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Old 07-07-2011, 03:33 PM   #1
robcohen
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Kindle on Xoom (HC 3.1) does not find books inside subfolders of /mnt/sdcard/kindle

Hi,
I though this was working properly a few weeks ago - using Calibre Library on the Xoom to select/download books while running Calibre's content server on my PC.

Now I'm seeing that books are downloading onto the Xoom in the /mnt/sdcard/kindle directory correctly but placing them into a sub-folder with the author's name. The Kindle reader on the Xoom does not find books in sub-folders so now I'm back to square one and using the cable to transfer them manually.

Have tried adjusting Preferences/Sending Books to Devices/Save Template, even going as far as completely blanking out the entry there but it still results in the same sub-folder structure. Isn't there a way to specify the template to copy the books over in a flat directory format? Removing the / seems to do nothing - same with any combination of {title] or {authors}.

Ideas?

Thanks, in advance!

Rob
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Old 07-07-2011, 03:47 PM   #2
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I'm a little confused. Downloading via the content server does not use templates, indeed the content server has no control over where files downloaded from it are placed. The templates are meant to control where files are placed when you send over a USB connection.
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Old 07-08-2011, 03:11 AM   #3
robcohen
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Kovid,
Thanks for the response. I see your point but I'm kind of caught in the middle here. Have not minded the hierarchical directory structure Calibre uses since I would presumably never have any need to traverse it. Unfortunately I suspect that's not the case if I want to use Calibre Library on my tablet to copy ebooks over to my tablet. However it looks like CL simply copies over everything as it finds it.

If I change Calibre's preferences so it will store everything in my Calibre Library folder on the PC without author sub-directories will it still function correctly? I spent a good bit of time clearing up duplicates because at some point the sub-directories were by author with the last name first and more recent additions had first name first. I see the save template in Saving Books to Disk is currently set to
{author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors}
Could I still get unique file names with author and title if I adjusted this somewhat and what's the best way of converting my existing library to a new format? My guess is copying the library to another location, deleting all books from Calibre, making the template change, finally then adding everything in the temp location again - but would I lose metadata? And do you have any suggestions for constructing a new template that wouldn't run up any name length restrictions but would more or less guarantee unique file names?

If I could do the above I guess it would eliminate the issue with the Android app but I sure don't want to create a mess now my library is all neat and clean. I just love Calibre now I'm getting used to its ways and hope there's a way I can be happy on the PC and my tablet both.

Thanks!
Rob

PS. I do realize I can just go back to searching in Windows Explorer for *.mobi in the \users\login name\Calibre Library and then copying everything over to my tablet with a USB cable but that method isn't the most friendly or easiest.
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Old 07-08-2011, 06:58 AM   #4
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I think there is an element of confusion here still?

You cannot change the internal structure of Calibre's library. That is under Calibe's control and cannot eb changed. The template you mentioned is not for the internal structure, but for exporting files.

When you export a file from the Calibre library via Send to Device (normally USB) or Save to Disk then you can supply a template that controls the folder/filename structure you want to use for the exported file. For the Send to Device option, you can different templates for different devices as the template is set at the device driver level.

If you are downloading from the Content server ovr a network then Calibre simply provides the file. The client end decides where to place it.

Last edited by itimpi; 07-08-2011 at 07:00 AM.
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Old 07-08-2011, 07:18 AM   #5
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Hmmm

Quote:
Originally Posted by robcohen View Post
Hi,
I though this was working properly a few weeks ago - using Calibre Library on the Xoom to select/download books while running Calibre's content server on my PC.

Now I'm seeing that books are downloading onto the Xoom in the /mnt/sdcard/kindle directory correctly but placing them into a sub-folder with the author's name. The Kindle reader on the Xoom does not find books in sub-folders so now I'm back to square one and using the cable to transfer them manually.

Have tried adjusting Preferences/Sending Books to Devices/Save Template, even going as far as completely blanking out the entry there but it still results in the same sub-folder structure. Isn't there a way to specify the template to copy the books over in a flat directory format? Removing the / seems to do nothing - same with any combination of {title] or {authors}.

Ideas?

Thanks, in advance!

