[Device Plugin] Kobo Touch Extended Driver

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by troro

Hi guys, thanks to all of you for your amazing work on mobileread.com!
Sorry, if this is the wrong forum, this is my first posting...
My problem: I added some additional information (genre, number of pages and the year of publishing) as a subtitle to the ebooks on my Kobo Glo HD (Firmware 4.24.15676) see (Fig.1). In Calibre (5.14 64bit) I created custom columns #genre, #seiten and #year. I'm using the KoboTouchExtended-Driver (3.4.4) to send the books from Calibre to the device, I select "subtitle" and enter the code {#genre} - {#seiten} Seiten {#year:| (|)} see (Fig.2)
When the ebooks have been sent to the device, the subtitles are missing (screenshot in Fig.1a). I need to plug it off, then plug in again, then open Kobo Utilities -> "Update metadata in device library" -> then select "subtitle" and "Use Plugboard" and put that code there (Fig.2b). When plugging the device off, the subtitles are there (Fig.1b).
Is there a way to achieve the desired result by sending the ebook via Kobo-driver only and skip step two (sending metadata via Kobo Utilities)?
I tried the metadata-plugboard, but there is no destination "subtitle"...
Thanks in advance!

Metadata on a Kobo device requires a two step process. The first step is to send the book to your Kobo and then allow it to import the book. This creates the database entries which can then be updated with the series, subtitle, etc. on the second connect.

You could click on the arrow by the Device icon and then Update cached metadata on device instead of using the Kobo Utilities.

Alternately and my preferred solution is if you set metadata management to automatic (Preferences => Sending books to device => set Metadata management to Automatic Management), the next connect should automagically update the metadata.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Metadata on a Kobo device requires a two step process. The first step is to send the book to your Kobo and then allow it to import the book. This creates the database entries which can then be updated with the series, subtitle, etc. on the second connect.

You could click on the arrow by the Device icon and then Update cached metadata on device instead of using the Kobo Utilities.

Alternately and my preferred solution is if you set metadata management to automatic (Preferences => Sending books to device => set Metadata management to Automatic Management), the next connect should automagically update the metadata.

And if it doesn't, run calibre in debug mode and post the log to show what happened.

[JSWolf]

And if you install NickelMenu and configure it correctly, you can do this second USB connection without the need to unplug/replug the USB cable. It's all done in software after the first eject.

[troro]

Metadata on a Kobo device requires a two step process. The first step is to send the book to your Kobo and then allow it to import the book. This creates the database entries which can then be updated with the series, subtitle, etc. on the second connect.

You could click on the arrow by the Device icon and then Update cached metadata on device instead of using the Kobo Utilities.

Alternately and my preferred solution is if you set metadata management to automatic (Preferences => Sending books to device => set Metadata management to Automatic Management), the next connect should automagically update the metadata.

Thank you for your replies!
I didn't know, that the two steps are necessary.
I've tried to update cached metadata on the device as DNSB described - it works!
I've tried to set metadata management AUTOMATIC - it works! (Both of course after disconnecting and connecting the device again)
I had the metadata management set MANUALLY. I remember 2 or 3 years ago it took 5-6 minutes to synchronize the more than 3000 ebooks on my device every time I connected the Kobo to Calibre, even if nothing had changed in the Calibre- /Kobo-Database. At that time I set the metadata management MANUALLY. But it works much faster now, so I'm going to leave it AUTOMATIC.
Maybe I give NickelMenu a try, but I need to study the forum first...
Thanks for your help!

I've got another question: I add comments-metadata to all of my books, on the device visible under "bookdetails" (I think Kobo calls it Synopsis).
On my Kobo Glo HD the first page of the comments always starts with two blank lines. In Calibre -> Metadata -> Comments the HTML-Code doesn't include any margin-commands (see screenshot). Books I transferred to the Kobo 2018 or earlier don't have these blank lines, maybe they came with a software-update (Calibre, KoboTouchExtended-Driver or Kobo-Firmware...?) How can I get rid of these two blank lines?

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by troro

Thank you for your replies!
I didn't know, that the two steps are necessary.
I've tried to update cached metadata on the device as DNSB described - it works!
I've tried to set metadata management AUTOMATIC - it works! (Both of course after disconnecting and connecting the device again)
I had the metadata management set MANUALLY. I remember 2 or 3 years ago it took 5-6 minutes to synchronize the more than 3000 ebooks on my device every time I connected the Kobo to Calibre, even if nothing had changed in the Calibre- /Kobo-Database. At that time I set the metadata management MANUALLY. But it works much faster now, so I'm going to leave it AUTOMATIC.

