Use filename without full path in 'open with'

[Andys]

Hi, this question is pretty hard to search, since it could be paraphrased in many different ways.
I am talking about 'Open With' function of Calibre library. If I understand correctly, there are no tags which could be substituted in command line with name, path, etc of opened file. Calibre simply adds full path of book file after all args.
What I want is to 1. change working directory to book directory and 2. run this command with filename of book only, without full path to it.
That is because I use external reader which saves bookmarks in separate file, but it creates it in 'working' folder, not in opened book folder. Development is stopped so I can't request a fix from it's creator.
I guess it would be possible to run cmd /c with required parameters IF there was a %filename% substitution tag but alas I didn't see anything like that in help.
Am I stuck?

[theducks]

Andys

If you ALWAYS want to use that external reader
and
as long as it is registered as the default for the file type with the OS (you can doubleclick that file type in the explorer and it opens in that reader)

Simply remove the Tic next to the type in Preferences: Behavior: Use Internal viewer for

The Calibre will use the OS to open that file type when you tap View (V)

[eschwartz]

Should be as simple as setting the cwd to the parent directory of the ebook file.

I can't specifically think of any reason why that might be a bad idea, so, if you are talking about the plugin, here is a patch and a fixed copy that does just that.

[Andys]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Should be as simple as setting the cwd to the parent directory of the ebook file.

I can't specifically think of any reason why that might be a bad idea, so, if you are talking about the plugin, here is a patch and a fixed copy that does just that.

Thanks, though I am not feeling safe modifying calibre files.

I got my solution through autoit exe, which acts as a cmd file - splits path and file name, CD's to path and runs my viewer.
I compiled it to exe and this works.
Code if anyone else will want this function in future, though it's pretty specific to alreader2 and there's almost none other viewers which save bookmarks in external file in same folder (so I can copy both files anywhere and keep bookmarks working)

#include <File.au3>
global $drive, $path, $fname, $fext
_PathSplit($cmdline[1],$drive,$path,$fname,$fext)
FileChangeDir($drive & $path)
$cmd = "D:\Office\AlReader\AlReader2.exe """ & $fname & $fext & """"
Run("D:\Office\AlReader\AlReader2.exe """ & $fname & $fext & """");

Not very good solution, but it's better for me than recompiling calibre with patch on each version update. I use by default calibre-viewer - for 'static' epub files, where bookmarks are saved in file, alreader2 is used for epubs 'in progress' where an update of file will erase all bookmarks

[eschwartz]

It's not a calibre patch, it's a patch to the Open With plugin (from before calibre had its own internal Open With feature).
I added it in case anyone was interested in seeing exactly what I changed. The ZIP is the plugin itself.
If it fixes things for you, it could be added to the main version.



If I was going to post a patch for calibre itself, I would have it added upstream so everyone benefits.

[kovidgoyal]

Just use a launcher script, write it in windows bat or powershell or whatever. Have it process the full pathname however you lke and call whatever program you like.