[GUI Plugin] Modify ePub

[jersysman]

I want to second what DoctorOhh has said above. CC is a great program for managing your library on an Android device. It is so easy for it to work with Calibre (either content server or WiFi). I let it manage my library and just use the reader (Mantano and Moon+ Pro) to do the actual reading.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by jersysman

I want to second what DoctorOhh has said above. CC is a great program for managing your library on an Android device.

Did you update to the newest version? If not do it soon, you'll be impressed.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by Hoods7070

However, I still don't understand this: some months ago, I went through my entire library, using Modify epub exclusively to replace jackets - a blanket approach which replaced ALL my jackets using the modified template/css. The jackets done at that time have the code in the jacket.xhtml file, and read perfectly everywhere.

I did a bit more experimenting with this. I think you can get a better result with Mantano if you make a small change to your custom version of resources\jacket\template.xhtml in your calibre config directory.

On line 5 try deleting the red bit

<style type="text/css" media="screen">{css}</style>

then replace the jacket with Modify Epub (or Polish).

I've just tried it in Mantano and it looks much better. The only styling which goes AWOL for me is colour text in the Comments section, which displays black instead. Colour text in the box heading is displayed OK

Originally Posted by Hoods7070

@jackie_w The main reason I insert jackets is to make the series info available to Mantano, which will sort on series - presumably that info comes from the jacket?? I haven't had any problems at all with Mantano since they fixed the fairly minor issue of incorrect cover display on the Nexus after me nagging them. : (They have a great responsive attitude in their support team, BTW.) I do very basic reading, with only the very occasional note, bookmark etc.. The other contenders are dreadful.

Or the alternative option, as suggested by DoctorOhh and jerseyman, is to use the Calibre Companion app for all your android library functionality. It can automatically send your epubs to Mantano (or any other reading app) for the actual reading. CC has far better library manipulation than any of the individual reading apps. Two quid well-spent IMHO, especially since yesterday's great new release

If you use CC you won't need to add jackets at all, because calibre metadata (incl any custom columns you've set up) is available on each book's detail page. You can even group your books by custom columns. Selecting and sorting by Series is a standard feature.

[Hoods7070]

Thanks Doc - I had forgotten there is an app at all. I don't use Calibre for putting my books on the tablet, but shunt them over manually for several not very good reasons, which is why I assumed any metadata Mantano is reading was coming from the jacket.

In fact I can't use the companion app because more often than not I am not handy to wifi and/or my PC, but I might get it just for fun to see how it works.

[DoctorOhh]

Here is the last of my off topic posts. Apologies to Kiwidude and others reading this thread for recent posts that have strayed from the topic of Modify ePub.

Originally Posted by Hoods7070

In fact I can't use the companion app because more often than not I am not handy to wifi and/or my PC, but I might get it just for fun to see how it works.

You only need to have access to wifi to put your books on your device initially. Wifi is not required to be able to use the app to manage, sort, search or launch your books that are on your device.

I have all the books in my current library on my device.

[Hoods7070]

@doc Oh cool, thanks. (Cool? One forgets one's age sometimes!) I will definitely try it in that case.

@jackie_w - I think I have this thing sorted now, so thanks for your help. (BTW I had already delted the "mediascreen" thing.) I ended up just going very slowly and carefully, testing and saving in between - I'm not normally that orderly so something must have come unstuck somewhere. Funnily Mantano does see colours, for me (which is academic, as I won't use them) but is not respecting text-transform, which I'm almost sure it did before. However, none of it's serious!

Now I had better get off offtopic too ... thanks again, all.

[samy2]

There is a bug with some epub-files (and no there is no DRM), with trying to remove ebbeded fonts:

Modify ePubs
Logfile for book ID 5212 (Book / Author)
5212
Modifying: /tmp/calibre_1.0.0_tmp_9XrxZj/TPyloO_modify_epub/5212.epub
Parsing xml file: OEBPS/content.opf
Parsing xml file: OEBPS/toc.ncx
Looking for embedded fonts
ERROR - cannot remove embedded fonts from DRM encrypted book
ePub not changed after 0.05 seconds

[kiwidude]

@samy2 - your epub you sent me has encrypted fonts. That is what is triggering that message. However without looking into it off the top of my head I don't know how easy it is to differentiate between an ePub that has an encryption.xml file inside it for the purposes of encrypting just the fonts, versus one that has the whole contents encrypted. Perhaps Kovid may spot this and offer a hint?

[kovidgoyal]

It's fairly straightforward. IIRC both the Polish Books contaoner and the epub input plugin are able to distinguish between encrypted and obfuscated epubs.

