Sigil to MOBI tutorials by pdurrant

crutledge · 10-10-2010, 06:48 AM

Pdurrant has graciously consented to provide some tutorials on using Amazon's Kindlegen to create true MOBI files from an unziped Sigil file.

Quote:

Start a thread in an appropriate forum, and point me to it.

regards,

Paul

Since, at least to me, this is the technical ePup forum I have taken the liberty of starting a thread here. If I'm wrong I'm sure I'll be so informed.

Many thanks, Paul.

nrapallo · 10-10-2010, 10:31 PM

While not Sigil nor kindlegen specific, I have used the command line mobigen (kindlegen's predecessor) in my GuteBook rebuild batch files, namely:

Code:

rem Convert .htm to Mobipocket .mobi or alternatively use mobigen or Mobipocket Creator
ebook-convert "30693-h\30693-h.htm" "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee) - Renaissance Fancies and Studies.mobi" --title "Renaissance Fancies and Studies" --authors "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)" --publisher="Project Gutenberg" --max-toc-links=0
rem ebook-convert "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee) - Renaissance Fancies and Studies.epub" "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee) - Renaissance Fancies and Studies.mobi" --title "Renaissance Fancies and Studies" --authors "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee)" --publisher="Project Gutenberg" --max-toc-links=0
rem Note: To rebuild .mobi using Mobipocket Creator instead, just open the resulting .opf, update the metadata and Build your .prc.
rem mobigen -s0 -c1 "Violet Paget (AKA Vernon Lee) - Renaissance Fancies and Studies.opf"

This shows how GuteBook takes the .html and images and/or .opf and feeds it to calibre's ebook-convert or alternatively to mobigen automatically or Mobipocket Creator manually.

Hope this helps...

crutledge · 10-12-2010, 08:10 AM

Well, I have finally gotten my wish to be able to use the Sigil OPF to create a true MOBI book. I had looked at the posts on Amazon's KINDLEGEN but all references only seemed to talk of using HTML files. With the information provided by pdurant and some long sessions with O'Reilly's Win 7 manual. I finally found that by a SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK on a folder, a CmdLine will be opened pointing to the folder which eliminates a lot of path entry. I don't know if this is possible in other versions of Windows.

Here is what I came up with:
1. Install KINDLEGEN into the root c:\ folder.
2. In Sigil, mark everything you wish to appear in the Mobipocket Reader CONTENTS MENU with the proper Semantics. For Start Reading, mark the section as TEXT.
3. Unzip the Sigil ePub into a working folder.
4. Open the OEBPS folder and load content.opf into an editor.
5. Go the the <guide> section at the bottom of the file and change "Text" to "Start Reading" and save and close the editor.
6. Move back up and SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK on the OEBPS folder and select OPEN COMMAND LINE HERE.
7. The CmdLine window appears pointing to the OEBPS folder.
8. Enter "c:\kindlegen content.opf" and press ENTER. KINDLEGEN runs and reports creation of a MOBI file.
9. Open the OEBPS folder and see the CONTENT.MOBI file. Rename to the book title and go.

It takes longer to describe the process than to do it. Perhaps this will help other dummys like me who dont like the Caliber version of MOBI. I'm sure that pdurrant has better procedures and can apply them to Mac and LINUX.

Many thanks to Paul.

st_albert · 10-12-2010, 01:10 PM

Hmm, indeed all the contents items show up and work correctly, but I don't seem to be able to get a table-of-contents.

Also tried building the mobi with mobipocket creator, starting with the files in the expanded (from epub) OEBPS/content.opf which worked, except again no TOC even using mobipocket creator to build it. Or pointing the TOC guide entry to toc.ncx

crutledge · 10-12-2010, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by st_albert

Hmm, indeed all the contents items show up and work correctly, but I don't seem to be able to get a table-of-contents.

Also tried building the mobi with mobipocket creator, starting with the files in the expanded (from epub) OEBPS/content.opf which worked, except again no TOC even using mobipocket creator to build it. Or pointing the TOC guide entry to toc.ncx

From my past experience, MobiPocket Creator and Kindlegen ignore toc.ncx. The toc must be built into the book file and then marked in semantics.

nrapallo · 10-12-2010, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crutledge

From my past experience, MobiPocket Creator and Kindlegen ignore toc.ncx. The toc must be built into the book file and then marked in semantics.

