iPad Trying to bridge Dropbox, Calibre, and Stanza

forkyfork · 03-02-2011, 05:56 PM

I was doing some research and found out that you can use Drobox to manage your Calibre library, which is perfect since I have multiple devices. Set that up.. and that worked fine.

Now, I'm in the process of trying to view my library and download my books on Stanza. I've got the "viewing" part down, but can't quite seem to get them to download.

In Calibre, I have my library uploaded to a public folder in dropbox. I used Calibre2OPDS to create a public catalogue. I got the URL of the public catalog (xml), put it into stanza, and can now see all of my books. The problem is.. I can't seem to do much with them. I can only view them and I can't download them to my device, which is what I want to do.

This feels like a really stupid setting that I must have missed somewhere. Or maybe a button I'm missing. But otherwise, I don't see the point of just being able to "see" my books and not download them to the device.

Can someone help? Thanks!

Mickey330 · 03-02-2011, 06:43 PM

You are right, you should be able to download your books. In fact, not only should you be able to download them, you should be able to download them in virtually any e-reader you have on your iPad.

I also have my books in the Public folder in Dropbox and use Calibre2OPDS (version 2.3 rev. 132) to create a catalog in the folder. When I open up my Calibre2OPDS catalog in Safari (have a link saved to the iPad's homescreen), I get the main catalog, which lists authors, tags, series and all books. When I press on one of the categories, say, author, I get another web page for each author (alphabetical). I select "A" authors, get another web page ... etc until I actually get to a book's thumbnail. At the bottom of that web page, there is a Downloads place. I can select to download the book and yet another Safari page opens, with two download buttons: "Open In..." (where you can select the reader you want) and "Open in iBooks (... which is actually whichever app you last used with the catalog).

So, it works great for me. Which doesn't help you any, because I don't know how to help you. So, I've attached 3 pictures to show you all the blocks and checks I've made in Calibre2OPDS when I'm getting it to create a catalog.

Maybe you can make yours match mine and that'll help? That's all I've got. Hope it works and good luck.

Marilyn

frozennorth · 03-02-2011, 07:32 PM

I had the same problem as forky. I could see the books but there was no download button.

After searching online I found out that stanza uses it's own opds version. So go to "Main options" in calibre2opds and make sure the "Compatibility level" is set to STANZA and not OPDS. This fixed the problem for me and I now see the download button in stanza on my iphone.

Hope it works for you as well because I love stanza.

forkyfork · 03-02-2011, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by frozennorth

I had the same problem as forky. I could see the books but there was no download button.

After searching online I found out that stanza uses it's own opds version. So go to "Main options" in calibre2opds and make sure the "Compatibility level" is set to STANZA and not OPDS. This fixed the problem for me and I now see the download button in stanza on my iphone.

Hope it works for you as well because I love stanza.

Yep, this was exactly the problem. Thank you so much to you both. Because of the screens, I was able to figure out that I need to have it set to "STANZA".. I had a feeling it was something stupid, but I feel better knowing it wasn't that obvious.

Now I'm a downloading Stanza fool. This is great!

Stupid question, but if I update my library, I have to update this as well, right? Also, what is the difference between the "calibre2opds" and the "calibre2opds catalogue generation" shortcut on my start menu.

Mickey330 · 03-03-2011, 06:33 PM

Heh.

I was willing to take a shot and so I clicked on that catalog generation link in my Start menu. And now, it appears as it I'm generating a catalog! It seems as if the "calibre2opds catalogue generation" creates a catalog. At least, my command line is currently open and a whole bunch of stuff is processing.

I'll bet what it's doing is creating a catalog based on the settings you've set/saved in the GUI version ("calibre2opds").

[Later]

Yep, that's what it did. It created a new catalog. So, it's basically a short cut so you don't have to go through the GUI. Cool! And, thanks for asking the question ... I've got a quicker way to update ('cause yeah, you'll need to re-run the catalog any time you update Calibre ... or anytime it bugs you that you don't have an updated catalog...).

