Store Code etc for technical books

[skorasaurus]

I've started using calibre since my library has grown (my books are in a series of different folders but I haven't figured out a good answer of where to store my code as the zip and HTML files are being identified as books when I import my existing files into the calibre library.

I'm thinking perhaps I should move all of the code to a separate folders outside of the folder where I current store my books as I import them into Calibre. Any other strategies or configurable options that you've found?

[theducks]

'Code' as in Source code?

Calibre will store single (occurrence) files with non-book type extensions.
foo.bas, bar.pas

but I suspect you want to sore all the 'exercises'.

[BetterRed]

Moderator Notice
@skorasaurus - I moved your post to its own thread. The thread you added to was ancient (2011), things have moved on since then. Although there's still no 'official' solution to the problem you pose

You could bundle the code etc into an archive format that calibre won't interpret as an ebook format (such as .7Z) and add that to the book, just drag and drop onto the book details panel. Calibre will register its existence in its database, hence it will survive edits to title and author names and inter library moves etc. The downside is that you have to unpack the archive to see the contents.

You could keep the files in a separate folder and link the folder into the book.

• On Windows you could create a shortcut (.LNK file) to the folder and drag drop it into the Book details. The advantage of this method is that the Windows Distributed Link Tracking (DLT) service will attempt repair .LNK files if the target is relocated, on later versions of Windows it's normally successful.
• The above might also work on OSX using ALIAS files, I don't know if OSX has an equivalent to the Windows DLT service.
• A more general way would be to insert a file URI link into a custom long text column, but if you move or rename the folder the link will break. The long text (comments) editor has a tool to facilitate easy creation of file URIs.

Or you could do what I do, create a 'note' for the book in an Evernote notebook and add the code and other extras to it. An EN note can be a container for any number of files of practically any type and each note has a unique URI, which I copy and paste into a calibre long text custom column.

I prefer this method because I can organise the extra files as I want them, without the limitations of a file manager. I can also scribble my own notes in the EN note, add links to sites such as stackoverflow, and I can access the notes online via a tablet and/or a phone.

BR

[bdillahu]

Some good ideas there...

I wish Calibre allowed you to store a directory/folder as an attached "file" - or even just two of the same file type.

Then it would handle being a personal document management tool quite nicely.

[skorasaurus]

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll keep the code in zip or 7z files and then just select within calibre's options to not detect books that are in .zip or 7z

(yes, source code and exercises, many of them are technical books)

[Zealousky]

Originally Posted by skorasaurus

Thanks for the tips, I think I'll keep the code in zip or 7z files and then just select within calibre's options to not detect books that are in .zip or 7z

(yes, source code and exercises, many of them are technical books)

Calibre doesn't detect .7z (7Zip files) natively, so when I have multiple pdfs as part of a single title (typically RPG book "files") I just use 7Zip to archive the support documents like maps or handouts. It's my easiest solution to multiple files of the same file types associated with a single file.

Simon