[Device Plugin] Kobo Touch Extended Driver - Page 179

davidfor · 02-15-2022, 07:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

Will unchecking 'enable extended Kobo Features' send books as ePub without needing to switch drivers?

Yes. It will still do some of the other actions, such as the hyphenation, but, the transformation to kepubs will not be done.

davidfor · 02-18-2022, 03:46 AM

I don't use kepubs all the time. And at the moment, I have a library I want to read as epubs and another as kepubs. Don't ask, it's just me. That means I change between the KoboTouch driver and the KoboTouchExtended driver depending on the library. And of course, I forget sometimes. So, I decided I wanted another way to do this.

The obvious way is to have something about the book to decide if to do the kepub transformation or not. The attached add the ability to use a template to do this. If the template is set, and it returns a non-empty value, then the book will be sent as a kepub. If the template returns an empty value the books will be sent as an epub. This is optional. There is an option to turn this on and off.

The template I am using is simple:

Code:

program:
current_library_name()=='Incoming'

But, it could be something else. For example, I don't find kepubs to have any real advantage for short stories. So, I could use:

Code:

program:
$$#words > 5000

And that would mean books with more than 5000 words would be sent to as kepubs.

While doing this, I had to make changes to the drivers configuration. I've always disliked it (sorry Joel) and broke down and reorganised it. The tab for the Extended driver is now organised into three sections:

Send book as kepubs - This has a checkbox to enable or disable.
Other Options - things that will happen whether the kepub transformation is done or not.
Hyphenation - All the options related to hyphenation.

I think I have the arrangement correct. It should also be more obvious with some options as they will be enabled or disabled based on others. For example, only one of the two options for hyphenation can be enabled at one time. And if the hyphenation is selected, the hyphenation values will be enabled, but, not at other times. There is probably some combination of options that will get the wrong fields enabled.

I have been using this for a couple of weeks with no issues. I am happy the kepub template option works. I don't use the hyphenation or other options, so they have had only basic testing. If anyone finds the changes useful, please tell me. And if you find problems, or have suggestions, please tell me as well.

giddie · 02-20-2022, 11:11 AM

Thanks for your work on this plugin! I manage two Kobo devices with Calibre - my own and (occasionally) my wife's. For my own, I'd like Calibre to synchronise collections, so I have a column set up for that. But I don't want to overwrite my wife's collections on her device when I connect. Is there any way to set up this kind of per-device configuration, like the Kobo Utilities plugin does?

ownedbycats · 02-20-2022, 11:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

I don't use kepubs all the time. And at the moment, I have a library I want to read as epubs and another as kepubs. Don't ask, it's just me. That means I change between the KoboTouch driver and the KoboTouchExtended driver depending on the library. And of course, I forget sometimes. So, I decided I wanted another way to do this.

The obvious way is to have something about the book to decide if to do the kepub transformation or not. The attached add the ability to use a template to do this. If the template is set, and it returns a non-empty value, then the book will be sent as a kepub. If the template returns an empty value the books will be sent as an epub. This is optional. There is an option to turn this on and off.

The template I am using is simple:

Code:

program:
current_library_name()=='Incoming'

But, it could be something else. For example, I don't find kepubs to have any real advantage for short stories. So, I could use:

Code:

program:
$$#words > 5000

And that would mean books with more than 5000 words would be sent to as kepubs.

While doing this, I had to make changes to the drivers configuration. I've always disliked it (sorry Joel) and broke down and reorganised it. The tab for the Extended driver is now organised into three sections:

Send book as kepubs - This has a checkbox to enable or disable.
Other Options - things that will happen whether the kepub transformation is done or not.
Hyphenation - All the options related to hyphenation.

I think I have the arrangement correct. It should also be more obvious with some options as they will be enabled or disabled based on others. For example, only one of the two options for hyphenation can be enabled at one time. And if the hyphenation is selected, the hyphenation values will be enabled, but, not at other times. There is probably some combination of options that will get the wrong fields enabled.

I have been using this for a couple of weeks with no issues. I am happy the kepub template option works. I don't use the hyphenation or other options, so they have had only basic testing. If anyone finds the changes useful, please tell me. And if you find problems, or have suggestions, please tell me as well.

