[GUI Plugin] FanFictionDownLoader

[JimmXinu]

@cryzed -

Background tasks have no ability call any of the GUI APIs, or even any of the library access APIs.

[cryzed]

Ah, I figured it would be something like that. As always, thanks for the great plugin and I really appreciate your work.

[JimmXinu]

[ap_aelfwine]

Hello,

I installed Calibre earlier today, and just tried to install the Fanfiction Downloader plugin. Unfortunately, I got the following error message:

calibre, version 1.0.0
ERROR: Plug-in installation failed: A problem occurred while installing this plug-in. This plug-in will now be uninstalled. Please post the error message from the details below into the forum thread for this plug-in and restart Calibre.

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/gui2/dialogs/plugin_updater.py", line 677, in _install_clicked
plugin = add_plugin(zip_path)
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/customize/ui.py", line 361, in add_plugin
plugin = load_plugin(path_to_zip_file)
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/customize/ui.py", line 53, in load_plugin
return loader.load(path_to_zip_file)
File "/usr/lib/calibre/calibre/customize/zipplugin.py", line 183, in load
ans.minimum_calibre_version))))
InvalidPlugin: The plugin at /tmp/calibre_1.0.0_tmp_E_LB6s/krddnn.zip needs a version of calibre >= 1.13.0

I'm using Linux Mint 16 Petra with the Cinnamon Desktop on an Acer Aspire One, and I installed Calibre from the Software Manager. I've been wanting a fanfiction downloader ever since FFN decided to disable Flagfic.com, and am really hoping to make this work. I'd be grateful for advice about how to fix this. It looks as if it's calling for a later version of Calibre, but I don't see how to update my installation.

Sorry if this is a stupid newbie question, but I'm only using Linux for a couple of months and this is the first I've ever tried to use Calibre at all.

Thank you very much in advance,
Andrew

[cryzed]

To avoid possible conflicts uninstall the Calibre package with your package manager first and then follow the instructions found here, specifically the "Binary Install" section.

Alternatively you could also check if someone provides a private repository with more up-to-date Calibre packages and add it to your package manager, but that would be more work and more complicated.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by JimmXinu

@cryzed -

Background tasks have no ability call any of the GUI APIs, or even any of the library access APIs.

Well, you could run the story check and metadata fetch in a job, return the result and prompt the user as needed and then start the existing download job. Of course, it wouldn't be as simple as that, but it should work.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by ap_aelfwine

calibre, version 1.0.0
ERROR: Plug-in installation failed: A problem occurred while installing this plug-in. This plug-in will now be uninstalled. Please post the error message from the details below into the forum thread for this plug-in and restart Calibre.
...
InvalidPlugin: The plugin at /tmp/calibre_1.0.0_tmp_E_LB6s/krddnn.zip needs a version of calibre >= 1.13.0
...

cryzed's answer is correct, but didn't explain why. Your Linux version has a fairly old version of caliber and FFDL requires at least calibre v1.13.0.

[JimmXinu]

Originally Posted by davidfor

Well, you could run the story check and metadata fetch in a job, return the result and prompt the user as needed and then start the existing download job. Of course, it wouldn't be as simple as that, but it should work.

Launching a BG job takes several seconds all by itself in my experience. So it would in fact take more time depending on how many URLs and the sites involved. Plus passing complex data to and from BG jobs is limited to objects that can be pickled, as I recall.

So while it's technically possible, it would be complicated and not necessarily an improvement.

[Firedancer885]

Hi Jimm,

I have a question. Can you tell me which adapter(s) I should look at so this

Spoiler:

<div class="listbox">
<br><br><b>Summary:</b> The days before the battle and the aftermath. Because there's some fallout coming. <br />
<b>Rating:</b> FRT<br />
<b>Category:</b> <a href='browse.php?type=categories&amp;catid=15'>Buf fy Stories & Crossovers</a> > <a href='browse.php?type=categories&amp;catid=28'>Ave ngers</a><br />
<b>Characters:</b> None<br />

<!-- <b>Challenge:</b> <br /> --><b>Series:</b> <a href="viewseries.php?seriesid=6">Chaos GHS</a><br />
<b>Chapter: </b> 1 <b>Completed:</b> Yes <br />
<b>Words:</b> 14477 <b>Read:</b> 410<br />
<b>Published:</b> 05/29/2014 <b>Updated:</b> 05/29/2014 </div>

would parse correctly?
It's an E-fiction site.
My main problems are the Published and Updated dates. I alway get a strftime error.

[cryzed]

Looks like you mean this story? The problem as far as I can tell is that currently only an adapter for the http://imagine.e-fic.com/ site exists, but not for the http://voracity2.e-fic.com/ site. I'm not sure why the plugin assumes the imagine.e-fic.com and voracity2.e-fic.com are the same domains, maybe that should be fixed somewhere, i.e. also respect subdomains.

I'll try and see if I can implement a working adapter module for it.

[Firedancer885]

cryzed,

I'm trying to put together an adapter for the voracity2 site. That's why I asked about the adapters. I'm fairly new to python.

[Firedancer885]

The plugin assumes nothing of the sort. I rewrote another adapter and tested it with the cli version of FFDL. That's when I got the errors.

[cryzed]

Ah, I see. You need to create a new adapter module in this case, using the adapter_imagineeficcom.py as a template should help you out. For the datetime parsing I would check out the Python documentation here. Once you figure out the correct format string you need, you can use the makeDate function contained in the base_adapter.py module (compare line 61, 247 and 250 in the adapter_imagineeficcom.py file).

EDIT: Ah now I actually understand the context of your question, I wasn't aware you were trying to develop your own adapter. The advice above should be able to help you along hopefully.

[Firedancer885]

I know what to do with the format string. Even after I wrote in the correct format, the downloader gave an error back. I think the problem is with the whole metadata section (beginning with line 200 of the imagineeficcom adapter.) I uncommented the print statement in the file I rewrote, and checked the output. The voracity2 site gave the code I put in above, so I'm fairly sure there is an issue with the changes in formatting.

[cryzed]

Yeah the chapter metadata isn't contained in labels anymore it seems, you would have to fiddle around with the BeautifulSoup parsing.