Though it would be nice to be able to convert (using a series of reg-ex's or software) that toc.ncx into an external TOC.html and then append that to the end of the ebook....

st_albert · 10-12-2010, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crutledge

From my past experience, MobiPocket Creator and Kindlegen ignore toc.ncx. The toc must be built into the book file and then marked in semantics.

Ouch! I'm not sure I fancy having an in-line TOC in the epub. So much for my dream of using the epub format as the master ebook file.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Though it would be nice to be able to convert (using a series of reg-ex's or software) that toc.ncx into an external TOC.html and then append that to the end of the ebook....

Wonder if there's code within Calibre to do that. Calibre does put an inline TOC in the mobi output when starting with an epub.

Or maybe kindlegen can be taught to utilize the toc.ncx.

crutledge · 10-12-2010, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Though it would be nice to be able to convert (using a series of reg-ex's or software) that toc.ncx into an external TOC.html and then append that to the end of the ebook....

Even nicer would be to have the toc.ncx used and the toc inserted at a location specified. This should be possible since the epub file is already in sections. A reader starting at the begining would encounter the toc where expected and gain the info a toc should provide. PG does this. A simple listing of the number of chapters appears at the end of the file. A full-up toc appears at the beginning.

And all of this in defiance of the epub standardization groups.

ATDrake · 10-13-2010, 02:32 PM

NCX files are XML, so it should be pretty trivial to use XSLT to yield an XHTML version. The trickier part is auto-inserting it into the .opf so that it shows up correctly in the resulting .mobi file, but I'm sure someone can come up with a simple scripting solution.

Edit: Huh. Officially a Fanatic now.

daffy4u · 10-13-2010, 02:35 PM

Last night, I finally unzipped the Kindlegen file I download several weeks ago. I am intimidated and will stick to Calibre and MobiPocket Creator. I need a GUI.

st_albert · 10-13-2010, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ATDrake

NCX files are XML, so it should be pretty trivial to use XSLT to yield an XHTML version. The trickier part is auto-inserting it into the .opf so that it shows up correctly in the resulting .mobi file, but I'm sure someone can come up with a simple scripting solution.

Edit: Huh. Officially a Fanatic now.

One additional complication is that the epubs are usually divided internally into several files, usually based on chapters. On conversion to mobi, apparently, all these files are combined back into one. So the targets of the TOC would have to be adjusted both in the TOC itself and in the internals of the html file.

ATDrake · 10-13-2010, 05:38 PM

No need to adjust if you do the NCX/TOC in advance, then point KindleGen at the linking .opf. Or even just the zipped-up ePub file (though obviously not if you wanted to autogenerate the TOC from NCX).

If you were adding after the fact to an extracted .mobi, yes. But until then, it's all just input from the original sources, which can remain as-is (besides a couple of minor specific things you have to do to the .opf make sure the .ncx and any .html TOC get picked up properly by KindleGen).

nrapallo · 10-13-2010, 05:50 PM

From another thread, Creating MOBI rather than PRC , wallcraft says:

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

If you add an ePub-like toc.ncx to the input ebook, MobiPocket Creator will add waypoints to its output MOBI. The toc.ncx must not have nested entries though.

Does this hold true for .mobi's created by kindlegen as opposed to Mobipocket Creator?

ATDrake · 10-13-2010, 06:00 PM

Yes. I do it all the time to fix up my MultiFormat ePubs from Fictionwise to read on the Kindle.

I will warn you that if your NCX happens to have some very minor and trivial errors in it, such as a superfluous </head> tag that normally shouldn't affect stuff besides the validator, KindleGen will merrily ignore your NCX and not even give you a warning message.

But otherwise it works just fine, except for the part where nested <navPoints> are accessible but invisible in the Kindle's location bar display.

Hitch · 10-14-2010, 06:52 AM

At the end of the day, I've found the simplest thing to do is to run a hand-crafted (Sigil) epub through Calibre thus: my epub->.mobi in Calibre; then that same .mobi->epub, again in Calibre, and then use that second, Calibre-generated epub, drag-n-drop it on KindleGen and get a Kindle-ready .mobi file which will withstand the rigors of K4PC second layer of encryption. The entire "problem" is not really anything more than the fact that the toc is named differently by the two different formats.

I could probably craft a clip to open the epub and fix the stuff in the guide, but I'm a bit busy these days...I may yet get around to it, simply because I'd rather have complete control...but this other method works and gens an active TOC that works sweet.

