Extend PDB output format

[yo123]

Hi,

I am trying to write an output plugin to extend the PDB output formats.

PDB itself is only a container. Currently Calibre supports the following three output formats inside PDB. They can be selected from the PDB output dialog page before converting a ebook.

FORMAT_WRITERS = {
'doc': palmdoc_writer,
'ztxt': ztxt_writer,
'ereader': ereader_writer,
}

I have had the Writer and PDBOuput classes figured out for the plugin.

class HaodooWriter(FormatWriter):
class HaoDooPdbOutput(calibre.ebooks.pdb.output.PDBOutpu t):

However, I am stuck at how to add this extra writer to the dialog page.
I assumed that I need to make the above dictionary to become:

FORMAT_WRITERS = {
'doc': palmdoc_writer,
'ztxt': ztxt_writer,
'ereader': ereader_writer,
'haodoo': haodoo_writer,
}

and also make it to be loaded by Calibre UI. How can I realize this using the plugin mechanism without changing Calibre codes?

Any pointer/suggestion would be deeply appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Jack

[yo123]

Hmm, I think I figure it out. Seems that I need to add the format option in the class HaoDooPdbOutput?

Jack

[user_none]

I can't remember how the PDB components are designed off the top of my head. I will explain how to add a new writer and reader later today.

[yo123]

Originally Posted by user_none

I can't remember how the PDB components are designed off the top of my head. I will explain how to add a new writer and reader later today.

Thanks. Here is what I think I need to change in the inheriting class.

class PDBOutput(OutputFormatPlugin):

name = 'PDB Output'
author = 'John Schember'
file_type = 'pdb'

options = set([
OptionRecommendation(name='format', recommended_value='doc',
level=OptionRecommendation.LOW,
short_switch='f', choices=FORMAT_WRITERS.keys(),
help=(_('Format to use inside the pdb container. Choices are:')+\
' %s' % FORMAT_WRITERS.keys())),

[user_none]

You cannot create a new output class for PDB. You must work within the current class. Calibre is file type based. There is no way to associate multiple output classes with a single format.

calibre.ebooks.pdb.output.PDBOutput.convert

This takes the PDB identity and checks if there is a writer associated with it. The writer used for output is taken from calibre.ebooks.pdb.FORMAT_WRITERS. You would need to add a key and associated class reference to this dictionary to enable writing a specific PDB type. Also if you are adding a new identity be sure to add it to calibre.ebooks.pdb.IDENTITY_TO_NAME if it is not already in that list.

calibre.ebooks.pdb.output.PDBInput uses the same design for adding PDB readers.

Add a new module to the PDB module. You will need to put your writer class in a file named writer.py. The writer must be a subclass of calibre.ebooks.pdb.formatreader.FormatReader. Your subclass must implement __init__ and extract_content. Look at the palmdoc module for a simple example.

[user_none]

Also, you have no need to modify the format option as its options are derived from FORMAT_WRITERS and is populated by the available writers.