Collection Builder

[pepak]

Originally Posted by vvaidy

This is terrific ... but is there documentation on how the collections system works? I gather it is an XML file, but I'm wondering if there is a doc that describes the file, format, etc.

There is a documentation in Czech language here:
http://www.pepak.net/e-books/prs-505-sbirky/

As far as english docs are concerned, there are just the comments in the sample INI file. Please check them out and if anything is not clear enough, ask here and I'll answer.

The reason I ask is that I would like to modify one of these two programs to work with some other software I use, and it isnt quite clear to me exactly how Collections are stored on the PRS 505. Thanks!

PRS-505 stores collections in media.xml or cache.xml (depends on media - internal memory uses one, memory cards the other). The syntax is slightly different in each, but it pretty much boils down to something like this:

<playlist name="My collections of books">
  <item id="123" />
  <item id="567" />
  <item id="159" />
</playlist>

Collection Builder just generates this XML according to its definition files (which tend to be easier to maintain and update than the XMLs).

[LWR]

Is there much interest in a Mac version of this?

I had a quick look at the source code - seeing a bit of Delphi took me back a few years, bringing a lump to my throat and a tear to my eyes

Let me know if there's some interest in a Mac/Cocoa version and I'll put something together - can't quite bring myself to do a Pyhton version - those apps all look too ugly

[elegant]

deleted

[pepak]

Tool updated to support Calibre 0.6. It won't work with current version, though - there is a bug in ebook-meta.exe which prevents Collection Builder from working, but the ticked was accepted and bug fixed by Kovid, so the next version of Calibre should work again.

[kensuguro]

hi pepak, thanks for the great tool!

I'm trying to do a "collections based on directories" method with your tool, but don't know how to piece together the regex to do so. Can you show us some sample lines as starting point? I know simple regex that I use for coding, but I don't know how to use it for commandline.

[pepak]

Why don't you post a list of 5-6 books to give me an idea of your naming scheme? With that at hand, I can build you an example regexp.

[kensuguro]

well, I don't really have a set list, just a bunch of directories like:

social capital basics/book1.pdf
social capital basics/book2.pdf
social capital Japan/book1.pdf
social capital Japan/book2.pdf
gametheory/book1.pdf

and so on. I want to auto generate the collections by directory name, so this list will end up being collections:
social capital basics
social capital Japan
gametheory

hope that makes sense. I should master regex one of these days...

[pepak]

Should be easy enough to do, if I didn't make some stupid error while coding (I use playlist-based collections).

CollectionRegExp = ([^/]+)/([^/]+)$
CollectionRegExpTitle = $1

If you want to run it from CMD, these parameters should do the trick:

-cr ([^^/]+)/([^^/]+)$ -crt $1

[kensuguro]

thanks a bunch, I'll try it when I get home. Thank you for your prompt reply too.

[Kostas]

Hi kensugurro,

pepak's tool is great, but if you want simply to autogenerate collections based on directories you might want to try mngr505.
Actually, there is no need to use the tool to create the folders on your PRS. You can create them with your usual file manager under the root directory where ebooks are stored (database\media\books).
When you've finished, run mngr505 and choose the command "scan and create collections".
It will create collections based on your existing file structure on your prs 505. Only one level of folders is supported.

[pepak]

Even more fixes for Calibre 0.6.

[xzf]

Originally Posted by gwynevans

I haven't got time myself, because things are getting busy at work, but I've attached a Python script that I wrote a while back to create collections from file names (of the form 'author [- series N ] - title.lrf') in case you want to try yourself, as it might help getting started.

I'm not sure if it's 100% correct though, as when I just ran it, the Reader showed the "sd" icon by the collections, although they seemed to work OK!

Run with the file to modify as an argument, e.g. "lrfCategorize.py F:\database\cache\media.xml"

Thanks!
I made a quick mod on that script to use the last subdirectory instead of the series.
And it works fine for me..
Note: Windows users should change (SEP="/" to SEP="\\")

[cnf]

Originally Posted by LWR

Is there much interest in a Mac version of this?

I had a quick look at the source code - seeing a bit of Delphi took me back a few years, bringing a lump to my throat and a tear to my eyes

Let me know if there's some interest in a Mac/Cocoa version and I'll put something together - can't quite bring myself to do a Pyhton version - those apps all look too ugly

I'd love a Cocoa version, please :P

[cnf]

Originally Posted by Kostas

Hi kensugurro,

pepak's tool is great, but if you want simply to autogenerate collections based on directories you might want to try mngr505.
Actually, there is no need to use the tool to create the folders on your PRS. You can create them with your usual file manager under the root directory where ebooks are stored (database\media\books).
When you've finished, run mngr505 and choose the command "scan and create collections".
It will create collections based on your existing file structure on your prs 505. Only one level of folders is supported.

mngr505 is buggy as hell for me. It either crashes like a maniac, or it creates the same empty collections every time I ask it to create collections. (as in, it creates doubles, or triples, or quadruples etc of the same empty collections)

[pepak]

Version 0.08 brings support for national characters in collection names.
http://www.pepak.net/files/e-books/colbuild-0.08.zip