OPF Relation Element

[BetterRed]

see ==>> http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0...#Section2.2.13 and or
http://dublincore.org/documents/2012...terms-relation

!. Are there any plans to make the element <relation> available in Calibre ?

2. If the answer to 1 is Yes, then when and what for ?

3. If the answer to 2 is No, then could it be implemented as the means via which links to "supplementary material" are provided, as that seems to be its intended purpose.
Then I could have a links to

• a web page containing explanatory notes and discussion,
• the Wikipedia entry for the book,
• a local file where I've written a critical essay about the 'book'
• to another book in a Calibre Library (eg Brave New World to The Tempest)
• etc etc

BR

[kovidgoyal]

1. No

3. calibre does not use OPF as a metadata store, so no.

[BetterRed]

Can a plug-in add additional tables to the metadata.db schema.

[kovidgoyal]

You (or a plugin) are free to add as many tables as you like, they're called custom columns in calibre

[Agama]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

see ==>> http://idpf.org/epub/20/spec/OPF_2.0...#Section2.2.13 and or
http://dublincore.org/documents/2012...terms-relation

... could it be implemented as the means via which links to "supplementary material" are provided, as that seems to be its intended purpose.
Then I could have a links to

• a web page containing explanatory notes and discussion,
• the Wikipedia entry for the book,
• a local file where I've written a critical essay about the 'book'
• to another book in a Calibre Library (eg Brave New World to The Tempest)
• etc etc

This looks really interesting and certainly provides food for thought, (in terms of a plugin).

Since "calibre does not use OPF as a metadata store", does this mean that I can safely add dc: elements to the OPF without them being lost by calibre?

Do all book formats provide an OPF or is this ePub specific?

[kovidgoyal]

OPF is EPUB specific. And OPF fields that calibre does not know about are discarded on conversion, ut left alone on metadata update in epubs.

[BetterRed]

Dublin Core isn't EPUB specific, its not even Ebook specific, its also used in E-Commerce systems.
I have a feeling the ECB uses it in Target2 - which deals with €'s by the 100's of billions; by the 1,000's trillions, if Draghi gets his way

AFAI Can See the OPF specs call for DC compliance - one can play around with the DC stuff here - http://www.dublincoregenerator.com

=====================

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

You (or a plugin) are free to add as many tables as you like, they're called custom columns in calibre

Cool, if I make it a long text I can put a http link in it, and click it in book details, and go to the page.
Haven't tested it with FTP or WAIS yet but it may work if I set things up correctly.

However if I put in a folder path in as a link as in file://E:/MediaStore/Dates/2009/10%20October/

then the link does not open the folder path as I hoped it might.
What it opens is the Book Details as a separate window - which is a bit bizarre

So could Calibre be enhanced to recognize 'file://' URI's and act on them appropriately, viz

• if its a folder then open the folder in Windows Explorer, Finder whatever,
• if its a file then open the file according to whats been defined as the handler for the file type - eg an xls file would be normally be opened with Excel.

Also how can I get a link to another book in Calibre
I would envisage double clicking such a link would open its Book Details in a separate window
Why would I want to do that - how else would you suggest Huxley's Brave New World be 'related' to Shakespeare's The Tempest.

BR

[kovidgoyal]

Your file URL needs to be file:///E:/whatever/

There's no way to link to another calibre book, but you can link to the folder of the book, just like you would any other folder.

[BetterRed]

I thought I tried the triple-slash first, but the name I was using had a space and I think the GetLink gadget in FileTools or the Makelink gadget in Calibre misplaced the %20 - I need to test that again - 2 mora.

With tripleslash & no spaces it works perfectly, folders and files - that means I can turn Calibre into a Yet Another WiNdows explorer (YAWN)

In the All-In-One Metadata layout I could not see how to display the HTML for a Long Text Custom Column, in the Default Layout there's a tab at the bottom of the control - like the one for the Comments control. Also the Column Name for Long Text Column is not displayed in Book Details.

Kovid : Re Links to a Book in a Calibre Library, sure I can get to the Book Folder via a file: URI, but how do I get to the Book Details panel from there? I don't want to lose context of the book I'm "on".

BR

[kovidgoyal]

As I said before, you cannot.

[BetterRed]

Thanks Kovid : First, regarding a Book Link

if (I can read id column in books table in metadata database within a plug-in) then {

if (metadata.books.id is unique && persistent) then {

if (I can use a metadata.books.id to open a Book Details Window) then {

if (I store a metadata.books.id in a type Integer Custom Column) then {

I more or less have what I want

}

}

}

}

Don't I :?:

====================

Addendum re Triple Slash

The gadget I'm using to provide the URI string only puts two slashes after "file:" It's Lopesoft's Filetools which is a free Swiss Army Knife Shell Extension for Windows.

I've written to Lopesoft to ask if they could provide a triple slash option, it shouldn't be hard, they have a number of tweaks available in the Copy Internet Link dialogue.

I must have had a dose of Fat Finger Syndrome (FFS) yesterday when I edited the HTML to put in the third slash.

Request : In the Insert Link dialogue in a Long Text Column it asks for the URL, could an additional item be added to the dialogue where one can enter the Name - finding & editing something like the following in an unstructured stream of HTML is very prone to FFS like errors.

<a href="file:///e:/MediaStore/Dates/2009/10%20October/">file:///e:/MediaStore/Dates/2009/10%20October/</a>

Not forgetting of course that if one is using the All-In-One Metadata Editor layout, one can't even get at the HTML because there's no Tabs for Normal View and HTML Source :lol:

BR

[kovidgoyal]

You can do anything you want if you write the code to accomplish it. I meant that you cannot do it now.

[BetterRed]

RE no Tabs for Normal View and HTML Source - scratch that

I did not notice that the All-In-One layout puts the Custom Controls in a Scrollable Panel, so you have to scroll the entire panel to see the 2 tabs - that's OK now that I know - but maybe the 2 tabs should be at the top of the Long Text control, rather than at the bottom.

I actually noticed the Scrollable Panel in the Compact Layout, today was the first time I selected it.

So leaving aside the Book Link issue - I have 2 change requests

1 - Show the External Name of Long Text Columns on the Book Details Panel

2 - Provide a field on the Insert Link dialogue for the Display Label ie



And the resultant HTML would be

<a href="URL">Label</a>

BR

[kovidgoyal]

1) Not going to happen, simply insert your own title at the top of the field.

2) Should be doable, though I am rather swamped at the moment. So open a bug report requesting it and I'll get around to it when I have a moment.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

1) Not going to happen, simply insert your own title at the top of the field.

1 - thought you might say that

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

2) Should be doable, though I am rather swamped at the moment. So open a bug report requesting it and I'll get around to it when I have a moment.

2 - Done, I'm BetterRed there too

I'm hoping Agama will chime in on the Book Link matter

BR