[GUI Plugin] Kobo Utilities

[jackie_w]

I don't think JPG supports transparency, does it, or is that something from yesteryear? Wouldn't you need a PNG instead?

Anyway, I tried using a PNG with transparent background as a random screensaver in the .kobo/screensaver directory. It works OK. The background just looks the same as if it was white.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

I don't think JPG supports transparency, does it, or is that something from yesteryear? Wouldn't you need a PNG instead?

Good point. Looking at the code in calibre, it checks if the image has an alpha channel. If it does, it creates a canvas of the supplied colour (default is #FFFFFFF) and overlays the image on that.

Anyway, I tried using a PNG with transparent background as a random screensaver in the .kobo/screensaver directory. It works OK. The background just looks the same as if it was white.

That's a good test. I'm sure the random screensaver is handled in the same way as the cover images. The only difference is if the cover generation is handling any transparency. I am pretty sure the epub cover generation would as it is renders the first page of the book. The kepub might not.

[ownedbycats]

I was mostly speculating, perhaps transparency could be used in place of a custom bg colour in the letterboxing.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

I was mostly speculating, perhaps transparency could be used in place of a custom bg colour in the letterboxing.

The cover generator in calibre uses a function to resize the image which will do the letterboxing and takes a parameter for the colour to be used. It then calls a another function to handle the transparency. That takes a parameter to for the background colour. Unfortunately, the overall function, only takes one parameter for these colours and it is only used for the transparency. I have to add the other and pass it through.

Personally, I just let the device do it. That is completely predictable as to what is happening. The black letterboxing it uses works with the black surrounds of the device.

[compurandom]

Would dark mode on the device affect transparency?

[NiLuJe]

@compurandom: No.

[Dfaure]

I noticed that there's now an option to set the kobo's clock from the utilities, but having a quick look at the code, I was wondering how accurate it could be if the intermediate file wasn't put just before ejecting the reader?

I'm not really a pyqt/calibre"s code guru, but isn't there already in Calibre any signal to bind to which would be triggered at the reader's ejection for this?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by Dfaure

I noticed that there's now an option to set the kobo's clock from the utilities, but having a quick look at the code, I was wondering how accurate it could be if the intermediate file wasn't put just before ejecting the reader?

I'm not really a pyqt/calibre"s code guru, but isn't there already in Calibre any signal to bind to which would be triggered at the reader's ejection for this?

And that is deliberate. It came up because of someone who couldn't use WiFi and discovered the Kobo desktop was setting the time. When I looked, it was so simple to do, that I added it. And I did check, but I didn't see an eject hook I could use. And honestly, unless you connect the device for days, the time just isn't going to be that far out. If you need it better, just use the function and eject immediately. Or use WiFi.

[Dfaure]

Originally Posted by davidfor

And honestly, unless you connect the device for days, the time just isn't going to be that far out. If you need it better, just use the function and eject immediately.

Fair enough. That's clearly not a feature that need more engineering.

[davidfor]

@Dfaure: I just reread my post after your response. Especially the bit you quoted. I think I might have come of a bit harsher than I meant to. It was a valid question, and I did think about it when I first did this. But, there wasn't an obvious solution, so I didn't pursue it.

Thinking about it now, there might be a way to achieve it using the Action Chains plugin. It can build a list of things to do. It might be able to build a list such as call this function in the plugin and then call the eject. I haven't looked at the plugin closely enough to see whether it can do something like that. And if the Action Chains plugin needs something in this plugin to be able to use a function, I am willing to look at what needs to change.

[ownedbycats]

I wonder if this is something that could also be integrated into Smart Eject. It can check for duplicate books or reading lists that need to be synced, so I wonder if it could also call Kobo Utilities to set the clock.

Action Chains would be easier though, if it works.

[davidfor]

Smart Eject would seem to be the obvious place to put it, but, this would tie it to a very specific, and small, function in another plugin. And I think adding a "Run Action Chain" function would be a better thing idea. And much more flexible.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by GravityJones

I've recently started using KoboUtilities with my Kobo Libra H2O, and it's been a great help so far. I have a cosmetic issue, however, with the letterboxing option for uploading covers.

When I use KoboUtilities to upload covers for selected books and select the "letterbox covers" option, the letterboxes (technically pillarboxes on my device, but whatever :P) are black. My device is white, and the boxes clash with it when I view the covers in fullscreen. Is there an option somewhere I can set to generate white letterboxes instead of black ones?

I have just finished checking in a change for this in the KoboTouch driver. I have added an option to choose the colour used for the letter/pill-boxing. In the driver config, go to the second tab and there will be a button under the letterboxing option to set the colour. Choosing black or white are probably the most sensible colours, but, anything can be chosen.

This will be in the next calibre release. I will add this to the plugin sometime soon.

[ecorbett]

Hi there I have the kobo utilities plugin listed on the main toolbar of calibre. For some reason when I connect my kobo device it disappears from the toolbar. It was working fine before, staying on the toolbar when my device connected. Have the same issue with the annotations plugin. Does anyone know how to resolve/have any insight? Device is still scanned automatically on connection for current reading position. Many thanks

[Phil_C]

Look under Preferences>Toolbars & menus. There you can control what appears on the toolbar when the device is connected (or disconnected).