Catalog: export cover as blob

[fxp33]

Hi,

I used Calibre to have my paper book collection.

I would like to have the list offline on my phone.

For now, I just export the catalog and import it in a simple database application. No problem.

The database app can display images, but they are stored as blob directly in the db. Not as a path...

Is there a way to export the catalog including the blob images?
(Or actualy, is there a simpler way to have my offline list on my phone?)

Thank you for your replies.

François

[kovidgoyal]

What blob images? Covers in calibre as stored as files named cover.jpg in the book folders.

[fxp33]

Hi Kovid,

The database App I use on my phone (but surely there are better ones, hope someone will point it out) import / export images fields as BLOB. The "code" of the image is in the dump file.

I was just asking if someone knew of to have the path transformed into the BLOB to import the covers into the DB...

Personaly, I find the way Calibre works perfect, so it is more a matter of a third party conversion than a Calibre "per se" problem

Thanks for any hint of idea

François

[kovidgoyal]

Ah, sorry, I was confused

[fxp33]

No pb

You are always the first to answer

Therefore the one to tidy our improbable questions and their twisted formulations

[theducks]

Years ago BLOB was Binary Large Object.
Any non (ASCI) text could be stored.
You could put/store a JPEG into a BLOB field. The APP was responsible for calling the viewer.

If I remember, Calibre 1 started saving books in a BLOB field and scrapped it (Calibre2) because performance was in the

[BetterRed]

@fxp33 - we probably need more information

1. If you wrote the phone app then why can't you import the image into the BLOB ?
2. In which format do you save the catalogue?
3. What type of phone you use - it's not in your profile?
4. If its a third party app then could you tell us its name?
5. Have you asked it's developer how you might import the images?

BR

[fxp33]

Hi BetterRed,

Thank you for thinking that I could write an app for my phone it is very kind

Unfortunately, I just use it.

So if I add a picture in the app, and then I do an export, I see that the csv file has the image inside the file:

"Id";"title";"image"
"1";"wuthering heights";"356dfq4687df q54sd56df4gs5d4fg
6sd5f4gs65df4g6sd5fgsd654g6s5dfg6sdsfqsd56qvs15sd687fgs5f4fsq68g7sdf4gs6d8fg4s68ds64df8gs4d6f8g4sd6g8ds4ghs6d8gnsd6fn7sd65s4df8hgndf6g4hdn6f8ghd6f5gh7f6n6jd,7f86jruy8d6f8yhfg+h*7dfgjd6yj4d6,n8jy164d68j4d6g84jd6t8...";
"2";"Hamlet";"sdfqmjsdlkjsd475q4s5qs5dfq5sdfqf6fdsd6f45ghdf4d+68h4df64hd+fg98h4687h9h+sfg//+98fgh7+*/hs7d+h98d789fg+9df87h+f*..."

And in the sqlite database, the column type is BLOB (for an image field).

So my question was is there a way to insert the image inside the calibre exported csv file, so that it can be imported as BLOB into the DB...

François

[fxp33]

Oh, I forgot:

The app name is

Porto DB on Android.

It works fine because you just import the calibre csv and it creates the table.

Thanks again

[davidfor]

Have you considered using Calibre Companion? It will integrate with calibre to get the books and their metadata. I don't know if there is a "catalog only" option for those who want the list when out and about.

Otherwise, I would suggest asking the developers of Porto DB how to load the images via the CSV. They probably have some requirements on the format of the image in the BLOB. And they might have suggestions for tools to create it.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Have you considered using Calibre Companion? It will integrate with calibre to get the books and their metadata. I don't know if there is a "catalog only" option for those who want the list when out and about.

@fxp33 - here is the forum for Calibre Companion

In the NEW USERS [. . .] READ THIS sticky you will find a link to the Free Demo download - it is fully functional for a limited number of books. There's lots of other useful stuff there too.

BR

[eschwartz]

There is no Catalog-only option for Calibre Companion, but chaley has helped people who wanted one, the advice he gave was to create an empty txt file for each book and then send that.

Empty TXT files take up hardly any room but allow Calibre Companion to have something to "track".
There is also now an Add books option to add a blank TXT file (or other choice of format) for selected books.

[chaley]

To confirm: we have many users who use CC as a catalog using the technique that eschwartz described.

One use case is that someone buys both electronic and physical books, reads the ebooks on some dedicated reader (no CC), and wants to have an easily-searchable catalog on a phone (or something) that is consulted before buying a book. One user said that she kept re-buying the same books and wanted to put a stop to that.

Another use case is someone who reads on a dedicated reader that doesn't have adequate metadata search/organization mechanisms but is otherwise a satisfactory device. The person would use CC to find the desired book then open that book in the reader.

[fxp33]

Hi to all,

Reading with big interest your replies.

My paper library is 2166 books for now, and Porto DB seems to handle that very easily, without ads, perfectly offline... well, the only glitch is the covers.

As most of you advocate for calibre Companion, I will give of course give it a try.

And following DavidFor advice, I will contact porto DB developper to try and insert the pics in the csv file.

Of course, I will keep you up to date of my efforts

Regards

François

[fxp33]

Hi again,

The csv exported from PortoDB contains a blob in 64Base. Just need to decode it and write it in a jpg file to get the image.

Under windows (yes I am ashamed) in DOS (very, very ashamed) it is done with:

certutil -decode encodedInputFileName decodedOutputFileName

So, considering my level in coding, there no way ever that I can take the calibre catalog.csv and replace each cover path with the encoded image as 64base


Well at least that was fun digging.

François