Calibre for the Mac

Timber · 08-23-2014, 10:36 PM

Kovid,

Would it be possible to make what I hope is a minor change?

In the mac implementation of Calibre, the ebook-viewer is part of the main app, rather than being it's own .app file. Would it be possible to make it be it's own .app as well?

Reason I ask is that file associations on a mac are done from a file extension to an .app. With the ebook-viewer being a part of the contents of the main calibre app, there's no way to associate the files with it.

What this means is that every time you click on a .lit or .epub or whatever file, it attempts to open it using the main calibre app and re-add it to your library.

If you made the ebook-viewer available as a separate app as well, we could associate it with the various file extensions and be able to automatically open them with it.

Hoping that will be a simple thing to do, because I think it would be a big help for mac users

theducks · 08-23-2014, 11:22 PM

ebook-viewer is available from the commandline

kovidgoyal · 08-23-2014, 11:40 PM

Look inside calibre.app, you will see ebook-viewer.app

/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/ebook-viewer.app

Whether that is useable for file associations, I have no idea.

Timber · 08-24-2014, 03:37 AM

Yes, it's inside of the Calibre.app package under contents. No argument there.

Issuing this command from the terminal will call it on a mac "/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer ; exit;"

You can also get to it by going into applications, right clicking on calibre.app, choosing show package contents and the selecting ebook-viewer.

However that's not how file associations are done on a mac. When you click on a file to choose which app to associate with it, your choices are recommended apps or all apps.

They have to be the actual .app packages such as calibre.app or ibooks.app to be associated with file extensions. You can't associate a file extension with something that's within a .app's package contents, as in the case of the ebook-viewer being a component of calibre.app

If that makes sense, what I'm trying to say is that mac users can associate the main calibre app with various ebook file extensions, but cannot associate them with the ebook-viewer subcomponent.

That's why I was asking If it was possible for ebook-viewer to be a separate .app of it's own, in addition to how it's a component of calibre.app, because then mac users could use it to associate with ebook file types.

However, since it's not a .app by itself, mac users can't associate it with the ebook types. Clicking an ebook will call the main app, not the ebook-viewer.

Hope that better explains what I was asking. I understand very clearly how to get to it, but can't use it for file associations as a subcomponent of an .app. Can only associate with .apps

kovidgoyal · 08-24-2014, 03:53 AM

/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/ebook-viewer.app

loximuthal · 08-24-2014, 07:15 AM

You might try looking at this thread on using the editor stand-alone. I've set up Automator-based apps on my machine for both the editor and viewer and I've been able to associate the editor with .epub files.

Timber · 08-24-2014, 01:18 PM

Thanks for the help loximuthal and kovid. That automator script is a better way of calling the ebook-viewer.

I think I screwed something up in the implementation though. If I run the automator script, it calls the ebook-viewer just fie, but the other part where I can drop a file onto it doesn't seem to be working.

Love to get any suggestions for where I messed up in implementing it

I opened automator, chose Run Shell Script from the actions and gave it this script inside

if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer --detach "$1"
else
/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer
fi

Bottom part where it doesn't receive a parameter and just calls the ebook-viewer works just fine.

Top part where I should be able to drop a file onto it and have it call that isn't working.

Any help with the scripting would be much appreciated

Timber · 08-24-2014, 02:44 PM

Fixed it. Now running perfectly for all of opening the ebook-viewer app, using it to open a specific file by dragging and dropping onto i and associating with an ebook file extension to open a book by double clicking on it or right clicking on it.

Thanks to loximuthal for pointing me in the right direction

In case anyone else wants to do this, here's what I did

Open Automator and choose to make a .App
Set it to take passed parameters as arguments
Choose Run shell script from the actions (middle column) and drag to the script (right column)
code for the shell script that worked for me

if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer "$1"
else
/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer
fi

PeterT · 08-24-2014, 03:15 PM

Suggestion; wrap the script in code tags, ie

Code:

[code]
if [ "$1" != "" ]; then
     /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer "$1"
else
     /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer
fi
[/code]

That way indentation is preserved.

loximuthal · 08-25-2014, 07:44 AM

Glad you were able to get things working the way you wanted.