That's not surprising. I have done a lot of work on the performance of the metadata update.

I've got another question: I add comments-metadata to all of my books, on the device visible under "bookdetails" (I think Kobo calls it Synopsis).
On my Kobo Glo HD the first page of the comments always starts with two blank lines. In Calibre -> Metadata -> Comments the HTML-Code doesn't include any margin-commands (see screenshot). Books I transferred to the Kobo 2018 or earlier don't have these blank lines, maybe they came with a software-update (Calibre, KoboTouchExtended-Driver or Kobo-Firmware...?) How can I get rid of these two blank lines?

I am not seeing that. Are you using a metadata plugboard to set the comments/synopsis? If so, what does it look like? If it has any line feeds in it, they can show on the device.

[troro]

I am not seeing that. Are you using a metadata plugboard to set the comments/synopsis? If so, what does it look like? If it has any line feeds in it, they can show on the device.

I thought, this might be a common issue, maybe caused by a software-update. Now I understand, why I couldn't find any postings on that topic in the forum.

The only metadata plugboard I'm using, is one, that replaces the comma between the author's last name and his first name by a lower case quotation mark. I need that for the Kobo-device to get my preferred author's format [last name, first name]. I'm not using any additional metadata-plugboards (except the one for the subtitles in the KoboTouchExtended-Driver).

I've checked all settings in the Calibre-Preferences and the KoboTouchExtended-Driver (according to my abilities...) but couldn't detect anything unusual...

Then I remembered, that the ebooks I have created myself using Sigil, work fine.
So I did an experiment:

1. I took 2 epubs from different sources, imported them into Calibre, did some rework (cover, css-style, ...) and inserted the comments (Edit Metadata -> Comments). Then I transferred them to the Kobo-device: result as expected - in the book-details the comments start with two blank lines. I deleted the ebooks from Calibre and the Kobo.

2. I opened the epubs in SIGIL (vers. 1.4.3), did the same rework there, added the comments and THEN I imported them into Calibre.
After sending them to the Kobo, everything looks fine, there are no blank lines above the comments!

I have no idea, how that comes...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by troro

I thought, this might be a common issue, maybe caused by a software-update. Now I understand, why I couldn't find any postings on that topic in the forum.

The only metadata plugboard I'm using, is one, that replaces the comma between the author's last name and his first name by a lower case quotation mark. I need that for the Kobo-device to get my preferred author's format [last name, first name]. I'm not using any additional metadata-plugboards (except the one for the subtitles in the KoboTouchExtended-Driver).

I've checked all settings in the Calibre-Preferences and the KoboTouchExtended-Driver (according to my abilities...) but couldn't detect anything unusual...

Then I remembered, that the ebooks I have created myself using Sigil, work fine.
So I did an experiment:

1. I took 2 epubs from different sources, imported them into Calibre, did some rework (cover, css-style, ...) and inserted the comments (Edit Metadata -> Comments). Then I transferred them to the Kobo-device: result as expected - in the book-details the comments start with two blank lines. I deleted the ebooks from Calibre and the Kobo.

2. I opened the epubs in SIGIL (vers. 1.4.3), did the same rework there, added the comments and THEN I imported them into Calibre.
After sending them to the Kobo, everything looks fine, there are no blank lines above the comments!

I have no idea, how that comes...

In Calibre post what is in the description for both version showing the HTML code for both. Then we can see what's going on and how to fix it.

[theducks]

Did you use the OS to copy or did you use Calibre?
Calibre UPDATES the metadata on the fly during the transfer with the LIBRARY version.

[troro]

In Calibre post what is in the description for both version showing the HTML code for both. Then we can see what's going on and how to fix it.

Pictures say more than a thousand words, so here is an illustrated version of the above mentioned steps I did:

First try (A): Import of the original epub into Calibre, adding a cover and the comment-text by copy (from the text-source eg. Wikipedia) and paste. Then send it to the Kobo Glo HD (using the KoboExtendedTouch-Driver):

Pic.A1 shows the orininal epub (content.opf and Metadata-Editor) in Sigil, no work done on it yet.

Pic.A2 shows that epub imported in Calibre (content.opf and HTML-Code of the comment). The comment was added in Calibre by copy and paste, text-formatting was removed.

Pic.Result (A) shows the (not wanted) result on the Kobo.

Second try (B): Open the original epub in Sigil, add the comment by copy (from the text-source) and paste in the Metadata-Editor - "dc:description". Then import the epub into Calibre, add the cover and send to the Kobo.

Pic.B1 shows the epub reworked in Sigil.