Hitch

10-12-2010, 08:10 AM	#3
crutledge eBook FANatic Posts: 18,301 Karma: 16078357 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Alabama, USA Device: HP ipac RX5915 Wife's Kindle	Results of a weekend of emperical invistigation (trial and error) Well, I have finally gotten my wish to be able to use the Sigil OPF to create a true MOBI book. I had looked at the posts on Amazon's KINDLEGEN but all references only seemed to talk of using HTML files. With the information provided by pdurant and some long sessions with O'Reilly's Win 7 manual. I finally found that by a SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK on a folder, a CmdLine will be opened pointing to the folder which eliminates a lot of path entry. I don't know if this is possible in other versions of Windows. Here is what I came up with: 1. Install KINDLEGEN into the root c:\ folder. 2. In Sigil, mark everything you wish to appear in the Mobipocket Reader CONTENTS MENU with the proper Semantics. For Start Reading, mark the section as TEXT. 3. Unzip the Sigil ePub into a working folder. 4. Open the OEBPS folder and load content.opf into an editor. 5. Go the the <guide> section at the bottom of the file and change "Text" to "Start Reading" and save and close the editor. 6. Move back up and SHIFT+RIGHT CLICK on the OEBPS folder and select OPEN COMMAND LINE HERE. 7. The CmdLine window appears pointing to the OEBPS folder. 8. Enter "c:\kindlegen content.opf" and press ENTER. KINDLEGEN runs and reports creation of a MOBI file. 9. Open the OEBPS folder and see the CONTENT.MOBI file. Rename to the book title and go. It takes longer to describe the process than to do it. Perhaps this will help other dummys like me who dont like the Caliber version of MOBI. I'm sure that pdurrant has better procedures and can apply them to Mac and LINUX. Many thanks to Paul.

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10-12-2010, 01:10 PM	#4
st_albert Guru Posts: 697 Karma: 150000 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: none	Hmm, indeed all the contents items show up and work correctly, but I don't seem to be able to get a table-of-contents. Also tried building the mobi with mobipocket creator, starting with the files in the expanded (from epub) OEBPS/content.opf which worked, except again no TOC even using mobipocket creator to build it. Or pointing the TOC guide entry to toc.ncx

10-13-2010, 02:32 PM	#9
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	NCX files are XML, so it should be pretty trivial to use XSLT to yield an XHTML version. The trickier part is auto-inserting it into the .opf so that it shows up correctly in the resulting .mobi file, but I'm sure someone can come up with a simple scripting solution. Edit: Huh. Officially a Fanatic now.

10-13-2010, 02:35 PM	#10
daffy4u I'm Super Kindle-icious Posts: 6,734 Karma: 2434103 Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Long Drive, Calinadia Candafornia Device: KDXG, KT, Oasis	Last night, I finally unzipped the Kindlegen file I download several weeks ago. I am intimidated and will stick to Calibre and MobiPocket Creator. I need a GUI.

10-13-2010, 05:38 PM	#12
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	No need to adjust if you do the NCX/TOC in advance, then point KindleGen at the linking .opf. Or even just the zipped-up ePub file (though obviously not if you wanted to autogenerate the TOC from NCX). If you were adding after the fact to an extracted .mobi, yes. But until then, it's all just input from the original sources, which can remain as-is (besides a couple of minor specific things you have to do to the .opf make sure the .ncx and any .html TOC get picked up properly by KindleGen).

10-13-2010, 06:00 PM	#14
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	Yes. I do it all the time to fix up my MultiFormat ePubs from Fictionwise to read on the Kindle. I will warn you that if your NCX happens to have some very minor and trivial errors in it, such as a superfluous </head> tag that normally shouldn't affect stuff besides the validator, KindleGen will merrily ignore your NCX and not even give you a warning message. But otherwise it works just fine, except for the part where nested <navPoints> are accessible but invisible in the Kindle's location bar display.

10-14-2010, 06:52 AM	#15
Hitch Bookmaker & Cat Slave Posts: 11,503 Karma: 158448243 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2	At the end of the day, I've found the simplest thing to do is to run a hand-crafted (Sigil) epub through Calibre thus: my epub->.mobi in Calibre; then that same .mobi->epub, again in Calibre, and then use that second, Calibre-generated epub, drag-n-drop it on KindleGen and get a Kindle-ready .mobi file which will withstand the rigors of K4PC second layer of encryption. The entire "problem" is not really anything more than the fact that the toc is named differently by the two different formats. I could probably craft a clip to open the epub and fix the stuff in the guide, but I'm a bit busy these days...I may yet get around to it, simply because I'd rather have complete control...but this other method works and gens an active TOC that works sweet. Hitch

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