[GUI Plugin] OverDrive Libby

[sgmoore]

Originally Posted by foosion

Plus, if possible, the "monitor folder for new acsm and if so download to calibre" function.

Calibre already has a built in option to do that.

I have mine setup to exclude all the files types that I don't want to automatically import especially pdf, txt and zip files so that it doesn't interfere with normal browser downloads.

[foosion]

Originally Posted by sgmoore

Calibre already has a built in option to do that.

I have mine setup to exclude all the files types that I don't want to automatically import especially pdf, txt and zip files so that it doesn't interfere with normal browser downloads.

Very nice. Thank you for pointing that out.

Is it possible to figure out automatically which page libbyapp.com goes to when you click "Manage Loan" for a specific book from the first page (my browser is not showing a link when I hover)? How about the link for "Read with ..." from that page?

[miss_p1nky]

Originally Posted by foosion

Yes. Right-clicking on Libby leads me to a page that lets me read the book on my computer ("open book"), but not download the acsm. Overdrive leads me to a page that allows me to borrow the book (perhaps because I have multiple cards and it defaults to one that may not have been the one I borrowed from).

At the bottom of the libby page there's a "read with ..." and underlined epub, but clicking on epub just gives me a popup saying download a file that can be read, rather than downloading the file.

I have the feeling I'm missing something.

Plus, if possible, the "monitor folder for new acsm and if so download to calibre" function.

EDIT: The useful links, from which I can download the acsm file, are in the form https://libbyapp.com/shelf/loans/123...012345/fulfill

I don't think the plugin will ever be able to pinpoint to the exact libby page of the book just like OD does. They're different in that matter. Even in Libby's native search, it will show you the book and the list of libraries having it or not having it, it never shows you the book page directly like OD. So you're asking too much here and not something possible. The plugin was mainly created to make it easier to manage books across different libraries and I think it has done so good so far. Though I'll always mourn the loss of the download feature.

If you'd like to go to a certain libby page, use Library Extension or better, libbysearch.com. But those 2 are search website/add-on, not to manage your Libby holds & loans.

Downloading ACSM always takes several steps even when it was still in OD. First you borrow, second you click Download EPUB, third you accept that it can only be opened in ADE, only after that a save dialogue appears. Libby also the same, you click Borrow, you click Manage Loan, click Read With, click EPUB. Even when the plugin was working, it can't condense the steps into one.

[sgmoore]

Originally Posted by foosion

The useful links, from which I can download the acsm file, are in the form https://libbyapp.com/shelf/loans/123...012345/fulfill

Originally Posted by miss_p1nky

I don't think the plugin will ever be able to pinpoint to the exact libby page of the book just like OD does. .

Actually it may be possible to get to the https://libbyapp.com/shelf/loans/xxxx-yyyy/fulfill page which is probably one click away from actually downloading the book.

The xxxx part looks like it is the card number and the yyyy is the book id.

If you want to test this you can download a quick hacked version which adds opening this url as an extra step when you click on the download.

This isn't released yet but you can download it from https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2119132360

Note this is an extra step, so the plugin still attempts to download the book, so when you come back to calibre, it be will displaying the error saying the download failed.

Please test and report back especially if you have multiple libraries.

[foosion]

Originally Posted by sgmoore

Actually it may be possible to get to the https://libbyapp.com/shelf/loans/xxxx-yyyy/fulfill page which is probably one click away from actually downloading the book.

The xxxx part looks like it is the card number and the yyyy is the book id.

If you want to test this you can download a quick hacked version which adds opening this url as an extra step when you click on the download.

This isn't released yet but you can download it from https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2119132360

Note this is an extra step, so the plugin still attempts to download the book, so when you come back to calibre, it be will displaying the error saying the download failed.

Please test and report back especially if you have multiple libraries.

Based on quick tests with a few different libraries, it worked perfectly (other than as you noted getting the download failed error). Excellent!

This plus Calibre's automatic adding function make it much easier to download books.

If it's not too much work, could you also remove the attempted download feature, so that we don't get the 403 error?



EDIT: If I click download immediately after borrowing libbyapp won't find the loan. If I wait a few seconds and refresh it's there.

[sgmoore]

Originally Posted by foosion

If it's not too much work, could you also remove the attempted download feature, so that we don't get the 403 error?

Sure. https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2119616222

Just one thing to be aware of. This creates an empty book entry when you click on the download button This wasn't deliberate but on the other hand it is handy if you have the plugin configured to fill in tags or some custom columns, so I quite like the feature.

When you import the actual ebook I would assume that the entries will be merged.

But I can forsee it causing confusion if you aren't aware of this, so I may disable this by default and provide a way to enabling it for some - but that will take a little more time.

[foosion]

Originally Posted by sgmoore

Sure. https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2119616222

Just one thing to be aware of. This creates an empty book entry when you click on the download button This wasn't deliberate but on the other hand it is handy if you have the plugin configured to fill in tags or some custom columns, so I quite like the feature.

When you import the actual ebook I would assume that the entries will be merged.

But I can forsee it causing confusion if you aren't aware of this, so I may disable this by default and provide a way to enabling it for some - but that will take a little more time.

And since it first creates an empty book Calibre asks if you want to add the duplicate. When you get the chance, please disable it. Otherwise, works very nicely.

Only slightly more clicks than the old download button. The process goes through the libby website, which libby seems to want.

[ComputerGranny]

Originally Posted by foosion

Libby changed things internally so the version of the plugin you are using doesn't work any more. You should use the latest, which is posted by sgmoore a few posts above. Using the sonos code does no longer works, at least not for many. You might want to read back a bunch of posts to see various issues with the plugin, including losing the ability to download.