08-23-2014, 10:36 PM	#1
Timber Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: iPad, Macbook Pro, Kindle	Calibre for the Mac Kovid, Would it be possible to make what I hope is a minor change? In the mac implementation of Calibre, the ebook-viewer is part of the main app, rather than being it's own .app file. Would it be possible to make it be it's own .app as well? Reason I ask is that file associations on a mac are done from a file extension to an .app. With the ebook-viewer being a part of the contents of the main calibre app, there's no way to associate the files with it. What this means is that every time you click on a .lit or .epub or whatever file, it attempts to open it using the main calibre app and re-add it to your library. If you made the ebook-viewer available as a separate app as well, we could associate it with the various file extensions and be able to automatically open them with it. Hoping that will be a simple thing to do, because I think it would be a big help for mac users

08-24-2014, 03:37 AM	#4
Timber Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: iPad, Macbook Pro, Kindle	Yes, it's inside of the Calibre.app package under contents. No argument there. Issuing this command from the terminal will call it on a mac "/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer ; exit;" You can also get to it by going into applications, right clicking on calibre.app, choosing show package contents and the selecting ebook-viewer. However that's not how file associations are done on a mac. When you click on a file to choose which app to associate with it, your choices are recommended apps or all apps. They have to be the actual .app packages such as calibre.app or ibooks.app to be associated with file extensions. You can't associate a file extension with something that's within a .app's package contents, as in the case of the ebook-viewer being a component of calibre.app If that makes sense, what I'm trying to say is that mac users can associate the main calibre app with various ebook file extensions, but cannot associate them with the ebook-viewer subcomponent. That's why I was asking If it was possible for ebook-viewer to be a separate .app of it's own, in addition to how it's a component of calibre.app, because then mac users could use it to associate with ebook file types. However, since it's not a .app by itself, mac users can't associate it with the ebook types. Clicking an ebook will call the main app, not the ebook-viewer. Hope that better explains what I was asking. I understand very clearly how to get to it, but can't use it for file associations as a subcomponent of an .app. Can only associate with .apps Last edited by Timber; 08-24-2014 at 03:57 AM.

08-24-2014, 02:44 PM	#8
Timber Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: iPad, Macbook Pro, Kindle	Fixed it. Now running perfectly for all of opening the ebook-viewer app, using it to open a specific file by dragging and dropping onto i and associating with an ebook file extension to open a book by double clicking on it or right clicking on it. Thanks to loximuthal for pointing me in the right direction In case anyone else wants to do this, here's what I did Open Automator and choose to make a .App Set it to take passed parameters as arguments Choose Run shell script from the actions (middle column) and drag to the script (right column) code for the shell script that worked for me if [ "$1" != "" ]; then /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer "$1" else /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer fi Last edited by Timber; 08-24-2014 at 02:48 PM.

08-24-2014, 03:15 PM	#9
PeterT Grand Sorcerer Posts: 13,386 Karma: 78877538 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Toronto Device: Libra H2O, Libra Colour	Suggestion; wrap the script in code tags, ie Code: [code] if [ "$1" != "" ]; then /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer "$1" else /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer fi [/code] That way indentation is preserved.

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08-23-2014, 11:22 PM	#2
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,962 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	ebook-viewer is available from the commandline

08-23-2014, 11:40 PM	#3
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,262 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Look inside calibre.app, you will see ebook-viewer.app /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/ebook-viewer.app Whether that is useable for file associations, I have no idea.

08-24-2014, 03:53 AM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,262 Karma: 27110894 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	/Applications/calibre.app/Contents/ebook-viewer.app

08-24-2014, 07:15 AM	#6
loximuthal Connoisseur Posts: 81 Karma: 86158 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Maryland Device: NST, Kindle Fire, iPad2	You might try looking at this thread on using the editor stand-alone. I've set up Automator-based apps on my machine for both the editor and viewer and I've been able to associate the editor with .epub files.

08-24-2014, 01:18 PM	#7
Timber Enthusiast Posts: 35 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: iPad, Macbook Pro, Kindle	Thanks for the help loximuthal and kovid. That automator script is a better way of calling the ebook-viewer. I think I screwed something up in the implementation though. If I run the automator script, it calls the ebook-viewer just fie, but the other part where I can drop a file onto it doesn't seem to be working. Love to get any suggestions for where I messed up in implementing it I opened automator, chose Run Shell Script from the actions and gave it this script inside if [ "$1" != "" ]; then /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer --detach "$1" else /Applications/calibre.app/Contents/MacOS/ebook-viewer fi Bottom part where it doesn't receive a parameter and just calls the ebook-viewer works just fine. Top part where I should be able to drop a file onto it and have it call that isn't working. Any help with the scripting would be much appreciated

08-25-2014, 07:44 AM	#10
loximuthal Connoisseur Posts: 81 Karma: 86158 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Maryland Device: NST, Kindle Fire, iPad2	Glad you were able to get things working the way you wanted.

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