Calibre removes Sigal's created chapter breaks

Themus · 11-08-2011, 07:30 AM

I think Calibre and Sigal are the eBook's readers favorite tools. I have been learning to use them it seems daily.

Recently I took a public domain book and with Sigal created chapter breaks. Then I was able to have a nice TOC as well.

Again recently, I saw Calibre allows one to swith from " inch marks to real quotes. Beautiful, worked like a charm. Only I lost my TOC that was created by Sigal's chapter breaks.

The TOC I am referring to is the one inside Calibre's preview. All my chapters disappear to just one called Start, which is where the original public domain ebook began with. Of course this affects the TOC when sent to device.

Is there a way to have the best of both worlds? Keep my TOC via Sigal's chapter breaks and remove the inch marks.

"Like building a house, learning one brick at a time."

DoctorOhh · 11-08-2011, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Themus

The TOC I am referring to is the one inside Calibre's preview. All my chapters disappear to just one called Start, which is where the original public domain ebook began with. Of course this affects the TOC when sent to device.

I may be wrong but I believe the only way to screw up an existing TOC in the manner that you describe is to have the Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents box checked during a conversion.

Serpentine · 11-08-2011, 09:22 AM

Are you talking about the "SGF Chapter Break"'s vanishing?

If this is the case, they serve to provide temp markers in Sigil, used for splitting a document into multiple (x)html files at a later date. They however use a <hr> tag with some Sigil-specific class adding functionality there. <hr> tags however are just generic horizontal rules, and this special use of them will be ignored in other tools.

A better idea is to just mark up your chapters using <h(1/2/3)> tags and generate the ToC from that (This can be done inside Sigil). If something changes during the conversions - Calibre by default will try to use h tags to rebuild a ToC.

If you are only trying to change your quotation marks to the 'smart' characters, you might consider just using regex to do that within Sigil itself - and as such preserving your existing markup without conversion. Calibre also has a few slight bugs with these smart quotes when they follow certain punctuation characters (emdash and semicolon come to mind).

Themus · 11-08-2011, 06:31 PM

I appreciate the replies. Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents box is unchecked.

In Sigal, I placed a Chapter Break before the chapters. {This was a public domain ePub and all the text and chapters flowed as one html file.

With the Chapter Breaks inserted, it looks like the h3 tag is inserted.
<h3 class="calibre6" id="heading_id_2" style="text-align: justify;">CHAPTER III</h3>

But while I was writing this I tried a few things, AND for the fun of it, turned on Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents and it worked!

Thanks for all your help.

Themus · 11-08-2011, 06:53 PM

Well, now that the ePub is transferred to my Nook Color, the TOC is there, but the chapter divisions are gone. Looks like one long HTML document again.

I looked online to understand the regex and how to use it in Sigil. In my brief looking I didn't see anything to clicked with me.

I can always go back to Sigil and redo all 30 chapter breaks again.

theducks · 11-08-2011, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Themus

Well, now that the ePub is transferred to my Nook Color, the TOC is there, but the chapter divisions are gone. Looks like one long HTML document again.

I looked online to understand the regex and how to use it in Sigil. In my brief looking I didn't see anything to clicked with me.

I can always go back to Sigil and redo all 30 chapter breaks again.

You forgot a step in Sigil.
Split on Sigil Chapter Break MARKERS (F6)
The break is just a <HR /> with a Sigil flag

I write a REGEX in many cases to insert the marker (and set the H# level of the chapter heading). Then I split and rebuild the TOC.

DoctorOhh · 11-08-2011, 09:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Themus

But while I was writing this I tried a few things, AND for the fun of it, turned on Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents and it worked!

If checking this box created a TOC and the previous method just gave you the "Start" TOC then you never had an actual TOC saved when you exited Sigil.

Follow theducks advice about the chapter breaks.

11-08-2011, 07:30 AM	#1
Themus Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 998 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Nook	Calibre removes Sigal's created chapter breaks I think Calibre and Sigal are the eBook's readers favorite tools. I have been learning to use them it seems daily. Recently I took a public domain book and with Sigal created chapter breaks. Then I was able to have a nice TOC as well. Again recently, I saw Calibre allows one to swith from " inch marks to real quotes. Beautiful, worked like a charm. Only I lost my TOC that was created by Sigal's chapter breaks. The TOC I am referring to is the one inside Calibre's preview. All my chapters disappear to just one called Start, which is where the original public domain ebook began with. Of course this affects the TOC when sent to device. Is there a way to have the best of both worlds? Keep my TOC via Sigal's chapter breaks and remove the inch marks. "Like building a house, learning one brick at a time."

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11-08-2011, 09:22 AM	#3
Serpentine Evangelist Posts: 416 Karma: 1045911 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: Cape Town, South Africa Device: Kindle 3	Are you talking about the "SGF Chapter Break"'s vanishing? If this is the case, they serve to provide temp markers in Sigil, used for splitting a document into multiple (x)html files at a later date. They however use a <hr> tag with some Sigil-specific class adding functionality there. <hr> tags however are just generic horizontal rules, and this special use of them will be ignored in other tools. A better idea is to just mark up your chapters using <h(1/2/3)> tags and generate the ToC from that (This can be done inside Sigil). If something changes during the conversions - Calibre by default will try to use h tags to rebuild a ToC. If you are only trying to change your quotation marks to the 'smart' characters, you might consider just using regex to do that within Sigil itself - and as such preserving your existing markup without conversion. Calibre also has a few slight bugs with these smart quotes when they follow certain punctuation characters (emdash and semicolon come to mind).

11-08-2011, 06:31 PM	#4
Themus Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 998 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Nook	I appreciate the replies. Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents box is unchecked. In Sigal, I placed a Chapter Break before the chapters. {This was a public domain ePub and all the text and chapters flowed as one html file. With the Chapter Breaks inserted, it looks like the h3 tag is inserted. <h3 class="calibre6" id="heading_id_2" style="text-align: justify;">CHAPTER III</h3> But while I was writing this I tried a few things, AND for the fun of it, turned on Force use of auto-generated Table of Contents and it worked! Thanks for all your help.

11-08-2011, 06:53 PM	#5
Themus Zealot Posts: 133 Karma: 998 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: Nook	Well, now that the ePub is transferred to my Nook Color, the TOC is there, but the chapter divisions are gone. Looks like one long HTML document again. I looked online to understand the regex and how to use it in Sigil. In my brief looking I didn't see anything to clicked with me. I can always go back to Sigil and redo all 30 chapter breaks again.