So I should be able to put, say '[EPUB]' into the #kobocoll field and then have the template check for that and send it as ePub?

davidfor · 02-20-2022, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

So I should be able to put, say '[EPUB]' into the #kobocoll field and then have the template check for that and send it as ePub?

Almost.

I wrote it to use true for sending as kepub and false for epub. Which, for templates is effectively any value for kepub and an empty value for epubs. I'm not sure if that is the correct way round. The option names feel easier as positive. But, maybe it should be "Send as epub".

In any case, I assume your #kobocoll is tag-like column. If so, the following should work:

Code:

program:
in_list($#kobocoll , ',', "\[EPUB\]", "", "1")

davidfor · 02-20-2022, 11:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giddie

Thanks for your work on this plugin! I manage two Kobo devices with Calibre - my own and (occasionally) my wife's. For my own, I'd like Calibre to synchronise collections, so I have a column set up for that. But I don't want to overwrite my wife's collections on her device when I connect. Is there any way to set up this kind of per-device configuration, like the Kobo Utilities plugin does?

Unfortunately no. I did look at making it device specific at some point, but, some of the dependencies makes that hard. I'll revisit this at some point, but, I don't know when.

An alternative is to use a custom column with a template for the collections. I haven't looked at this before, but there is a function "connected_device_uuid" that could be used. It takes the parameter for the storage and returns the UUID that calibre has in the "driveinfo.calibre" file from the root directory of the device.

With that you could use a template something like:

Code:

if (connected_device_uuid("main") == 'efb3184b-26e8-4017-8359-51b4168d4a92') then
 $#mm_collections
fi;

That is the UUID for my Glo and when it is plugged in, it returns the values that are in the column #mm_collections. Which is a tag-like column.

I have not tested the above for creating collections. The template works in one of my test custom columns. And as it returns a list of tags, it should work with no problems if I used that column as a collection column in the driver configuration.

giddie · 03-12-2022, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

An alternative is to use a custom column with a template for the collections. [...]

Code:

if (connected_device_uuid("main") == 'efb3184b-26e8-4017-8359-51b4168d4a92') then
 $#mm_collections
fi;

[...] as it returns a list of tags, it should work with no problems if I used that column as a collection column in the driver configuration.

This seemed like a very promising idea, and I finally made some time to experiment with it. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be the silver bullet: although the column does populate when the correct device is connected, I found that collections were only partially synced to the device. Possibly a race condition between the syncing and column definition when device is plugged?

But a more serious issue is that when the device id does not match, all collections are wiped out, because the driver tries to sync collections for all the books, and finds that the sync column is blank. So that's basically as bad as overwriting the collections for this device, which brings us back to square 1.

But it has made me wonder - could it be possible to make the "Collections columns" field in the driver configuration a template? That way we could use the same trick to return a different column name depending on the connected device? In that case, a non-matching device uuid should result in no column being specified for collections sync, so the driver will not try to do any syncing.

chaley · 03-12-2022, 12:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by giddie

But it has made me wonder - could it be possible to make the "Collections columns" field in the driver configuration a template? That way we could use the same trick to return a different column name depending on the connected device? In that case, a non-matching device uuid should result in no column being specified for collections sync, so the driver will not try to do any syncing.

@davidfor: using a template either to control whether "Managed collections" is checked or (my preference) the setting of Manage metadata in the context of the Kobo driver would solve this problem without overloading using templates to generate the list of values (not attributes). In the latter case, if the template exists then it would return one of 'manual', 'on_send', or 'on_connect' depending on the device UUID/serial number. It the template doesn't exist then the driver uses the value of the preference.

fogice · 03-15-2022, 10:23 AM

I'm trying out my first Kobo (a Libra 2), and using this plugin. I was reading my second book, and found out that Chapter 11 had gone missing; all that was there was the chapter title. I pulled a copy of the kepub off of the Kobo and opened it with an editor, and confirmed that the text for the chapter was gone.

I deleted it from the Kobo and resent it, and this time it had the chapter intact. I didn't make any configuration changes. What's going on? I don't want to have to flip through every book I transfer to check for errors.

