshd service on the readers. It saves me effort on plugging/unplugging the USB cable repeatedly while testing. I understand, though, that scp isn't convenient for most people. It's possible to set up Filezilla to access the reader via sftp instead, which provides a nice GUI for those who prefer it.