I appreciate you responding. I was afraid it was something like this. I have been reading back through the thread for quite a while, but just don't seem to understand all the issues. I'll keep working at it and look for the version of plugin you recommend.

Thanks for trying to educate this old gal.

[sgmoore]

Originally Posted by foosion

And since it first creates an empty book Calibre asks if you want to add the duplicate. When you get the chance, please disable it.

Try https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2120115337

Can you also tell me what happens if you hold down shift while clicking on the download button. It will open two urls and the first is the same as before, but what happens with the second. (This is a very long shot and doesn't work for me so I don't expect it will work for you, but things that work for me don't seem to work of some users and vice-versa, so you never know)

[foosion]

Originally Posted by sgmoore

Try https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...cts/2120115337

Can you also tell me what happens if you hold down shift while clicking on the download button. It will open two urls and the first is the same as before, but what happens with the second. (This is a very long shot and doesn't work for me so I don't expect it will work for you, but things that work for me don't seem to work of some users and vice-versa, so you never know)

Regular click was perfect.

First try for shift-click got:

Unsolved problem
We're looking into what happened. Please give us a few minutes before trying again.

Guru Meditation: 500

[PeterT]

Originally Posted by foosion

Regular click was perfect.

First try for shift-click got:

Unsolved problem
We're looking into what happened. Please give us a few minutes before trying again.

Guru Meditation: 500

Same here; I will admit my environment is different to most; calibre on a Chromebook (so calibre is running in the linux environment0. Both URLs open as expected in my regular chrome browser on the chromeos desktop.

[sgmoore]

It has been over a year since ping said he/she was "taking a step back from active development in the near future" and over a year since the last commit to https://github.com/ping/libby-calibre-plugin.

Since then the official release no longer works and requires users to manually load a forked version. This is is non-obvious, I think this is causing issues, especially with new users.

Since no-one else has volunteered, I have put myself forward to try to maintain this project. (My username both here and at github is sgmoore and my first name is Stephen) The mods have changed the first message on this thread to allow me to update it. So unless most of you (as users of the plugin) strongly object, my forked version will shortly become the official version and updates available via calibre plugins. If ping should decide to return, then I will have no problem standing down.

But I think it is important to be honest about expectations.

So first the bad news.

I don't think that the downloads feature will ever be restored.
If this feature is essential to you, then I am sorry, but I don't think I can help.
At the moment there is no way to download either magazines or audiobooks and for ebooks the best we can do is open the libbyapp webpage.


I admit I am not the ideal person to maintain this project.

When ping was looking for maintainers, I did not volunteer mainly because I did not consider that I had the necessary skills to do so. In particular

1. I have very little experience in Python (which is the programming language that Calibre and this plugin use)
2. I have no experience with web-programming.
3. I have no experience with Language localisation.

On the plus side,

A mediocre maintainer is better than none.

I really like this plugin especially the search facility and want to try to keep it working as long as I can and even improve the searching.

Although I have very little python experience, I am a retired programmer (mainly C#) so not completely clueless.

The future

If you have issues, you can post here or at https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-calibre-plugin/issues (I will shortly post a message to pings issues page requesting that we don't create new issues there, mainly because no-one is able to close them).

Before releasing the official version, I would like to publish one more test (see https://github.com/sgmoore/libby-cal...s/tag/v0.1.9.3 ) and am looking for a few people to test one particular, namely the setup procedure. (Setting up using a code for the sonos speakers works for me and I would like to see if it works for others)

Ideally I would like a few brave people to rename their overdrive_libby.json settings file and configure this plugin from scratch to see if it works.

There is also a fallback procedure if this does not work. If you extract a token from the website and copy it to your clipboard, then this can be used in place of a setup code.

At the moment the help pages have not been updated and the plugin still goes to pages on ping's repo.

Pull requests for changes either to code or documentation or localization are welcome, with one exception - namely I may not accept any PR's that I think would likely result in a DMCA takedown.

[PeterT]

I did a quick install of .1.9.3, removed all the existing configuration files then redid setup using the SONOS method. Worked like a charm.

Also tried a download (aka open in LibbyApp) and again all worked as expected.

So at least my test says it's good to go!

[shellio]

I have fortuitously found this thread today while trying to figure out how to make the Kobo colour work for my kids, and save the $ of buying kindles with colour. I am not savvy with the code references but I’ve tried to read through the previous threads. THANK YOU for updating this. I downloaded .1.9.3 after using “remove plug in” for the previous version that I had downloaded directly through calibre. I didn’t manually remove any files in case that matters- but I had just downloaded it this morning and hadn’t been able to get it to set up anyway.

I was able to set up after adding the new plug in from files and use the “Sonos” option. I have several library cards and they all show up in the “cards” heading with the accurate loans and holds numbers. All of my holds show up. The loans section is blank, and when I update it does tell me how many loans I have at the bottom. When I click on “open in libbyapp.com” nothing happens (no link opens in my browser). Hope this helps you, I appreciate your time in working on this.

[natabat]

I can also confirm that .1.9.3 works as expected using the Sonos method -- I uninstalled ping's version, moved the leftover config files, and installed yours. Everything came over, and I can use the "Open in libbyapp.com" button to get to the "read with" page to download the files.

Thanks for taking this on! Happy to help troubleshoot and bug fix as I have time (I'm also a C# programmer with a little bit of Python, but I have 2 little kids so time is in short supply.)