Add book number in a series to metadata?

EtrnLwanderer · 03-09-2012, 12:06 AM

I was wondering if there is some way we can edit the info in the opf of an epub to show the chronological order of a book in a given series, by the author. For eg: If you have 5 books of George RR Martin from the Fire and Ice series. The first book being Game of Thrones and the fifth one being Dance with Dragons, I know I can add the Fire and Ice series tag to all 5 books, but is there some way to add in data which shows that Game of Thrones as the 1st book in the series and Dance with Dragons, as the 5th in the series?

Toxaris · 03-09-2012, 02:22 AM

Yes, you can in the metadata.

That was the short answer. Now the more useful one. The default metadata fields don't have a specific field for series. Therefore you need to create a non-default one. The problem arise that when you use a non-default one, how will your reading application know what this field is and what it does?
If it is just for storage, use the metadata tags from Calibre. In that way you have at least the information in Calibre. At least on my reader that information (series name, not number) is also available, but I don't know how Calibre does that. I believe it add the collection name/series in the keywords metadata field.

Jellby · 03-09-2012, 11:07 AM

Calibre does it like this:

Code:

<meta content="A Song of Ice and Fire" name="calibre:series"/>
<meta content="1" name="calibre:series_index"/>

These, as Toxaris says, are generic metadata entries, that don't necessarily mean anything to other software than calibre, but it's something at least.

EtrnLwanderer · 03-10-2012, 02:25 AM

Thank you, Toxaris & Jellby

DaleDe · 03-10-2012, 12:17 PM

Dublin Core defines a relation entry in its standard. This defines a related resource, i.e. another book or group related to this one. I would think this would be a perfect place to name the series and perhaps identify which entry this book was in.

DaleDe · 03-10-2012, 01:23 PM

Interestingly enough ePub 3 standard shows a sample entry for a collection:

<metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/">
<dc:title id="t1">The Fellowship of the Ring</dc:title>
<meta refines="#t1" property="title-type">main</meta>

<dc:title id="t2">The Lord of the Rings</dc:title>
<meta refines="#t2" property="title-type">collection</meta>
<meta refines="#t2" property="group-position">1</meta>

<dc:title id="t3">THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring</dc:title>
<meta refines="#t3" property="title-type">extended</meta>
…
</metadata>

theducks · 03-10-2012, 01:48 PM

Nice:

It looks like it cover a lot of title differences I currently see.

03-09-2012, 12:06 AM	#1
EtrnLwanderer Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Galaxy Note	Add book number in a series to metadata? I was wondering if there is some way we can edit the info in the opf of an epub to show the chronological order of a book in a given series, by the author. For eg: If you have 5 books of George RR Martin from the Fire and Ice series. The first book being Game of Thrones and the fifth one being Dance with Dragons, I know I can add the Fire and Ice series tag to all 5 books, but is there some way to add in data which shows that Game of Thrones as the 1st book in the series and Dance with Dragons, as the 5th in the series?

03-09-2012, 02:22 AM	#2
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 2,171 Karma: 1000593 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-300, PRS-T1	Yes, you can in the metadata. That was the short answer. Now the more useful one. The default metadata fields don't have a specific field for series. Therefore you need to create a non-default one. The problem arise that when you use a non-default one, how will your reading application know what this field is and what it does? If it is just for storage, use the metadata tags from Calibre. In that way you have at least the information in Calibre. At least on my reader that information (series name, not number) is also available, but I don't know how Calibre does that. I believe it add the collection name/series in the keywords metadata field. __________________ Creator and maintainer of the e-Book Tools Word add-in. Also see thread here on Mobileread. Creator and maintainer of the Clean HTML macro for MS Word.

03-09-2012, 11:07 AM	#3
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 5,195 Karma: 2508097 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon	Calibre does it like this: Code: <meta content="A Song of Ice and Fire" name="calibre:series"/> <meta content="1" name="calibre:series_index"/> These, as Toxaris says, are generic metadata entries, that don't necessarily mean anything to other software than calibre, but it's something at least.

03-10-2012, 12:17 PM	#5
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,795 Karma: 3644259 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2	Dublin Core defines a relation entry in its standard. This defines a related resource, i.e. another book or group related to this one. I would think this would be a perfect place to name the series and perhaps identify which entry this book was in. __________________ Dale DePriest http://pages.suddenlink.net/dalede or http://daledepriest.wikispaces.com currently using an EZ Reader or a Literati or my iPad.

03-10-2012, 01:23 PM	#6
DaleDe Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,795 Karma: 3644259 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Grass Valley, CA Device: EB 1150, EZ Reader, Literati, iPad 2	Interestingly enough ePub 3 standard shows a sample entry for a collection: <metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"> <dc:title id="t1">The Fellowship of the Ring</dc:title> <meta refines="#t1" property="title-type">main</meta> <dc:title id="t2">The Lord of the Rings</dc:title> <meta refines="#t2" property="title-type">collection</meta> <meta refines="#t2" property="group-position">1</meta> <dc:title id="t3">THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring</dc:title> <meta refines="#t3" property="title-type">extended</meta> … </metadata> __________________ Dale DePriest http://pages.suddenlink.net/dalede or http://daledepriest.wikispaces.com currently using an EZ Reader or a Literati or my iPad.

03-10-2012, 02:25 AM	#4
EtrnLwanderer Member Posts: 16 Karma: 10 Join Date: Feb 2012 Device: Galaxy Note	Thank you, Toxaris & Jellby

03-10-2012, 01:48 PM	#7
theducks Staff to 4 Cats Posts: 10,955 Karma: 2574555 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The (original) Silicon Valley, USA Device: Galaxy Tab 2,Black Astak PEz, K4NT(now Wifes)	Nice: It looks like it cover a lot of title differences I currently see. __________________ Using: Ubuntu(32 bit):Oneric,Precise and XPpro SP3, W7HP(64)- - Libre Office w/Writer2EPUB

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