[GUI Plugin] Prince PDF

Jellby · 12-26-2013, 07:39 AM

This plugin converts a book to PDF using Prince (www.princexml.com). Prince can create PDF files with typographical quality, and supports some advanced features like real footnotes and floats, different page styles, etc.

This is the calibre plugin version of my previous script, which is available in two other versions:

Bash script version: here
Stand-alone GUI version: here

It is implemented as a GUI plugin rather than a conversion plugin because it may use some non-standard metadata and otherwise unused files, which are not available in normal conversion.

Only a few formats can be converted with this plugin, mainly EPUB, AZW3 and HTMLZ.

The resulting PDF can be added to the book record or saved to disk.

As with the other versions, this plugin will use, if it exists in the book, a special CSS file tagged in the metadata section of the OPF file as:

Code:

<meta name="prince-style" content="pdfoutput_css" />

where "pdfoutput_css" is the id of the CSS file in the manifest. A custom CSS file to be used with all conversions can also be configured.

So far, it has only been tested with ePub files and in Linux (and to some extent in Windows). If anyone tries it with other formats and/or in other platforms, please notify me of any issues.

Special Notes:

Prince is a third-party tool that must be installed separately. (www.princexml.com)

Translations:
Want to translate the plugin to another language? Use transifex.

Older versions
If you need an older version for compatibility with an older calibre, you can find previous versions in GitHub.

Version History:

Spoiler:

BetterRed · 12-26-2013, 09:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

So far, it has only been tested with ePub files and in linux. If tries it with other formats and/or in other platforms, please notify me of any issues.

Happy to test, but it wont install on Calibre for Windows 64 bit - see attachment

BR

Jellby · 12-26-2013, 09:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Happy to test, but it wont install on Calibre for Windows 64 bit - see attachment

Sure, because I cannot say win or mac are supported without testing, and if they are not supported you cannot install...

I don't know if there's any other way to do it, but you may try downloading and installing the attachment in this post. (Edit: attachment removed, old version.)

theducks · 12-26-2013, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Happy to test, but it wont install on Calibre for Windows 64 bit - see attachment

BR

BR
You may be able to do a Manual install Via Preferences:Plugins: Add Plugins (what you would also do for a beta version.

The Get PI tool reads/uses the Index here at MR

BetterRed · 12-26-2013, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

Sure, because I cannot say win or mac are supported without testing, and if they are not supported you cannot install...

I don't know if there's any other way to do it, but you may try downloading and installing the attachment in this post.

I've been able to install that one manually

Minor point, I think you should make it abundantly clear in the introductory post that the Prince software must be installed in order to use the plugin - my eyes went straight over the link to the princexml web site. And I've yet to see the window you posted as ss2.png

@thducks - I tried it both ways (I think), can't recall what the msg was when I did it manually, but words to the effect that 'this is For Linux Only'. I was able to manually install it on Mint - but right now my Mint box has a half life of < 5 minutes, so its NSFW. Maybe I should re-purpose it as a kitty kontainer :lol:

BR

BetterRed · 12-26-2013, 04:27 PM

On first try using a book called "Test Epub" by "Test Author" - the Prince application started, but it did not appear to 'have' the current epub. So, I closed Prince and got following error

Code:

calibre, version 1.17.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>IOError</b>:[Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'C:\\_CalTemp\\calibre_dcvy4w\\tf2pn2_unpack\\Test Author\\Test Epub\\Test Epub - Test Author.pdf'

calibre 1.17 [64bit]  isfrozen: True is64bit: True
Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE')
('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601')
Python 2.7.5
Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free')
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "calibre_plugins.prince_pdf.main", line 133, in convert_to_PDF
  File "calibre_plugins.prince_pdf.main", line 210, in set_pdf_metadata
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'C:\\_CalTemp\\calibre_dcvy4w\\tf2pn2_unpack\\Test Author\\Test Epub\\Test Epub - Test Author.pdf'

C:_CalTemp is what I have in the CALIBRE_TEMP_DIR env var

See attachment to see the what's in C:_CalTemp- I can zip it up and post if you're interested.