[kiwidude]

Changes in this version:

• Add a "Append extra CSS" option to allow appending any css style information from Preferences->Common Options->Look & Feel->Extra CSS to each .css file in the ePub.
• Respect the tweak "save_original_format_when_polishing" if set to make a .ORIGINAL_EPUB copy of the book before making modifications if no such copy exists.
• After running Modify ePub ensure the book details panel is updated in case an ORIGINAL_EPUB was added
• Fix for encrypted font ePubs being treated as DRM protected preventing Font removal

Thanks again Kovid for the steer on this one for the encrypted font fix.

[mob]

modify epub v 1.3.8 seems to be broken - every single book I try to update cover image and metadata generates an (timeout) error

Cheers & thanks for looking to fix it

quote
calibre, version 1.1.0
ERROR: Modify ePub failed: No ePub files were updated

....
Updating metadata and cover
Parsing xml file: content.opf
Parsing xml file: toc.ncx
Looking for unused images
abc- ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 73, in process_book
File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 164, in _process_book
KeyError: u'append_extra_css'

ePub not changed after 0.27 seconds


unquote

[kiwidude]

@mob - Did you remember to restart calibre after installing?

[ottischwenk]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

@mob - Did you remember to restart calibre after installing?

Yes:

PHP Code:

calibre, version 1.1.0
FEHLER: Modify ePub failed: No ePub files were updated

Modify ePubs
Logfile for book ID 229
229
  Modifying:  xxxxxxxxxxxxx  C:\Users\WERNER~1\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_gduoxi\mq4987_modify_epub\229.epub
Parsing xml file: OEBPS/content.opf
Parsing xml file: OEBPS/toc.ncx
    Looking for embedded fonts
      Found font to remove: OEBPS/Fonts/JansonTextLTStd-Roman.otf
      Manifest item removed: Fonts/JansonTextLTStd-Roman.otf (JansonTextLTStd-Roman.otf)
      Found font to remove: OEBPS/Fonts/HelveticaNeueLTStd-Cn.otf
      Manifest item removed: Fonts/HelveticaNeueLTStd-Cn.otf (HelveticaNeueLTStd-Cn.otf)
      Found font to remove: OEBPS/Fonts/JansonTextLTStd-Italic.otf
      Manifest item removed: Fonts/JansonTextLTStd-Italic.otf (JansonTextLTStd-Italic.otf)
      Found font to remove: OEBPS/Fonts/HelveticaNeueLTStd-BdCn.otf
      Manifest item removed: Fonts/HelveticaNeueLTStd-BdCn.otf (HelveticaNeueLTStd-BdCn.otf)
    Looking for css @font-face style declarations
      Removed @font-face from: OEBPS/Styles/template.css
    Looking for inline @font-face style declarations
 - ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 73, in process_book
  File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 164, in _process_book
KeyError: u'append_extra_css'

ePub not changed after 0.58 seconds 


[kiwidude]

@ottischwenk - I don't understand how this can be possible after restarting calibre. Unless you are somehow running the plugin in an unconventional way, or it is erroring somewhere else?

You are seeing the Modify ePub popup dialog with all the checkboxes, including the one for "Append extra CSS" right? You don't have to have it checked, it just needs to be present on that dialog. As soon as you click "OK" the plugin will look at all the checkboxes and update a dictionary it keeps for each option recording whether it is checked or not. That error you and mob are reporting are from where it cannot find an entry in that dictionary for the "append_extra_css" option.

You can see the entries yourself by going to calibre ->Miscellaneous->Open calibre configuration directory, open the gui.json file in Notepad and search for "modify epub plugin" and you should see a bunch of things like "add_replace_jacket": true along with "append_extra_css": false. Or at least I do when I try to replicate this issue.

Is anyone else having the same problem - or are they having Modify ePub behave normally without errors (without even trying the Append Extra CSS option)?

It is a relatively easy fix to make to the plugin to workaround it, but I am concerned that it just shouldn't be happening in the first place for users who have updated the plugin and restarted calibre. And I don't like things that I can't understand why...

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by kiwidude

Is anyone else having the same problem - or are they having Modify ePub behave normally without errors (without even trying the Append Extra CSS option)?

I just ran this plugin on one book with Append extra CSS and Update metadata checked and got the following error. Without Append extra CSS I got no error.

Spoiler:

calibre, version 1.1.0
ERROR: Modify ePub failed: No ePub files were updated

Modify ePubs
Logfile for book ID 11315 (The Clocks / Agatha Christie)
11315
Modifying: C:\Users\Family\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_vqimzl\ zhahyk_modify_epub\11315.epub
Updating metadata and cover
Parsing xml file: content.opf
Parsing xml file: toc.ncx
Looking for extra CSS to append
The Clocks - ERROR: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 73, in process_book
File "calibre_plugins.modify_epub.modify", line 165, in _process_book
TypeError: unsupported operand type(s) for |=: 'bool' and 'NoneType'

ePub not changed after 1.40 seconds