Calibre 5.38, KoboTouchExtended 3.5.4, MacOS 12.2.1

davidfor · 03-16-2022, 04:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fogice

I'm trying out my first Kobo (a Libra 2), and using this plugin. I was reading my second book, and found out that Chapter 11 had gone missing; all that was there was the chapter title. I pulled a copy of the kepub off of the Kobo and opened it with an editor, and confirmed that the text for the chapter was gone.

I deleted it from the Kobo and resent it, and this time it had the chapter intact. I didn't make any configuration changes. What's going on? I don't want to have to flip through every book I transfer to check for errors.

Calibre 5.38, KoboTouchExtended 3.5.4, MacOS 12.2.1

It's probably not going to be possible to work out now. But...

When was the book originally sent to the device? With the same versions of calibre and the plugin? Any chance of an error when it was first sent?

It might help to see the book. Is it somewhere I can get it legally? The ScrambleEbook plugin can produce a version that can be posted, but, it it is possible that would break whatever was the cause.

fogice · 03-16-2022, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

It's probably not going to be possible to work out now. But...

When was the book originally sent to the device? With the same versions of calibre and the plugin? Any chance of an error when it was first sent?

It might help to see the book. Is it somewhere I can get it legally? The ScrambleEbook plugin can produce a version that can be posted, but, it it is possible that would break whatever was the cause.

Thanks for offering to take a look at it!

I am 95% sure that I did not update Calibre or any extensions on Monday (initial upload) or Tuesday (when I found the error), and that I made no changes to the source file between upload attempts. I did not see an error reported when I transferred it; is there a log file I should check?

The book is fan fiction (original source), so it should be legal to post.

I extracted the original epub from my backup as it existed on Sunday, before I synced the Kobo on Monday. It looks like I also changed the cover (with Calibre) between the Sunday backup and the Monday first sync, so it isn't exact, but I hope that wouldn't change anything.

Chapter 11 in the kepub is missing.

fogice · 03-24-2022, 11:16 AM

Possible bug (or at least a difference of opinion?) with Smarten Punctuation:

If there are em dashes in the source, Smarten Punctuation adds a space before and after the em dash. This is considered incorrect in books.

Quote:

Most newspapers insert a space before and after the dash, and many popular magazines do the same, but most books and journals omit spacing, closing whatever comes before and after the em dash right up next to it. This website prefers the latter, its style requiring the closely held em dash in running text.

Merriam Webster: A Guide to Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Hyphens

I have a book with a lot of em dashes, and adding spaces makes for strange text layout.

davidfor · 03-24-2022, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fogice

Possible bug (or at least a difference of opinion?) with Smarten Punctuation:

If there are em dashes in the source, Smarten Punctuation adds a space before and after the em dash. This is considered incorrect in books.

Merriam Webster: A Guide to Em Dashes, En Dashes, and Hyphens

I have a book with a lot of em dashes, and adding spaces makes for strange text layout.

That sounds like one of the common complaints about the typography when using kepubs. They handling of these sort of things isn't quite correct. It is only visible when the text is justified. Personally, I remove the justification from anywhere that it isn't important as I do not see it as needed. And to be clear, this is not a problem with the driver, it is a problem with the renderer.

Also, the formatting around dashes is nowhere near as simple as that quote makes it out. It also varies with countries which includes which dash to use. In the end, it comes down to personal preferences of whoever created the book.

fogice · 03-31-2022, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fogice

I'm trying out my first Kobo (a Libra 2), and using this plugin. I was reading my second book, and found out that Chapter 11 had gone missing; all that was there was the chapter title. I pulled a copy of the kepub off of the Kobo and opened it with an editor, and confirmed that the text for the chapter was gone.

I deleted it from the Kobo and resent it, and this time it had the chapter intact. I didn't make any configuration changes. What's going on? I don't want to have to flip through every book I transfer to check for errors.

Calibre 5.38, KoboTouchExtended 3.5.4, MacOS 12.2.1

It happened again! This book was missing Chapter 17. I deleted it and re-sent it, and the chapter was there the second time. It kind of weirds me out that an algorithm is producing different results when run at different times. This book is copyrighted, though, so I can’t attach it.