Pic.B2 shows that epub imported in Calibre. There is a difference between Pic.A2 and Pic.B2 in the content.opf, even if the HTML-code in the comment-fields looks the same.

Pic.Result (B) shows the desired result on the Kobo.

[davidfor]

The issue is on the device. The synopsis doesn't handle carriage returns in the way that most HTML parsers do. They are usually ignored or replaced with a space. And anything between tags will be ignored. And because of the way that the control used when editing the comments in calibre formats the comment, there are carriage returns after the leading div tag. Which the control probably added. I assume the metadata editor in Sigil doesn't put any extra carriage returns or tags in. This overall problem was discussed a while ago, but, I didn't notice it affected the start of the synopsis.

Until Kobo changes this (and I recommend you report it) the workaround is to use a metadata plugboard for the comments. Simply use the template "{comment}". When this plugboard is processed, any extra whitespace is removed.

[troro]

The issue is on the device. The synopsis doesn't handle carriage returns in the way that most HTML parsers do. They are usually ignored or replaced with a space. And anything between tags will be ignored. And because of the way that the control used when editing the comments in calibre formats the comment, there are carriage returns after the leading div tag. Which the control probably added. I assume the metadata editor in Sigil doesn't put any extra carriage returns or tags in. This overall problem was discussed a while ago, but, I didn't notice it affected the start of the synopsis.

Until Kobo changes this (and I recommend you report it) the workaround is to use a metadata plugboard for the comments. Simply use the template "{comment}". When this plugboard is processed, any extra whitespace is removed.

I don't have the skills to exactly understand the technical details you're talking about, but I'm happy to say, that you are right!

I've been thinking about that problem for quite a long time, checked my settings over and over again...
Waking up today, reading your posting and only a few seconds later about 3000 ebooks on my Kobo-device are corrected!

THAT'S JUST MAGIC!!!

Thanks to David and many others out there who provide us with fantastic software and tipps. We appreciate your work very much!

Have a nice day!

[hpfr]

Hi, I was wondering if there's any features of this plugin outside of the kepub features. I use Plato with regular epubs, so since I'm not using kepubs should I just stick with the default KoboTouch driver plugin? Or are there other benefits to still using this plugin while disabling the "Enable Extended Kobo Features" option? I'm also using Kobo Utilies; does this driver improve that plugin's functionality at all?

Thanks!

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by hpfr

Hi, I was wondering if there's any features of this plugin outside of the kepub features. I use Plato with regular epubs, so since I'm not using kepubs should I just stick with the default KoboTouch driver plugin? Or are there other benefits to still using this plugin while disabling the "Enable Extended Kobo Features" option? I'm also using Kobo Utilies; does this driver improve that plugin's functionality at all?

No, there is no advantage to using this driver if you are not using kepubs. And if you are bypassing nickel altogether to use Plato, you might want to consider using either the "User Defined USB driver" or the "Folder Device Interface". The Kobo specific drivers require the books to be in the database on the device. If you are not using nickel, then are probably better to use the other drivers.

[hpfr]

Originally Posted by davidfor

No, there is no advantage to using this driver if you are not using epubs.

You mean kepubs, right?

Originally Posted by davidfor

And if you are bypassing nickel altogether to use Plato, you might want to consider using either the "User Defined USB driver" or the "Folder Device Interface". The Kobo specific drivers require the books to be in the database on the device. If you are not using nickel, then are probably better to use the other drivers.

I'm using the method from the one-click install thread which installs Nickel. I haven't been able to find instructions to bypass Nickel, although I'm interested in this since I don't have a Kobo account or Overdrive. Has someone documented installing Plato this way and using Calibre with it? I get what you're describing with the database vs. simple folder-based usage but I don't know the difference between the two plugins you mentioned with respect to Plato.

For what it's worth, I was able to connect my ereader to Calibre while Plato was running and the books transferred fine, even though I'm still using Kobo Touch Extended (with the extended features checkbox unchecked), although the native reader couldn't see the books.

I'm new to this scene; apologies for my ignorance. I've done my best to search the forum for these questions but didn't find much success. Thanks for your help.

[hpfr]

You can't edit after five minutes? I did find standalone.sh after digging through the commit history for Plato's installation guide, which still exists, although baskerville seems to have removed mention of it from the guide, which makes me a bit hesitant to use it.

I'm still curious about why I should use a different plugin. I guess Kobo Touch Extended does what the USB or Folder drivers would by adding the books to folders but then modifies the DB in addition? So when I used it while Plato was running, it added the books to the folders and failed to modify the DB, and instead I could just use a simpler driver since I won't be using the native reader?