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lastgasp · 08-05-2009, 04:09 AM

Thanks! ABC Amber Text Merger is just what I needed. I did tests for hours and came back with some results.

The two output formats to use for the DR1000 are CHM or HTML. I was able to merge many ebook files into one ebook. The native Irex software will not open the CHM. It will open the HTML but links won't work for me.

FBreader will open both CHM and HTML that are exported. Both formats have working links. The HTML must be in a zip file so that the irex software is bypassed in favor of FBreader. For the first time I was glad that the irex software can't access zip files! When loading the HTML FBreader shows working links in a list format at the top of the page. I tested this using a folder (with subfolders) on my hardrive which contained 96 individual stories in HTML format. These were written by Robert E. Howard and are freely available from the gutenberg.org australia website. Looking at the resulting HTML on the DR1000 using FBreader's pagebar it says that the HTML file is over 2000 "pages" long.

For the CHM with FBreader I use the TOC icon to access a collapsible "topics" list containing all 96 stories. ABC Amber Text Merger creates CHM's which by default groups 5 stories into CHM "topics" each one labeled "part1" "part2" etc. So right now the TOC shows 20 "topics" . Each topic can be expanded to show the five stories within. I like CHM better than the HTML in a case like this because when I start reading a story the page number at the bottom relates only to that particular story. So for "tower of the elephant" the pagebar at the bottom of FBreader say 28 pages not 2000+.

I did a lot more tests using other input formats besides html's. RTF , TXT and DOC for example. some files worked some didn't.

I know that all this has been slightly off-topic from Reading HTML / Browsing in offline mode. But not so much since I used HTML for most of my test. Also attention could be focused on ABC Amber ScrapBook Converter. ScrapBook is a Firefox extension describe on it's homepage like this:

"ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and manage the collection. Key features are lightness, speed, accuracy and multi-language support. Major features are:
Save Web page
Save snippet of Web page
Save Web site (In-depth Capture)
Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks
Highlighter, Eraser and various page editing features
Full text search and quick filtering search
Text edit feature resembling Opera's Notes"

I formerly used Firefox and ScrapBook. That was long ago before I switched to the Opera browser. ScrapBook's "Highlighter, Eraser and various page editing features" were great back when I used them. If "ScrapBook Converter" can correctly convert Scrapbook data into CHM that are as good as those exported by "Text Merger" than Hallalujah. I want to save HTML's for later and those editing features are perfect for trimming out the junk.

It's easy to be skeptical though because I tested some other stuff by ABC Amber and got bad/weird results. For example using ABC Amber Text Converter to batch create CHM's resulted in CHM ebooks in which every page was a "topic" and going to the next pages can only be done using the FBreader TOC icon. I then tried ABC Amber Text Merger on the same file and it worked fine.

Finally I would like to inform anyone with an EZreader that I tested the HTML's exported by Text Merger on that device and it worked wonderfully.

08-05-2009, 04:09 AM	#6
lastgasp Member Posts: 20 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: iRex DR1000 Hanvon N516 Bebook NEO	Thanks! ABC Amber Text Merger is just what I needed. I did tests for hours and came back with some results. The two output formats to use for the DR1000 are CHM or HTML. I was able to merge many ebook files into one ebook. The native Irex software will not open the CHM. It will open the HTML but links won't work for me. FBreader will open both CHM and HTML that are exported. Both formats have working links. The HTML must be in a zip file so that the irex software is bypassed in favor of FBreader. For the first time I was glad that the irex software can't access zip files! When loading the HTML FBreader shows working links in a list format at the top of the page. I tested this using a folder (with subfolders) on my hardrive which contained 96 individual stories in HTML format. These were written by Robert E. Howard and are freely available from the gutenberg.org australia website. Looking at the resulting HTML on the DR1000 using FBreader's pagebar it says that the HTML file is over 2000 "pages" long. For the CHM with FBreader I use the TOC icon to access a collapsible "topics" list containing all 96 stories. ABC Amber Text Merger creates CHM's which by default groups 5 stories into CHM "topics" each one labeled "part1" "part2" etc. So right now the TOC shows 20 "topics" . Each topic can be expanded to show the five stories within. I like CHM better than the HTML in a case like this because when I start reading a story the page number at the bottom relates only to that particular story. So for "tower of the elephant" the pagebar at the bottom of FBreader say 28 pages not 2000+. I did a lot more tests using other input formats besides html's. RTF , TXT and DOC for example. some files worked some didn't. I know that all this has been slightly off-topic from Reading HTML / Browsing in offline mode. But not so much since I used HTML for most of my test. Also attention could be focused on ABC Amber ScrapBook Converter. ScrapBook is a Firefox extension describe on it's homepage like this: "ScrapBook is a Firefox extension, which helps you to save Web pages and manage the collection. Key features are lightness, speed, accuracy and multi-language support. Major features are: Save Web page Save snippet of Web page Save Web site (In-depth Capture) Organize the collection in the same way as Bookmarks Highlighter, Eraser and various page editing features Full text search and quick filtering search Text edit feature resembling Opera's Notes" I formerly used Firefox and ScrapBook. That was long ago before I switched to the Opera browser. ScrapBook's "Highlighter, Eraser and various page editing features" were great back when I used them. If "ScrapBook Converter" can correctly convert Scrapbook data into CHM that are as good as those exported by "Text Merger" than Hallalujah. I want to save HTML's for later and those editing features are perfect for trimming out the junk. It's easy to be skeptical though because I tested some other stuff by ABC Amber and got bad/weird results. For example using ABC Amber Text Converter to batch create CHM's resulted in CHM ebooks in which every page was a "topic" and going to the next pages can only be done using the FBreader TOC icon. I then tried ABC Amber Text Merger on the same file and it worked fine. Finally I would like to inform anyone with an EZreader that I tested the HTML's exported by Text Merger on that device and it worked wonderfully.