Marilyn

03-02-2011, 05:56 PM	#1
forkyfork Zealot Posts: 145 Karma: 1664 Join Date: May 2009 Device: It's a long story ;)	Trying to bridge Dropbox, Calibre, and Stanza I was doing some research and found out that you can use Drobox to manage your Calibre library, which is perfect since I have multiple devices. Set that up.. and that worked fine. Now, I'm in the process of trying to view my library and download my books on Stanza. I've got the "viewing" part down, but can't quite seem to get them to download. In Calibre, I have my library uploaded to a public folder in dropbox. I used Calibre2OPDS to create a public catalogue. I got the URL of the public catalog (xml), put it into stanza, and can now see all of my books. The problem is.. I can't seem to do much with them. I can only view them and I can't download them to my device, which is what I want to do. This feels like a really stupid setting that I must have missed somewhere. Or maybe a button I'm missing. But otherwise, I don't see the point of just being able to "see" my books and not download them to the device. Can someone help? Thanks!

03-02-2011, 06:43 PM	#2
Mickey330 Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 1107420 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Western New York state (USA) Device: Kindle Oasis & the Kindle app on iDevices	You are right, you should be able to download your books. In fact, not only should you be able to download them, you should be able to download them in virtually any e-reader you have on your iPad. I also have my books in the Public folder in Dropbox and use Calibre2OPDS (version 2.3 rev. 132) to create a catalog in the folder. When I open up my Calibre2OPDS catalog in Safari (have a link saved to the iPad's homescreen), I get the main catalog, which lists authors, tags, series and all books. When I press on one of the categories, say, author, I get another web page for each author (alphabetical). I select "A" authors, get another web page ... etc until I actually get to a book's thumbnail. At the bottom of that web page, there is a Downloads place. I can select to download the book and yet another Safari page opens, with two download buttons: "Open In..." (where you can select the reader you want) and "Open in iBooks (... which is actually whichever app you last used with the catalog). So, it works great for me. Which doesn't help you any, because I don't know how to help you. So, I've attached 3 pictures to show you all the blocks and checks I've made in Calibre2OPDS when I'm getting it to create a catalog. Maybe you can make yours match mine and that'll help? That's all I've got. Hope it works and good luck. Marilyn Attached Thumbnails

03-02-2011, 07:32 PM	#3
frozennorth Evangelist Posts: 407 Karma: 18772 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Alberta, Canada Device: Onyx Boox RIP, Sony PRS-T1, Kobo Libra	I had the same problem as forky. I could see the books but there was no download button. After searching online I found out that stanza uses it's own opds version. So go to "Main options" in calibre2opds and make sure the "Compatibility level" is set to STANZA and not OPDS. This fixed the problem for me and I now see the download button in stanza on my iphone. Hope it works for you as well because I love stanza. Last edited by frozennorth; 03-02-2011 at 07:34 PM.

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03-03-2011, 06:33 PM	#5
Mickey330 Addict Posts: 378 Karma: 1107420 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Western New York state (USA) Device: Kindle Oasis & the Kindle app on iDevices	Heh. I was willing to take a shot and so I clicked on that catalog generation link in my Start menu. And now, it appears as it I'm generating a catalog! It seems as if the "calibre2opds catalogue generation" creates a catalog. At least, my command line is currently open and a whole bunch of stuff is processing. I'll bet what it's doing is creating a catalog based on the settings you've set/saved in the GUI version ("calibre2opds"). [Later] Yep, that's what it did. It created a new catalog. So, it's basically a short cut so you don't have to go through the GUI. Cool! And, thanks for asking the question ... I've got a quicker way to update ('cause yeah, you'll need to re-run the catalog any time you update Calibre ... or anytime it bugs you that you don't have an updated catalog...). Marilyn

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