[GUI Plugin] Copy book covers as Standby images (Sony/Kindle/Nook)

[theducks]

Originally Posted by cybmole

is that really a showstopper?

you are saying that i may send some book covers from library a, then switch library & send some more from library B with a risk of some overwriting?

well I for one could live with that. calibre already supports moving books from library A to B or vice verse, with or without deletion, so it's easy to work around if needed.

but better, find out how calibre does uniquely identify a book on the device & use that key in the cover name

Yes, Could overwrite.

Each Library has its own index.
Moving a book from Lib A to Lib will result in the next available index being assigned.
The index just matches the DB records to the unique entry in the Author_name folder inside the Library storage.

UUID might work, but it only exists within the OPF, not all formats have a OPF

[kovidgoyal]

every book in calibre is assigned a unique uuid (the only way these can be duplicated is if the user does something unusual like manually creating duplicate libraries). It should be unique enough for your purposes.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

every book in calibre is assigned a unique uuid (the only way these can be duplicated is if the user does something unusual like manually creating duplicate libraries). It should be unique enough for your purposes.

Is this uuid accessible as a calibre variable or would the opf file (metadata.opf in book dir?) need to be read in and searched?

The other concern I would have is that if this, f207657a-2b88-4763-95db-f37c0e536782, is an example of aforesaid uuid, it would create filenames much longer than I had in mind. Perfect for internal usage but no more meaningful to a user than my current basic calibre_covernn.jpg

I think I might be trying to overthink this. The functionality of this cosmetic plugin is not internal to calibre, so I don't think precise rocket science is required as yet.

I really appreciate you techies joining in though

[kovidgoyal]

It accessible within calibre, but as you point out, it isn't really suitable for filenames (remember that there is a 250 char limit on filename lengths as well).

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

It accessible within calibre, but as you point out, it isn't really suitable for filenames (remember that there is a 250 char limit on filename lengths as well).

Thank you. You learn something new every day.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by jackie_w

The other concern I would have is that if this, f207657a-2b88-4763-95db-f37c0e536782, is an example of aforesaid uuid, it would create filenames much longer than I had in mind. Perfect for internal usage but no more meaningful to a user than my current basic calibre_covernn.jpg

I)

ouch - let's not go there. I vote to stay with calibre_covernn.

I think now that 99 is plenty - reasoning that only one cover is used per sleep cycle, so a daily sleep would take 3+ months to cycle thru all 99 - and if my maths is up-to-speed you'd expect to go 50 sleep cycles on average before seeing the same cover twice via random selection.

that's surely enough variety; fans of cover art would doubtless have started some new books & changed their cover sets anyway within that period.

[jackie_w]

• Added support for Sony PRS-600, if PRSPlus custom firmware installed.
• Increased maximum covers to 99.
• Added extra option to add new covers to those already on the device.
• Added new menu utility to clear all cover images.

If there are any problems after upgrade, please post here.

Regards, Jackie

[beachboybogart]

Posted in error. Apologies.

[beachboybogart]

Must be something wrong with Google Chrome as a browser... keeps returning me to post on the wrong thread.

[beachboybogart]

I hope I am not intruding, and that this thread is not just for developers. Just a new Kindle user now taking advantage of the fact that I can easily read more than one book at a time. Your plugin is just the kind of thing I think Amazon should have added at the beginning. When a friend comes over, he/she can see at a glance what book you're reading. But I'd like to be able to choose the screensaver, based on which book I'm going through at any given moment.

Is that something doable, or just too much? Meantime, thanks for being one of those great people that helps out lesser mortals such as I.

[cybmole]

if you want screen saver to match current book you have to manage that manually by sending only one cover to device, then changing it when you change book.
anything smarter would mean re-programming the device itself.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by beachboybogart

...I'd like to be able to choose the screensaver, based on which book I'm going through at any given moment. Is that something doable, or just too much?

As cybmole says, for your device to detect which book you were currently reading as you switched off it would be necessary to add code to the device itself, which would, of course, be different for each manufacturer (and model???). If I was able to do it, I would, but I'm afraid it's way beyond my limited technical skills. Sorry

Originally Posted by beachboybogart

Meantime, thanks for being one of those great people that helps out lesser mortals such as I.

You're very welcome, I'm glad you're finding it useful

[beachboybogart]

Thank you for your friendly post... let me rephrase. I don't need the reader to auto-detect the image based on the book (although that would be very cool and something that Amazon should build in): I need to switch the cover myself when the need arises. I'd like a way to access the ss folder and select a different image. Could that be done by perhaps changing the extension of the filename?

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by beachboybogart

Thank you for your friendly post... let me rephrase. I don't need the reader to auto-detect the image based on the book (although that would be very cool and something that Amazon should build in): I need to switch the cover myself when the need arises. I'd like a way to access the ss folder and select a different image. Could that be done by perhaps changing the extension of the filename?

Not having a Kindle, I may be wrong, but to the best of my understanding, the 'jailbroken' Kindle screensaver feature only has one way of working. Whatever images are in the named directory (/linkss/screensavers) will be cycled each time you switch off. So the only way for a user to control which image will be displayed is to make sure only one image is in the directory.

To do it purely using the plugin the best way would be to disable the multi-copy option and run the plugin each time you want to change the cover. The only other way I can think of is to copy many covers then manually manipulate the contents of the Kindle screensaver directory with your file browser. I don't really see how a Calibre plugin might make this easier. If you've gone to the trouble of connecting the Kindle to Calibre then it would be just as easy to copy a new cover as it would be to manipulate directory contents. Or have I completely misunderstood what you are asking?

...of course the Sony x50 models have the ability to switch standby images on/off using an on-device menu option... but that's probably not what you wanted to hear, is it?

[quisvir]

Great plugin, jackie_w!

As many others, I would love the additional capability of using the cover of the book I'm currently reading as standby image on my Sony 650 - especially since I often read multiple books simultaneously. Understanding the limitations of a Calibre plugin and those of the Sony, I have come up with something of a plan to achieve this. So bear with me, and please don't hesitate to shoot me down if it's impossible, impractical or just too much work

First of all, a feature like this would need the plugin and PRS+ to work together. So if it is feasible to make the necessary changes to the plugin, the next step would be to ask kartu about the possibilities on the PRS+ side. Here's the plan, step by step:

1. Plugin. Instead of the current naming scheme, the uploaded covers would have to have the same filename as the books do on the reader (except for the extension).
2. Plugin. The plugin would ideally upload the covers of all books that are both in the library and on the device (I'm thinking of a 'cover sync' button, but a selection of books would work as well).
   Instead of uploading to the images folder, the plugin would use a separate folder (e.g. images/covers/). This way, it can still do file management with the new filenames (by deleting either all files in the folder before uploading, or just the ones not in its to-upload list).
3. PRS+ Every time the user opens a book on the Sony, PRS+ copies the cover with the corresponding filename from the covers folder to images/calibre_cover.jpg (overwriting it if necessary).
4. User (one time only). The user selects calibre_cover.jpg as the only standby image.
5. Done! Now, as far as the Sony is concerned, the same image is always used as standby image. But in fact, the user syncs covers to the covers folder using the plugin, and PRS+ makes sure the standby image matches the current book.

I hope all of the above is clear and, who knows, maybe even feasible