NB: I haven't used Prince until now, so I have no preconceived ideas or expectations of what it does or how it should work.

BR

ps : I found ss2.png - was hiding under the Help button

theducks · 12-26-2013, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I've been able to install that one manually

Minor point, I think you should make it abundantly clear in the introductory post that the Prince software must be installed in order to use the plugin - my eyes went straight over the link to the princexml web site. And I've yet to see the window you posted as ss2.png

@thducks - I tried it both ways (I think), can't recall what the msg was when I did it manually, but words to the effect that 'this is For Linux Only'. I was able to manually install it on Mint - but right now my Mint box has a half life of < 5 minutes, so its NSFW. Maybe I should re-purpose it as a kitty kontainer :lol:

BR

Short duration computers runtime usually = bad fans. CPU , Graphics, chipset or in the PSU

(I have lost count of how many of each have hit home. PSU is the most deadly, the PSU has taken out much of the rest in it's death throes)

BetterRed · 12-26-2013, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

Short duration computers runtime usually = bad fans. CPU , Graphics, chipset or in the PSU

(I have lost count of how many of each have hit home. PSU is the most deadly, the PSU has taken out much of the rest in it's death throes)

Thanks - the h/w doesn't even get luke warm, but the software base I inherited when I got the box is an absolute mess, I need to rebuild from bare iron but can't find the motivation to do it. Previous owner now uses IOS on Apple - which is what I told him to get before he bought the HP with Mint.

BR

Jellby · 12-27-2013, 04:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Minor point, I think you should make it abundantly clear in the introductory post that the Prince software must be installed in order to use the plugin - my eyes went straight over the link to the princexml web site.

You are right. I've modified the first post.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

On first try using a book called "Test Epub" by "Test Author" - the Prince application started, but it did not appear to 'have' the current epub. So, I closed Prince and got following error

Code:

calibre, version 1.17.0
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>IOError</b>:[Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'C:\\_CalTemp\\calibre_dcvy4w\\tf2pn2_unpack\\Test Author\\Test Epub\\Test Epub - Test Author.pdf'

I should add some additional error catching there.

But note that Prince is a command-line tool. Every window you see is the plugin (or calibre). When you say you closed Prince, I guess you mean you closed the conversion window (ss4.png). Anyway, when the process is cancelled (or it fails) there should be no further attempt to access the pdf file. Do you see a "View log" button in the main plugin window after this happens? If you do, please click it and post what it says.

Otherwise, I'm afraid I'd need a more detailed description on how to reproduce this, since I cannot see what could be going wrong at the moment.

BetterRed · 12-27-2013, 05:22 AM

Hi Jelby - I'll talk to the attachments

Capture 1

Select Robinson Crusoe
Click Prince PDF "button" in toolbar
Prince PDF dialogue pops - click Convert to PDF button
Convert to PDF with Prince dialogue pops - click Convert button
The Convert button I just clicked disappears, the 'working' gadget is shown with its blue back and forth indicator - And the main Prince program starts (it covers the 2 dialogue boxes which confused before)
I let it run for 50 minutes (a convert of same epub to pdf with calibre took < 1min)
If I hit the Cancel on the Convert to PDF with Prince dialogue I don't get an error message - that happens if I 'terminate' the Prince program

Capture 2

The odd thing is the two items shown for calibre - not only is that unusual, I cant see "Convert to PDF with Prince" in Task Manager's list of Processes, or in Process Explorer's list of Processes - the only place it is apparent is in the Taskbar and in Task Managers list of Applications. I can't recall seeing an an entry in Task Manager's Application list, that wasn't also in its Process list - quite odd, bizarre even.

You can also see the icon for Prince that was started by the plugin

BR

Jellby · 12-27-2013, 06:20 AM

Ah... I think the problem is Prince is starting some GUI frontend that does not exist (as far as I know) in linux. The plugin should be calling a command-line interface, not a GUI. When I click the "Convert" button, I see the "working" progessbar, but nothing else; when the prince process ends, the "Convert to PDF with Prince" window is closed.

According to the Prince doc, the command-line should work in Windows too, can you configure the plugin and select the prince.exe executable as indicated there?