Rob
Sorry for barging in here, but ...
It was my understanding that the clients, Xoom etc. would use a web browser to access to Calibre content server on your PC ?
( I don't use that, yet, so no real experience here)
According to your post you use a Calibre instance running on your Xoom as well ?
That could be the problem, OR I also don't quite understand you problem.
Cheers
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Old 07-09-2011, 01:57 AM   #6
robcohen
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There's an Android app that lets you browse your Calibre library if you have Calibre on your PC run the content server. It's probably confusing because the app is called Calibre Library for some reason. That's what I'm doing.

Calibre has its own file structure for storing ebook data on the PC - it's set to use the meta-data to name these (located in \user\login name \Calibre Library. There is (at least one) folder for each author in your library with sub-folders within for ebooks and covers. I spent an afternoon one day cleaning this all up because there were folders with authors' first name first and others with last name first and various variations of some authors names along with duplicated content. You control the structure (if you wish to change the default) by going to Calibre's preferences panel then Import/Export and finally Saving books to disk and working with a save template. The current default is:
{author_sort}/{title}/{title} - {authors} with the / meaning sub-directory and the names within the curly brackets are variables whose contents are used to populate the template and create the folders and files within.

The Calibre Library Android app lets you specify where it should store content/ebooks you retrieve through it. Android's Kindle app, which I prefer for reading, wants books stored in the /mnt/sdcard/kindle folder - and does not seem to read sub-folders. The Calibre Library Android app is mirroring the author-name/title/ebook.mobi structure when it copies the books to the device. The author of the Calibre Library Android app is however working on a change to just copy to a flat file system (/mnt/sdcard/kindle/ebook.mobi, for example. It may take a little time because he's coping with some other issues in his personal life but I'm so pleased he would step up and offer to code up a fix for this issue that might be a preference a user would choose in his app. It's not strictly his issue but he understands it and isn't afraid to dig in and work on a solution to a real-world practical problem. The alternative is for me to go back to searching out and copying *.mobi files over to the Xoom with a USB cable, Fred-Flintstone-style, if you get the reference.

Hope this explains the issue and that the other software author doesn't mind me talking about our sidebar conversation.

Rob
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Old 07-09-2011, 05:06 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by robcohen View Post
There's an Android app that lets you browse your Calibre library if you have Calibre on your PC run the content server. It's probably confusing because the app is called Calibre Library for some reason. That's what I'm doing.
Good Info.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robcohen View Post
Calibre has its own file structure for storing ebook data on the PC - it's set to use the meta-data to name these (located in \user\login name \Calibre Library. There is (at least one) folder for each author in your library with sub-folders within for ebooks and covers. I spent an afternoon one day cleaning this all up because there were folders with authors' first name first and others with last name first and various variations of some authors names along with duplicated content.
Just to clarify the only way to clean up the internal calibre library structure (and ensure the database is not corrupted) is to adjust the metadata for the books. For orphaned directories/files running Check Library under Library maintenance will clean allow you to clean these up.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robcohen View Post
You control the structure (if you wish to change the default) by going to Calibre's preferences panel then Import/Export and finally Saving books to disk and working with a save template.
The save template under Saving books to disk control how books are exported out of calibre. The template does not control the internal structure of calibre's library. Unless I missed something big calibre's internal file structure is not user configurable.

Quote:
Originally Posted by robcohen View Post
The Calibre Library Android app lets you specify where it should store content/ebooks you retrieve through it. Android's Kindle app, which I prefer for reading, wants books stored in the /mnt/sdcard/kindle folder - and does not seem to read sub-folders. The Calibre Library Android app is mirroring the author-name/title/ebook.mobi structure when it copies the books to the device. The author of the Calibre Library Android app is however working on a change to just copy to a flat file system (/mnt/sdcard/kindle/ebook.mobi, for example. It may take a little time because he's coping with some other issues in his personal life but I'm so pleased he would step up and offer to code up a fix for this issue that might be a preference a user would choose in his app. It's not strictly his issue but he understands it and isn't afraid to dig in and work on a solution to a real-world practical problem. The alternative is for me to go back to searching out and copying *.mobi files over to the Xoom with a USB cable, Fred-Flintstone-style, if you get the reference.

Hope this explains the issue and that the other software author doesn't mind me talking about our sidebar conversation.
More good to know information. I don't have a Android but you might be able to control the structure of books on your Android via the save template in the calibre's Android device driver plugin.
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