PRS-500 Sony Reader official developer site launched - PRSLabs.com

[cmumford]

Originally Posted by igorsk

It should be about instant. Check your spam filter or try another address.

Ah, the 'ol SPAM filter. Why didn't I think of that. Thanks.

[esperanc]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Everything you need to build a Windows tool is provided. A copy of Visual Studio C++ Express (a free download) and 10 lines of C code (provided by Sony), and you've got your very own LRS to LRF tool you can customize to your heart's content.

Has anyone tried to do this? I have tried it in python using the following code (which didn´t work):

from ctypes import *
xylog = windll.LoadLibrary("XylogParser.dll")

check = xylog.MSXML_InitInstance()

if check:
    success = xylog.XYP_Create()
    print "create=",success
    xylog.XYP_SetTextCompressionFlag(0)
    xylog.XYP_SetPCMCompressionFlag(0)
    xylog.XYP_SetFontEncFlag(0)
    xylog.XYP_SetProducerName(u"test")
    #XYP_SetMsgWnd(wnd);
    #XYP_SetMsgID(WM_USER + 100)
    parse = xylog.XYP_ParseDocument(u"test.lrs")
    print "parse=",parse
    xylog.XYP_Release()

Incidentally, the output is

create= 1
parse= 0

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by NatCh

I have signed up on the board, scotty1024, I'm trying to figure out a way to get a corrected copy back to them since they don't allow you to post attachments on their board.

Well then you know they don't encourage posting the downloads from that site all over the place.

I really think they're all dead. You all keep claiming they read MR, never heard from them here (PM, Posting, nor Email). Someone puts up prslabs.com to communicate with content developers, but we never hear from them on that BBS.

Dead, they're all dead I tell ya. Maybe Stringer cashiered them all and their jobs are all being off shored?

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by esperanc

Has anyone tried to do this? I have tried it in python using the following code (which didn´t work):

parse = xylog.XYP_ParseDocument(u"test.lrs")

I'm not a snake charmer but I can hum a few bars.

My guess would be that the current working directory for the DLL isn't what you expect it to be. I would suggest you replace "test.lrs" with "C:\My\Exact\Path\test.lrs".

Hope that helps.

[sic]

scotty1024
I think you're right
seriously though I don't get what they want.
Their licenses are very restrictive.
In my understanding it only allows "lone wolf" development for personal use... it doesn't encourage or permit any kind of community effort.
e.g. see my previous note about posting the DTD here on MR... wouldn't that violate their terms?

[esperanc]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

I'm not a snake charmer but I can hum a few bars.

My guess would be that the current working directory for the DLL isn't what you expect it to be. I would suggest you replace "test.lrs" with "C:\My\Exact\Path\test.lrs".

Hope that helps.

Humm... I tried that, but unfortunately it didn´t work either. But you might have gotten near the answer. I tried to set the name of the lrs file first using

xylog.XYP_SetXmlFileName(ur"C:\test.lrs")

This returns an error code 11 (the number of chars in the string?). The file is there all right so the thing should not complain...

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by esperanc

This returns an error code 11 (the number of chars in the string?).
xylog.XYP_SetXmlFileName(ur"C:\test.lrs")

Things I'd check:

1. Does that ur mean "16 bit character string with a 0 character at the end of the string?
2. Where did test.lrs come from? Are you using one of the sample projects provided by Sony? Is the path for the required CThumbnail correct? I'm also pretty sure the LRS file has to be in UTF-16LE with the 16 bit marker character 0xfffe as the first character. I don't think it will eat UTF-8 even if that encoding is set in the XML marker e.g. 'encoding="UTF-8"?>' isn't respected.
3. If you can setup the MsgID and MsgWnd you might get better error messages.

[obelix]

What Sony did is just gave us the stuff we already know (thanks to igorsk).

1. XYLogparser.dll. The same XYLogParser (from BookCreator) we are using for more than a year with the lrs2lrf wrapper by igorsk. Moreover new XYLogparser.dll is fully compatible with the lrs2lrf and produces the same result.
2. Wrapper interface. Almost no difference compared to lrs2lrf (except probably some more functions like TOC, author etc). But the same result could be achived with the lrs content and lrs2lrf.
3. LRS specification. The same to published previously and found by igorsk 3 month ago.

May be they fixed known bug from previous parser, I did not check.

The same l-o-o-o-ng conversion. Just checked: both XYLogParsers.dll (the old one and new one) do conversion of some book for 5 minutes, while homemade MSH_LRSparser do the same for 2 seconds! With absolutely the same result.

I don't think we can expect from Sony something really useful.

[scotty1024]

The useful thing we got from prslabs.com is permission to use the dll, which was something we didn't have before.

[sic]

scotty, I don't think so:

2. Do we need license for our business?
If you want to use the tool provided here for commercial purposes, please contact Sony to get a license for it.

[esperanc]

Originally Posted by scotty1024

Things I'd check:

1. Does that ur mean "16 bit character string with a 0 character at the end of the string?
2. Where did test.lrs come from? Are you using one of the sample projects provided by Sony? Is the path for the required CThumbnail correct? I'm also pretty sure the LRS file has to be in UTF-16LE with the 16 bit marker character 0xfffe as the first character. I don't think it will eat UTF-8 even if that encoding is set in the XML marker e.g. 'encoding="UTF-8"?>' isn't respected.
3. If you can setup the MsgID and MsgWnd you might get better error messages.

1. Yes.
2. The file is the OZ example downloaded from prslabs, so it should work...
3. You are right about that, but given the post above by obelix I think it is just too much work for too little gain. I was hoping that the .dll would support some things that MSH_parser does not support yet, namely plot commands for images...

Thanks for the help!

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by esperanc

2. The file is the OZ example downloaded from prslabs, so it should work...

Should is one of my most favorite English words. I agree with you, it should work. Sony should be interested in publishing a sample project that worked with their parser.

Alas, it doesn't and thus apparently they aren't.

After publishing a document on the topic of picking the proper values to put in the <BookID> they of course chose to use a value that is improper and the parser refuses to accept. You need to alter "CBUS00100000200C" to be "FBUS00100000200C".

You then of course need to make sure the "data\t_book19.gif" is supplied properly.

Even after all of that? The resulting LRF is 5K different in size from the published reference LRF file that the LRS is supposed to produce. But the Sony does view it properly whatever the difference in size.

And for those following along using Vista, yes, the parser rolls over dead if it generates any error during parsing and Vista offers to search Microsoft for a fix for it.

So long as the parser runs with no errors, it runs on Vista.

[scotty1024]

Originally Posted by sic

scotty, I don't think so:

Evidently you missed the part where for non-commercial uses you do have permission to use it. And for commercial uses there is a mechanism to request permission to use it.

Neither of which existed before, and while the parser is of dubious quality, its release by Sony is a step forward on Sony's part.

[phigdon]

Originally Posted by Leaping Gnome

Haha, Paris Hilton read a book.

paris hilton can read?

[Alexander Turcic]

Originally Posted by phigdon

paris hilton can read?

It's called a comic.