As for the two taskbar items, I have no idea why that happens, The "Convert to PDF with Prince" dialog is just a plain QDialog widget.

What I don't like from your screenshots is that the plugin icon is missing (from its main window and the calibre toolbar), and the window titlebars are all wrong. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe that's a common problem with PyQt in Windows...

BetterRed · 12-27-2013, 02:51 PM

Aaah that's better

Assuming Prince is installed in the default location, the cli program will be at

64bit Windows ==>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Prince\Engine\bin\prince.exe"
32bit Windows ==>> "C:\Program Files\Prince\Engine\bin\prince.exe"

The conversion works - a PDF is produced in the right place and the database is updated to 'say so' and I can open the book (in my PDF reader) via the View feature in calibre

However, when the update is finished the Formats 'column' in Book Details doesn't show a PDF. The Book Details panel probably needs to be refreshed, if I make another book current and return to book just converted the PDF is shown.

I'm not bothered by the missing icons - but other PI's have their icons in the their images folder, that folder is empty in the Prince PDF.zip.

I'm still seeing the aberrant second item in my taskbar. I've got a heavily tweaked taskbar so when I've done my morning chores I'll turn the tweaks off and have another look. It's most unlikely that the tweaks are the cause the of the aberration, but their lack may make it easier to diagnose.

BR

BetterRed · 12-27-2013, 04:53 PM

Hi Jelby,

The aberration is another instance of the calibre process - sort of

I get exactly the same with my mail client. when I hit the reply button it opens a Reply window that shows as another item in the taskbar, which gets grouped (that's a Windows setting not a 3rd party tweak) with the main icon. And the Reply window shows as a separate Application, but not as a separate Process.

So I'm assuming the 'aberrant' taskbar icon represents the prince.exe program

I'm OK with it now, but it may 'disturb' other Windows users - on the other hand they may not even notice it

So... bottom line is that it's ready to go in Windows (icons aside). I wont be doing any quality checking of the output PDF - just thought I'd help by doing some basic 'does it work' tests.

Cheers BR

Jellby · 12-28-2013, 07:34 AM

Thanks for the tests. I've updated the plugin to fix some of the problems.

BetterRed · 12-28-2013, 02:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

Thanks for the tests. I've updated the plugin to fix some of the problems.

Perfect

I got the standard notification of new version for an installed plugin,
I now have the icons
I see the PDF in Book Details

BR

12-26-2013, 04:27 PM	#6
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	On first try using a book called "Test Epub" by "Test Author" - the Prince application started, but it did not appear to 'have' the current epub. So, I closed Prince and got following error Code: calibre, version 1.17.0 ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>IOError</b>:[Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'C:\\_CalTemp\\calibre_dcvy4w\\tf2pn2_unpack\\Test Author\\Test Epub\\Test Epub - Test Author.pdf' calibre 1.17 [64bit] isfrozen: True is64bit: True Windows-7-6.1.7601-SP1 Windows ('64bit', 'WindowsPE') ('Windows', '7', '6.1.7601') Python 2.7.5 Windows: ('7', '6.1.7601', 'SP1', 'Multiprocessor Free') Traceback (most recent call last): File "calibre_plugins.prince_pdf.main", line 133, in convert_to_PDF File "calibre_plugins.prince_pdf.main", line 210, in set_pdf_metadata IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'C:\\_CalTemp\\calibre_dcvy4w\\tf2pn2_unpack\\Test Author\\Test Epub\\Test Epub - Test Author.pdf' C:_CalTemp is what I have in the CALIBRE_TEMP_DIR env var See attachment to see the what's in C:_CalTemp- I can zip it up and post if you're interested. NB: I haven't used Prince until now, so I have no preconceived ideas or expectations of what it does or how it should work. BR ps : I found ss2.png - was hiding under the Help button Attached Thumbnails Last edited by BetterRed; 12-26-2013 at 05:19 PM.

