BookCreator Tool v3.5

[the_reader]

Hi, to =X=.

Thanks for the macro. It works great in Word 2003, WinXP. I have created epub files that I can read with Adobe Digital Editions and Caliber. However, I want to create e-books for sale but they are not validated, specially for this tool:

http://threepress.org/tools/

The errors are:

1.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_000.html(25): attribute "link" not allowed at this point; ignored
2.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_000.html(25): attribute "vlink" not allowed at this point; ignored
3.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_000.html(29): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
4.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(25): attribute "link" not allowed at this point; ignored
5.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(25): attribute "vlink" not allowed at this point; ignored
6.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(26): element "span" from namespace "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" not allowed in this context
7.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(26): attribute "clear" not allowed at this point; ignored
8.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(35): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
9.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(38): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
10.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_001.html(41): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
11.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(25): attribute "link" not allowed at this point; ignored
12.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(25): attribute "vlink" not allowed at this point; ignored
13.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(26): element "span" from namespace "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" not allowed in this context
14.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(26): attribute "clear" not allowed at this point; ignored
15.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(41): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
16.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(44): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
17.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(47): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
18.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(50): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
19.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_002.html(53): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
20.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(25): attribute "link" not allowed at this point; ignored
21.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(25): attribute "vlink" not allowed at this point; ignored
22.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(26): element "span" from namespace "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" not allowed in this context
23.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(26): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
24.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(26): attribute "clear" not allowed at this point; ignored
25.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(28): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
26.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(30): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
27.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(32): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
28.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(34): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
29.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(40): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
30.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(42): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
31.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(42): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
32.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(44): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
33.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(46): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
34.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(48): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
35.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(50): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
36.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(52): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
37.ERROR: test2.epub/test2_PURIFIED_split_003.html(54): attribute "lang" not allowed at this point; ignored
38.ERROR: test2.epub/titlepage.xhtml(14): bad value for attribute "preserveAspectRatio"
39.Check finished with warnings or errors!

What am I doing wrong? How can create I epubs that can be validated for these tools?

Thanks in advance:

The_reader

[Hitch]

@the_reader:

I suggest you try Flight Crew, to help you learn how to validate ePUBs so that they pass ePUBcheck, and learn to use Sigil, so you can work in Codeview and clean up the xhtml. You can find both over in the Sigil forum. BookCreator is a handy tool for cleaning up Word files to export to html, but I wouldn't, myself, use it to actually MAKE an ePUB, not for sale. JMHO.

Hitch

[=X=]

Hi @the_reader

I've tested that site and boy is it strict! I think of all the ePUBs I threw it's way only one generated no errors. All the others had some type of error, but all passed the test

I've even tried a very simple epub from Sigl and it too produced errors.

I've generated some HTML files by hand and even they failed their check.

I've even checked FeedBook ePUBs against this tool and they too failed.


In your example the error warnings are based on basic HTML syntax. If those attributes are being depreciated in the W3C spec then a waring should be generated not an error.


I guess in the end I'm not real confident with the web site you mentioned as a measure for a valid ePUB. Considering that all of the three tools I've mentioned above are used to generate ePUBs and not one reader has reported issues with their ePUBs, I'm inclined to believe the validating tool is the tool at fault.


=X=

[Hitch]

=X=:

All my ePUBs pass ePUBcheck 1.05 and Flight Crew. ThreePress.org IS the website for online validation tools. That is the measure for valid ePUBs. It works fine, and, more importantly, if ePUBs don't pass that standard, they can't be uploaded on most major platforms, including Nook, iBooks, etc.

Hitch

[the_reader]

Hello.

Thanks for your answers, specially to Hitch. I downloaded both Flight Crew and Sigil, and I could solve most of the validation errors.
I was looking for an ePub editor, and Sigil was the one.

For ePub creators I recommend to use BookCreator, because it is very simple to use. It creates the file and its structure from Word and you don't have to know about Epub code to create the chapters. To polish the ePub you need Sigil, because Epub validators are very strict, and any unlinked html code you have in your file will block it to be published. I agree with Hitch in that.

However, Flight Crew approved my file with some errors.

The validator that really gave me certainty that my file was correct was "ePUB Validator". Available here:

http://www.ebook-tool.com/epub-validator.htm

Thanks to this last test my ebook was approved to be published in the Ibookstore.

Again, thanks to =X=. Your macro is very helpful and easy to use.

I hope this information helps to new authors.

[JuryDuty]

Thank you, thank you! This is an EXCELLENT tool. Even my cover and TOC work great!

The only question I have is that after creating a mobi file, it seems to create a second TOC at the end of my book. And when I use the Kindle menu to navigate to the TOC, it goes to the second TOC rather than the one I created at the front of my book.

Any ideas?

EDIT: The epub version does the same thing...

[=X=]

Originally Posted by JuryDuty

Thank you, thank you! This is an EXCELLENT tool. Even my cover and TOC work great!

