[Conversion Output] KFX Output

[njpig]

Hi jhowell,

I generated kfx format with the command:
calibre-debug -r "KFX Output" -- input.epub output.kfx

However, continuous scrolling did not work with some epub books on Android.

I attached the log files for your reference. Could you please have a look at them?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by njpig

However, continuous scrolling did not work with some epub books on Android.

I attached the log files for your reference. Could you please have a look at them?

I looked at those logs and did some testing on my own.

I was able to determine that continuous scrolling is not available in either the Android or iOS Kindle apps for books that contain large tables. This will be indicated in the conversion log by "yj_table-8" appearing within "Features".

You should be able to work around this by editing the source file for the book prior to conversion to split up tables so that they have no more than 65 rows and 8 columns. (I believe those are the limits, but I am not certain.)

[njpig]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I looked at those logs and did some testing on my own.

I was able to determine that continuous scrolling is not available in either the Android or iOS Kindle apps for books that contain large tables. This will be indicated in the conversion log by "yj_table-8" appearing within "Features".

You should be able to work around this by editing the source file for the book prior to conversion to split up tables so that they have no more than 65 rows and 8 columns. (I believe those are the limits, but I am not certain.)

Thanks a lot!

Following your helpful sharing, I found out that colspan="1000" in <td class="calibre13" colspan="1000"> caused more than 8 columns.

After columns is set to "0", the issue disappears.

[kindleSeltzer]

Morning jhowell,

Having two strange bugs

1) Some books have successful logs but the page numbers are read as really large numbers on my kindle, for example the book logged has 2019299 pages.


2) All the page numbers are slightly off. If I set the page numbers to 330 using a column my kindle is as likely to read it as 321, 339, or 368 (generally off by 10-40 pages).

Have converted many books in the past to no issue. Perhaps it was updating Kindle Previewer that caused it?

Any ideas why this is happening?

Thanks!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by kindleSeltzer

Morning jhowell,

Having two strange bugs

1) Some books have successful logs but the page numbers are read as really large numbers on my kindle, for example the book logged has 2019299 pages.


2) All the page numbers are slightly off. If I set the page numbers to 330 using a column my kindle is as likely to read it as 321, 339, or 368 (generally off by 10-40 pages).

Have converted many books in the past to no issue. Perhaps it was updating Kindle Previewer that caused it?

Any ideas why this is happening?

Thanks!

That is strange. I have been unable to duplicate those problems in the books I use for testing. Something about the content of those books seems to be triggering this.

It would help see those KFX files so I can see what about them could be causing this problem. If it they are not under copyright then you can attach them to a post here after zipping them. If they are copyrighted then do not post them to MobileRead. In that case if you can put them somewhere else and PM me a link that would be best.

[kindleSeltzer]

Originally Posted by jhowell

That is strange. I have been unable to duplicate those problems in the books I use for testing. Something about the content of those books seems to be triggering this.

It would help see those KFX files so I can see what about them could be causing this problem. If it they are not under copyright then you can attach them to a post here after zipping them. If they are copyrighted then do not post them to MobileRead. In that case if you can put them somewhere else and PM me a link that would be best.

Will send you a PM, thanks!

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by kindleSeltzer

Will send you a PM, thanks!

Thanks! I will take a look and get back to you.

[troubledMan]

Hi Howell (&all),

after updating Kindle Previewer to the last version (3.50.0), I'm finding the following messaging in the standard OUT (i.e., the screen):

⋮
Removed 1 KDF SQLite file fingerprint(s)
WARNING: Unknown KCB data: metadata/edited_tool_versions=3.50.0
WARNING: Unknown KCB data: metadata/tool_version=3.50.0
kfxgen version: kfxlib-20201118
Features: CanonicalFormat-1, kfxgen.pidMapWithOffset-1, kfxgen.textBlock-1, max_id-787, reflow-section-size-3, reflow-style-2, yj_table-5
WARNING: Unknown kindle_audit_metadata: creator_version=3.50.0
⋮

What's the meaning of these warnings? May I have any concern about them?

