MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - [GUI Plugin] Manage Sony x50 Reader Book List

kpw · 04-11-2011, 07:57 PM

Hi ThR,

A quick follow-up on my previous post...

I've been giving the situation some thought, and I'm thinking that the current logic I'm using which relies on the computer for the baseline date/timestamp and timezone offset in order to set the book record date/timestamps is probably always going to have the potential to be problematic.

I assume with the 950 you can download books directly onto the device without using a computer. In that case, I also assume that the timestamp for such book files would be based on the device date and time. If you subsequently use Calibre to invoke my plugin, if the device and computer times differ by five or ten (or whatever) minutes, then the updates my plugin makes may be unreliable. And the situation probably gets even worse if you're travelling and cross timezones, or, as in your case, where the device timezone is different from your computer timezone (I've done some Googling and it seems the 950 only allows setting North American timezones).

So, I think a more reliable approach would be to remember the latest date/timestamp value of the books on the device and use that (and it's associated timezone offset) as my baseline for updates. That way I avoid the complications you've been running into and I think it should work. I'll do some experimenting with it and see how it looks.

I haven't completely worked out in my mind yet whether I need to be concerned about DST with the new approach or not - that's one of the things I want to experiment with (if I can).

However, I still would be interested in seeing the files I requested in the last post (only if you're OK with that, of course) to see if anything there might clarify how the Sony is dealing with timezones in the 950...

Thanks.

04-11-2011, 07:57 PM	#47
kpw Connoisseur Posts: 80 Karma: 12933 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Galaxy Note 8, Sony PRS-650, Sony PRS-600	Hi ThR, A quick follow-up on my previous post... I've been giving the situation some thought, and I'm thinking that the current logic I'm using which relies on the computer for the baseline date/timestamp and timezone offset in order to set the book record date/timestamps is probably always going to have the potential to be problematic. I assume with the 950 you can download books directly onto the device without using a computer. In that case, I also assume that the timestamp for such book files would be based on the device date and time. If you subsequently use Calibre to invoke my plugin, if the device and computer times differ by five or ten (or whatever) minutes, then the updates my plugin makes may be unreliable. And the situation probably gets even worse if you're travelling and cross timezones, or, as in your case, where the device timezone is different from your computer timezone (I've done some Googling and it seems the 950 only allows setting North American timezones). So, I think a more reliable approach would be to remember the latest date/timestamp value of the books on the device and use that (and it's associated timezone offset) as my baseline for updates. That way I avoid the complications you've been running into and I think it should work. I'll do some experimenting with it and see how it looks. I haven't completely worked out in my mind yet whether I need to be concerned about DST with the new approach or not - that's one of the things I want to experiment with (if I can). However, I still would be interested in seeing the files I requested in the last post (only if you're OK with that, of course) to see if anything there might clarify how the Sony is dealing with timezones in the 950... Thanks.