The only question I have is that after creating a mobi file, it seems to create a second TOC at the end of my book. And when I use the Kindle menu to navigate to the TOC, it goes to the second TOC rather than the one I created at the front of my book.

Any ideas?

EDIT: The epub version does the same thing...

Hi JuryDuty,
Sorry for the delayed response, I seemed to miss this post.

Anyhow getting to your question. You probably have two TOC because your using the "Insert TOC" button on BookCreator. This is going to create an HTML linked TOC that is embedded in the eBook.

Bookcreator also sends calibre commands to dynamically build TOC.


The reason for this extra Feature is that there are some book formats and eBook readers that do not support dynamic TOC --as in TOC that are not embedded in the eBook. Some people believe it is good practice to generate eBooks using both TOC.

The reason you see two TOC is that you created one, and the other one is created by calibre and tacked on to the end of the book.

As long as you use the BC chapter and sub chapter methods you do not have to create the TOC manually it will be created when you create your eBook.

My preference is to still embed the TOC, for the reason given above, and because I like to see the TOC in the front of the eBook.

=X=

[JuryDuty]

Thx for the answer =X=. How do the publishers then get only one TOC in the front of the book? I'd prefer to have just the one at the front, but maybe this isn't possible with these methods. Just curious.

[=X=]

Well the answer is Yes and No. You can't do it directly form BC, but calbire builds it's on toc.html file then appends it to the end of a book. If you wanted to only have one TOC you could build an ePUB based on the directions I have in post #352, two post back.
Then you could either manually modify the ePUB to reorganize the toc.html placement or use a tool like Sigil to edit the epub. Then convert the ePUB to a MOBI. (Note the toc.html, might not be the actual file name but is something similar)


I too at first only wanted TOC at the beginning of books, but the more I've made and seen with two TOC the more I tend to like two TOC. The TOC at the end of the book is an easy way to navigate and since it is not hit too often it's hidden for most of the viewers.

=X=

[Gazzatron]

Hello,

I have recently installed BC and found it to be quite a useful tool to convert Word documents to epub format, I have been wondering about something though.

When I run the conversion, the epub file automatically generates a generic Calibre cover for the document. I do not always want a cover for my documents, but I do not see an option in BC to select this. I have changed the default settings in Calibre Epub Output to No default cover, but this only seems to work when converting a document within Calibre, not through BC.

Is there any way to prevent covers being automatically inserted into the start of a converted document?

Regards
Gazzatron

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by Gazzatron

Is there any way to prevent covers being automatically inserted into the start of a converted document?

Regards
Gazzatron

This is easy to fix. The following option must be added to the command line sent to calibre from BC:

--no-default-epub-cover

Perhaps there's a place you can insert this "hard-coded" into BC so that ALL your .epubs created by BC will have this as the default behavior. But where? =X= to the rescue....

[=X=]

Yes there is a tab in the create ebook tab where you can place command line options such as this.

In future realeases I will add a check box to disable the auto cover

[Gazzatron]

Thanks a lot for the help, and I don't mean to waste your time, but where exactly would I put this command?

I had opened the bookcreator.dot file and played around a bit with the various modules (ie eBookCreateEPUB) and forms in VB, but I didn't see anywhere where a command using that naming structure would fit.

Perhaps i'm missing something obvious but the only field in Create eBook that seemed relevant was the additional parameters entry on the Misc tab, but no variation of --no-default-epub-cover I tried to enter had any effect.

Regards

[=X=]

Originally Posted by Gazzatron

T
Perhaps i'm missing something obvious but the only field in Create eBook that seemed relevant was the additional parameters entry on the Misc tab, but no variation of --no-default-epub-cover I tried to enter had any effect.

Regards

That's odd you are doing everything correct. I've looked at calibres page and that is a valid command. Now that I recall one of my 3.0 versions had a bug in the "additional params" I thought I updated the fix... maybe I didn't

Okay here is what you can do. On the same "misc" tab there is a checkbox that says "Enable Debug Information".
1) Check the "Enable Debug Information" check box.
2) Add the command " --no-default-epub-cover" in the "Additional Param" text box.
3) Depress the <Create> button.
4) In the directory where your document is located, there will be a "Debug.txt" file.
5) Open the "Debug.txt" file and highlight the command. (it's a very very long command) and copy it.
6) Open a command line terminal and paste the command.
7) Hit enter.

Either you had success or failure. if there is an error message post it here so I can take a look at it.



All of calibre's command lines are here:

eBook Convert

eBook Convert to ePUB


Also note If you "Open" a dot file you commit the changes to the template and it applies to ALL documents from that point on. If you open a "New" file it only applies to that document.

=X=

[Gazzatron]

Hi =X=

I managed to get it working with the following change:

In frmCalibreAllFormat of BookCreator_NOIMP.dot there is a section entered as

Private Sub txtAddParam_Change()
setAdditionalParam = txtAddParam.Text
End Sub

Removing the "=" sign in the above formula resulted in the " --no-default-epub-cover" command working when entered in the Additional Parameters text box.

Thanks for all the help.

Gaz