For what it's worth, this is all of what's left of that chapter in the kepub:

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
  <head>
    <title>Unknown</title>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../kte-css/stylehacks.css"/>
  </head>
  <body><div id="book-columns"><div id="book-inner"></div></div></body></html>

and the following chapter starts as follows:

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en">
  <head>
    <title>Unknown</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../stylesheet.css"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="../../page_styles.css"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../kte-css/hyphenation.css"/>
    <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"/>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="../../kte-css/stylehacks.css"/>
  </head>
  <body class="calibre"><div id="book-columns"><div id="book-inner">
  <h1 class="block_9" id="toc_id_18"><span class="koboSpan" id="kobo.1.1">Chapter 18</span></h1>

  <p class="block_10">*</p>

  <p class="block_11"><span class="koboSpan" id="kobo.2.1">The fire was beginning to die out...

Quoth · 04-10-2022, 10:07 AM

Can I make this driver use kepub on the fly for one Kobo but epub for all the other Kobos?

02-18-2022, 03:46 AM	#2672
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Beta: Template to decide if to send as kepub I don't use kepubs all the time. And at the moment, I have a library I want to read as epubs and another as kepubs. Don't ask, it's just me. That means I change between the KoboTouch driver and the KoboTouchExtended driver depending on the library. And of course, I forget sometimes. So, I decided I wanted another way to do this. The obvious way is to have something about the book to decide if to do the kepub transformation or not. The attached add the ability to use a template to do this. If the template is set, and it returns a non-empty value, then the book will be sent as a kepub. If the template returns an empty value the books will be sent as an epub. This is optional. There is an option to turn this on and off. The template I am using is simple: Code: program: current_library_name()=='Incoming' But, it could be something else. For example, I don't find kepubs to have any real advantage for short stories. So, I could use: Code: program: $$#words > 5000 And that would mean books with more than 5000 words would be sent to as kepubs. While doing this, I had to make changes to the drivers configuration. I've always disliked it (sorry Joel) and broke down and reorganised it. The tab for the Extended driver is now organised into three sections: Send book as kepubs - This has a checkbox to enable or disable. Other Options - things that will happen whether the kepub transformation is done or not. Hyphenation - All the options related to hyphenation. I think I have the arrangement correct. It should also be more obvious with some options as they will be enabled or disabled based on others. For example, only one of the two options for hyphenation can be enabled at one time. And if the hyphenation is selected, the hyphenation values will be enabled, but, not at other times. There is probably some combination of options that will get the wrong fields enabled. I have been using this for a couple of weeks with no issues. I am happy the kepub template option works. I don't use the hyphenation or other options, so they have had only basic testing. If anyone finds the changes useful, please tell me. And if you find problems, or have suggestions, please tell me as well. Last edited by davidfor; 07-19-2022 at 04:41 AM. Reason: Removed beta as it has been released

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02-20-2022, 11:11 AM	#2673
giddie Member Posts: 19 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2017 Location: Birmingham, UK Device: Kobo Aura H2O	Thanks for your work on this plugin! I manage two Kobo devices with Calibre - my own and (occasionally) my wife's. For my own, I'd like Calibre to synchronise collections, so I have a column set up for that. But I don't want to overwrite my wife's collections on her device when I connect. Is there any way to set up this kind of per-device configuration, like the Kobo Utilities plugin does?

03-15-2022, 10:23 AM	#2679
fogice Addict Posts: 256 Karma: 49504 Join Date: May 2014 Device: Kobo Libra 2	I'm trying out my first Kobo (a Libra 2), and using this plugin. I was reading my second book, and found out that Chapter 11 had gone missing; all that was there was the chapter title. I pulled a copy of the kepub off of the Kobo and opened it with an editor, and confirmed that the text for the chapter was gone. I deleted it from the Kobo and resent it, and this time it had the chapter intact. I didn't make any configuration changes. What's going on? I don't want to have to flip through every book I transfer to check for errors. Calibre 5.38, KoboTouchExtended 3.5.4, MacOS 12.2.1

04-10-2022, 10:07 AM	#2685
Quoth Still reading Posts: 14,145 Karma: 105211945 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper	Can I make this driver use kepub on the fly for one Kobo but epub for all the other Kobos?