Plugin ideas... add yours here

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Nella

I have quite a large collection of Asian webnovels. Is there a plugin to download metadata from novelupdates?

No such plugin.

[Mich06]

I would like to see a plug-in developed that would allow users to view Fixed-Layout EPUBs (and/or convert them to PDF). Currently, there is no way to view (or convert) them in Calibre, except by using an external program.
But since these files have the same *.epub extension than regular ones, it is not possible to set the selection of a specified viewer for them in Calibre (if you want to go on using the calibre viewer for regular epubs).

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Mich06

I would like to see a plug-in developed that would allow users to view Fixed-Layout EPUBs (and/or convert them to PDF). Currently, there is no way to view (or convert) them in Calibre, except by using an external program.
But since these files have the same *.epub extension than regular ones, it is not possible to set the selection of a specified viewer for them in Calibre (if you want to go on using the calibre viewer for regular epubs).

I tag Fixed Layout EPUBs with "FXL", if that tag is present I set a column icon, when I see that icon, I use calibre's Open With feature to open the EPUB with 'something else' e.g. Thorium, Azardi, whatever…

I don't run up against many FXL EPUBs, so that's good enough for me.

BR

[DNSB]

I pretty much use the same technique as BetterRed though I use my general purpose custom column. On the few occasions when I read on my computer, if that contains FXL or FLO, I open the book with Thorium.

Hmmm... that reminds me that I really should clean up that column. There are flags in there that I have used in way too long and/or have been replaced by other flags.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I pretty much use the same technique as BetterRed though I use my general purpose custom column. On the few occasions when I read on my computer, if that contains FXL or FLO, I open the book with Thorium.

Hmmm... that reminds me that I really should clean up that column. There are flags in there that I have used in way too long and/or have been replaced by other flags.

Yay, I also use a custom column, #admin_tags/Admin Tags, I reserve the tags/Tags column for content descriptors.

If #admin_tags has "FXL", I show an icon in a 'composed icons' set attached to a #booknum/Book # custom column, blank icon if "FXL" is absent.

BR

[Mich06]

Thank you for your responses. That's a good way to remind myself to launch another viewer. But I have to admit that I was hoping for a way to automate the process intelligently. After all, isn't that what computers are for?

[DNSB]

For me, the issue is that out of my ~18,000 ePubs, the number of fixed layout is 24 (~0.13% of my total library). Add in that I prefer to read on one of my Kobo ereaders and that number that I have read on my computer drops even further unless I want to consider the ones that I opened in Sigil. Even there, I generally open the Preview on a second monitor defaulted to 3840 by 2160 to allow fitting the viewport into the Preview windows.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by Mich06

Thank you for your responses. That's a good way to remind myself to launch another viewer. But I have to admit that I was hoping for a way to automate the process intelligently. After all, isn't that what computers are for?

The majority of calibre plugins that are published at MR have been developed by users who a) had a need for such a plugin, b) had the wherewithal to do so… time, skills, etc, and c) were prepared to support the plugins they published.

In recent times users have been using AI (Claude, Gemini, etc) to create plugins, you might want to try that track. Here's a few thoughts:

Need a technique to detect fixed layout epubs, then create a python template (is_fixed_layout) that implements it, then use that to invoke an FXL viewer… might be able to do it with an Action Chain.

BR

[DNSB]

Personally, I just use the Quality Check plugin to search for '<meta property="rendition:layout">pre-paginated</meta>'. You can use any of the other metadata tags that indicate an fixed layout ePub but that was my personal choice. Some of the other options to search for would be 'property="renditionage-spread-profile"', 'property="renditionrientation"' or 'name="orientation-lock"'.