Using "Series/VolumeNo" in EPUB to ensure sort order on reader

craigmckay · 01-16-2010, 05:05 AM

Hello folks, wonder if anyone can help...

I'm converting books to epub format that belong to part of a series. When I open them up on the reader (Sony PRS-300) I want to see them listed in their correct volume order.

At the moment, I'm doing this by titling:

001 An Outline of Genesis
002 An Outline of Exodus

and I have to sort them in Calibre by clicking on the title column, then they will appear in this order on the reader.

Kovid's Series feature is quite nice, but it creates an extra catalog, and doesn't sort the titles by their volume number.

Does anyone know if EPUB has this Series/VolumeNo feature, and where the Sony PRS-300 will recognise and sort accordingly?

Kind regards,
Craig

itimpi · 01-16-2010, 05:24 AM

EPUB does not have the concept oif Series as part of the specification!. As a result the readers do not have the concept either.

I am not sure why you are not getting them in Series order on your reader using calibre though? If you send them all to the Device at the same time then Calibre should create the collection corresponding to the series in the series number order. Any sent later are simply added on the end. so maybe this is what you are experiencing?

DoctorOhh · 01-16-2010, 05:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigmckay

Hello folks, wonder if anyone can help...

I'm converting books to epub format that belong to part of a series. When I open them up on the reader (Sony PRS-300) I want to see them listed in their correct volume order.

At the moment, I'm doing this by titling:

001 An Outline of Genesis
002 An Outline of Exodus

and I have to sort them in Calibre by clicking on the title column, then they will appear in this order on the reader.

Kovid's Series feature is quite nice, but it creates an extra catalog, and doesn't sort the titles by their volume number.

Does anyone know if EPUB has this Series/VolumeNo feature, and where the Sony PRS-300 will recognise and sort accordingly?

Kind regards,
Craig

Use the Series feature of Calibre. Sort by series (now they're in series order) prior to sending them to your device, then highlight the entire series and send it enmass to your device. Now on your reader, inside that collection, they will be in series order.

craigmckay · 01-18-2010, 06:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dwanthny

Use the Series feature of Calibre. Sort by series (now they're in series order) prior to sending them to your device, then highlight the entire series and send it enmass to your device. Now on your reader, inside that collection, they will be in series order.

I have written a program to convert 300 books (5 series containing between 20 and 100 volumes). I am still honing the software, making tweaks etc, which means that if I were to use Calibre's wonderful feature (which does work by the way) I would have to manually specify the Series/Volume on loading.

Is there a way to access the Calibre database programmatically, and add books + Calibre metadata?

user_none · 01-18-2010, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigmckay

Is there a way to access the Calibre database programmatically, and add books + Calibre metadata?

You can use the calibredb command.

craigmckay · 01-18-2010, 07:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by user_none

You can use the calibredb command.

Thanks - figured it out:

calibredb.exe show_metadata 439 --as-opf

Exposes the OPF attributes:

<meta name="calibre:series" content="CAC"/>
<meta name="calibre:series_index" content="29"/>

Then, call:

calibredb.exe set_metadata 439 cac.opf

Thanks for your help.

Craig

Jellby · 01-18-2010, 08:06 AM

Note that the ePUB spec does not currently support series metadata. The above is an extension of Calibre and, while it is valid, it is not recognized by other ePUB-reading software or devices.

I created an issue in the ePUB working group page some weeks ago, hoping that they will do something about it in the future.

rogue_ronin · 01-18-2010, 04:48 PM

The ePub format recognizes that extra metadata may be included in a document. So while the standard doesn't currently store that information, there may be reasonable ways to do so.

There's some discussion here that talks about how to encode it in XHTML, for use in Sigil, and an attempt to future-proof the data by sticking to the Dublin Core standard.

It may be relevant to what you're trying to do.

m a r

01-16-2010, 05:05 AM	#1
craigmckay LRF/EPUB fiddler Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Sony PRS-300	Using "Series/VolumeNo" in EPUB to ensure sort order on reader Hello folks, wonder if anyone can help... I'm converting books to epub format that belong to part of a series. When I open them up on the reader (Sony PRS-300) I want to see them listed in their correct volume order. At the moment, I'm doing this by titling: 001 An Outline of Genesis 002 An Outline of Exodus and I have to sort them in Calibre by clicking on the title column, then they will appear in this order on the reader. Kovid's Series feature is quite nice, but it creates an extra catalog, and doesn't sort the titles by their volume number. Does anyone know if EPUB has this Series/VolumeNo feature, and where the Sony PRS-300 will recognise and sort accordingly? Kind regards, Craig

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01-16-2010, 05:24 AM	#2
itimpi Wizard Posts: 4,553 Karma: 950151 Join Date: Nov 2008 Device: Sony PRS-950, iphone/ipad (Marvin/iBooks/QuickReader)	EPUB does not have the concept oif Series as part of the specification!. As a result the readers do not have the concept either. I am not sure why you are not getting them in Series order on your reader using calibre though? If you send them all to the Device at the same time then Calibre should create the collection corresponding to the series in the series number order. Any sent later are simply added on the end. so maybe this is what you are experiencing?

01-18-2010, 08:06 AM	#7
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,543 Karma: 19001583 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Note that the ePUB spec does not currently support series metadata. The above is an extension of Calibre and, while it is valid, it is not recognized by other ePUB-reading software or devices. I created an issue in the ePUB working group page some weeks ago, hoping that they will do something about it in the future.

01-18-2010, 04:48 PM	#8
rogue_ronin Banned Posts: 475 Karma: 796 Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Honolulu Device: Nokia 770 (fbreader)	The ePub format recognizes that extra metadata may be included in a document. So while the standard doesn't currently store that information, there may be reasonable ways to do so. There's some discussion here that talks about how to encode it in XHTML, for use in Sigil, and an attempt to future-proof the data by sticking to the Dublin Core standard. It may be relevant to what you're trying to do. m a r

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