12-27-2013, 05:22 AM	#10
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Hi Jelby - I'll talk to the attachments Capture 1 Select Robinson Crusoe Click Prince PDF "button" in toolbar Prince PDF dialogue pops - click Convert to PDF button Convert to PDF with Prince dialogue pops - click Convert button The Convert button I just clicked disappears, the 'working' gadget is shown with its blue back and forth indicator - And the main Prince program starts (it covers the 2 dialogue boxes which confused before) I let it run for 50 minutes (a convert of same epub to pdf with calibre took < 1min) If I hit the Cancel on the Convert to PDF with Prince dialogue I don't get an error message - that happens if I 'terminate' the Prince program Capture 2 The odd thing is the two items shown for calibre - not only is that unusual, I cant see "Convert to PDF with Prince" in Task Manager's list of Processes, or in Process Explorer's list of Processes - the only place it is apparent is in the Taskbar and in Task Managers list of Applications. I can't recall seeing an an entry in Task Manager's Application list, that wasn't also in its Process list - quite odd, bizarre even. You can also see the icon for Prince that was started by the plugin BR Attached Thumbnails Last edited by BetterRed; 12-27-2013 at 05:23 AM. Reason: put the images back - why does MR lose them ?

12-27-2013, 06:20 AM	#11
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,515 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Ah... I think the problem is Prince is starting some GUI frontend that does not exist (as far as I know) in linux. The plugin should be calling a command-line interface, not a GUI. When I click the "Convert" button, I see the "working" progessbar, but nothing else; when the prince process ends, the "Convert to PDF with Prince" window is closed. According to the Prince doc, the command-line should work in Windows too, can you configure the plugin and select the prince.exe executable as indicated there? As for the two taskbar items, I have no idea why that happens, The "Convert to PDF with Prince" dialog is just a plain QDialog widget. What I don't like from your screenshots is that the plugin icon is missing (from its main window and the calibre toolbar), and the window titlebars are all wrong. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, or maybe that's a common problem with PyQt in Windows... Last edited by Jellby; 12-27-2013 at 06:23 AM.

12-27-2013, 02:51 PM	#12
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Aaah that's better Assuming Prince is installed in the default location, the cli program will be at 64bit Windows ==>> "C:\Program Files (x86)\Prince\Engine\bin\prince.exe" 32bit Windows ==>> "C:\Program Files\Prince\Engine\bin\prince.exe" The conversion works - a PDF is produced in the right place and the database is updated to 'say so' and I can open the book (in my PDF reader) via the View feature in calibre However, when the update is finished the Formats 'column' in Book Details doesn't show a PDF. The Book Details panel probably needs to be refreshed, if I make another book current and return to book just converted the PDF is shown. I'm not bothered by the missing icons - but other PI's have their icons in the their images folder, that folder is empty in the Prince PDF.zip. I'm still seeing the aberrant second item in my taskbar. I've got a heavily tweaked taskbar so when I've done my morning chores I'll turn the tweaks off and have another look. It's most unlikely that the tweaks are the cause the of the aberration, but their lack may make it easier to diagnose. BR Last edited by BetterRed; 12-27-2013 at 03:02 PM. Reason: clarity

12-27-2013, 04:53 PM	#13
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,550 Karma: 26954694 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Hi Jelby, The aberration is another instance of the calibre process - sort of I get exactly the same with my mail client. when I hit the reply button it opens a Reply window that shows as another item in the taskbar, which gets grouped (that's a Windows setting not a 3rd party tweak) with the main icon. And the Reply window shows as a separate Application, but not as a separate Process. So I'm assuming the 'aberrant' taskbar icon represents the prince.exe program I'm OK with it now, but it may 'disturb' other Windows users - on the other hand they may not even notice it So... bottom line is that it's ready to go in Windows (icons aside). I wont be doing any quality checking of the output PDF - just thought I'd help by doing some basic 'does it work' tests. Cheers BR Last edited by BetterRed; 12-27-2013 at 06:08 PM. Reason: grammar said to

12-28-2013, 07:34 AM	#14
Jellby frumious Bandersnatch Posts: 7,515 Karma: 18512745 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Spaniard in Sweden Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura	Thanks for the tests. I've updated the plugin to fix some of the problems.

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