As always, thank you very much.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by troubledMan

WARNING: Unknown KCB data: metadata/edited_tool_versions=3.50.0
WARNING: Unknown KCB data: metadata/tool_version=3.50.0
WARNING: Unknown kindle_audit_metadata: creator_version=3.50.0

What's the meaning of these warnings? May I have any concern about them?

Those warnings indicate that the version of the Kindle Previewer that was used to create the KFX file was not in the list of known versions that is kept within the KFX Output plugin. The warning is given because of the possibility that future updates to the Kindle Previewer might be incompatible with the plugin.

This is caused by using a Kindle Previewer version that is newer than the KFX Output plugin release. The latest plugin version does support KPR 3.50.0 so it means that you are using an outdated version of this plugin. Update it and the warnings should go away.

[troubledMan]

Originally Posted by jhowell

...

Update it and the warnings should go away.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by kindleSeltzer

Will send you a PM, thanks!

Thanks for providing those files. From them I was able to determine the cause of the problem in creating page numbers.

It turns out that the algorithm I was using fails badly if a book contains paragraphs that a longer than one page. One of your sample books actually has very long paragraphs. I suppose that is just the writer's style. The other looks like it has normal sized paragraphs, but the HTML is actually coded with line breaks and indentation to make it appear as if there are separate paragraphs when in fact there are actually only a few very large paragraphs.

I will rework the page number algorithm to handle these cases and release a new version of this plugin. I expect it to be ready sometime next week.

Thanks again.

[jhowell]

Version 1.49.0 - 09 Feb 2021

Improve the algorithm for generating page numbers to better handle books containing large paragraphs.

Always include the console output of the Kindle Previewer in the conversion log.

Fail with a specific error message if Wine is not accessible to calibre when running under Linux.

Is the Calibre viewer capable of showing KFX?

• I've set Preferences> Behavior> Preferred output format: KFX
• But the same dialog in "Use Internal Viewer for" does not list KFX
• When viewing a book with Alt-v, I selected "Open KFX with..." and picked "c:\Program Files\Calibre2\ebook-viewer.exe" manually
• But when the viewer starts, it returns error "No plugin to handle input format: kfx"

Full viewer error trace:

Spoiler:

calibre, version 5.11.0
ERROR: Loading book failed: Failed to open the book at C:\my\Calibre Library\John Grisham\Udaryt-12656 (15)\Udaryt-12656 - John Grisham.kfx. Click "Show details" for more info.

Failed to convert book: C:\my\Calibre Library\John Grisham\Udaryt-12656 (15)\Udaryt-12656 - John Grisham.kfx with error:
DeDRM v7.0.3: Trying to decrypt Udaryt-12656 - John Grisham.kfx
Unknown booktype kfx. Passing back to calibre unchanged
Failed to run pipe worker with command: from calibre.srv.render_book import viewer_main; viewer_main()
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "runpy.py", line 194, in _run_module_as_main
File "runpy.py", line 87, in _run_code
File "site.py", line 82, in <module>
File "site.py", line 77, in main
File "site.py", line 49, in run_entry_point
File "calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 197, in main
File "<string>", line 1, in <module>
File "calibre\srv\render_book.py", line 867, in viewer_main
File "calibre\srv\render_book.py", line 858, in render_for_viewer
File "calibre\srv\render_book.py", line 835, in render
File "calibre\ebooks\oeb\iterator\book.py", line 54, in extract_book
File "calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 755, in __init__
ValueError: No plugin to handle input format: kfx

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by valexiev

Is the Calibre viewer capable of showing KFX?

The calibre ebook viewer does not directly support KFX format. You can open KFX files with with the calibre ebook viewer if you first install the KFX Input plugin. Doing that will allow KFX books to be converted to EPUB for viewing.

You can also open KFX file for viewing with the Kindle Previewer. That will better reflect how the KFX format will appear in a Kindle device or app. This post has information on how to make the Kindle Previewer the default viewer for KFX under Windows.

[raghiid]

Is there any way to install Kindle Previewer on an older mac that doesn't support the latest version?