[GUI Plugin] Manage Sony x50 Reader Book List

[kpw]

Originally Posted by ThR

OK, I did the test: it works fine, but...

... I have to correct the timezone-setting in the media.xml-file on the device after using the plugin.
The plugin is setting the timezone of the three selected books with the timezone-information of the PC (in my case tz="-120" [meaning MEST]) instead of the timezone of the reader (TZ="300" [meaning EST]). The three books will not be shown at the homescreen until correcting the three entries within an editor (search -120, replace with 300).

Ah, I see you have a 950. I'm guessing that on the 950 you can set the timezone for the device, is that correct? I've got a 650 and I can't do that for mine, so I don't think the 650 device has an explicit timezone - although it seems if you use the Sony Reader software, then there may be some timezone information saved for the device on the Reader Library side (this is just conjecture on my part, based on testing I've done with various configurations).

In any case, if it's true that you can explicitly set your device timezone, then that information may be saved in one of the files I have access to on your device. If you don't mind, could you PM me a copy of both your "media.xml" and "cachExt.xml" files so I can see if the device timezone info is captured there? If it is, then I should be able to use that for the timestamp updating, and I'll fall back to the computer timezone when the information is not available.

If it turns out that the information is not in one of those files, then I'll need to explore some more and figure out where I can find it.

[kpw]

Hi ThR,

A quick follow-up on my previous post...

I've been giving the situation some thought, and I'm thinking that the current logic I'm using which relies on the computer for the baseline date/timestamp and timezone offset in order to set the book record date/timestamps is probably always going to have the potential to be problematic.

I assume with the 950 you can download books directly onto the device without using a computer. In that case, I also assume that the timestamp for such book files would be based on the device date and time. If you subsequently use Calibre to invoke my plugin, if the device and computer times differ by five or ten (or whatever) minutes, then the updates my plugin makes may be unreliable. And the situation probably gets even worse if you're travelling and cross timezones, or, as in your case, where the device timezone is different from your computer timezone (I've done some Googling and it seems the 950 only allows setting North American timezones).

So, I think a more reliable approach would be to remember the latest date/timestamp value of the books on the device and use that (and it's associated timezone offset) as my baseline for updates. That way I avoid the complications you've been running into and I think it should work. I'll do some experimenting with it and see how it looks.

I haven't completely worked out in my mind yet whether I need to be concerned about DST with the new approach or not - that's one of the things I want to experiment with (if I can).

However, I still would be interested in seeing the files I requested in the last post (only if you're OK with that, of course) to see if anything there might clarify how the Sony is dealing with timezones in the 950...

Thanks.

[kpw]

Posted version 1.1.1 with the following update:

1.1.1 April 12, 2011 When updating book date/timestamp and timezone values, use the most recent updated book as the reference point rather than the computer date/time and timezone. This addresses issues that occur when there are discrepancies between the device and computer with regard to these values. One significant situation where this can occur is when a non-North American user has a PRS-950, which only allows North Americna timezones to be set.

[ThR]

hi kpw,

sorry, I wasn't online the last 2 days. I will send you the files as soon as possible (tomorrow evening I hope).
And yes - it is possible to change the timezone within the prs-950. You can choose between the time-zones of nothern america only ("officially"), but also other time-zones with another "patched" firmware.

[ThR]

Hi kpw,

you can find the files here: cache.zip

[ThR]

And now - after testing 1.1.1: it works without changing the media.xml!

[kpw]

Originally Posted by ThR

And now - after testing 1.1.1: it works without changing the media.xml!

Glad to hear it! This version doesn't depend on the computer time and timezone settings, so it should be safer now.

Thanks as well for the files in the previous post. In my initial quick look through them, I can't see anything that looked like the device timezone, but I'll look more thoroughly this weekend.

[Poppaea]

Thank you and K. to you. This tool is superb!

[yohan]

Thanks KPW for this excellent plugin. It's extremely helpful.

Here's a suggestion to make it even better: instead of linking to a single book, creating a link to a collection would be great! Is this technically possible?

[kpw]

Originally Posted by yohan

Thanks KPW for this excellent plugin. It's extremely helpful.

Here's a suggestion to make it even better: instead of linking to a single book, creating a link to a collection would be great! Is this technically possible?

Thanks for the feedback yohan. Glad you find the plugin useful.

Your suggestion of listing links to collections in the Books List sounds like it would be a cool feature. Unfortunately, the list is handled at the device firmware level so it's not possible using a Calibre plugin (at least I don't know of any way to do it). The plugin doesn't actually manipulate the list directly, but instead, changes the list in a roundabout way. It just alters book timestamps and the firmware uses these to decide what goes on the list.

But a cool idea nonetheless!

[yohan]

Thanks for your explanation! Sony should seriously consider hiring people like you. Then they could include these cool features directly in their products :-)

[quisvir]

Thank you for this great plugin, kpw. Might it be possible to automatically choose the selection method, based on whether there is an active book selection in the device view? If no books are selected, the plugin could automatically fall back to the collections set in the plugin preferences. I actually use both selection methods quite often, and keep having to change the plugin preferences manually.

[kpw]

Originally Posted by quisvir

Thank you for this great plugin, kpw. Might it be possible to automatically choose the selection method, based on whether there is an active book selection in the device view? If no books are selected, the plugin could automatically fall back to the collections set in the plugin preferences. I actually use both selection methods quite often, and keep having to change the plugin preferences manually.

Hi quisvir. I think the issue you're having is with the need to reconfigure the plugin each time you wish to use the plugin in a different way (i.e. select from device list vs. collection set). I use the plugin in the same way and I would be quite annoyed if I needed to do that each time as well. You shouldn't need to do that though.

You can configure the plugin up front (and once only) to handle these different scenarios. In the Preferences, you can define multiple profiles. So you can have one profile that is set up to choose books from the device list selection, and another profile set up to choose books from your collection set. I've attached a coupe of images below to demonstrate. Note that you can change the name of a profile to whatever you wish by double-clicking on the profile entry in the listbox.

With multiple profiles defined, the action dialog that appears when you run the "Book List" action will present you with a dropbox where you can select which profile you want to use.

I think that should address your concern, but please let me know if that's not the case. You may be using the plugin in a different way than I am and I may not be understanding the issue correctly.

Thanks for your support!

[quisvir]

That completely solves my problem! Silly me for not noticing the profiles feature. Thanks for the quick (and very helpful) answer! Keep up the good work

[kpw]

New version v1.2.0 of the Manage Sony x50 Reader Book List plugin has been posted.

1.2.0 July 31, 2011

• Enable configuration of Calibre Library queries, in addition to the current collection sets, for book selection. Query expressions can be anything that you can enter in the main Calibre UI search field. Examples: 'tag:read', '#reading:yes', 'search:"My Short List"'
• Add new features to allow management of the Sony x50 reader Unread Books collection. Options include:
  • Manually add books to or remove books from the unread collection by selecting books in the device book list views (Device/Card A/Card B).
  • Synchronize the reader unread collection with Calibre Library queries or collection sets.
• User guide has been updated to cover the new features.

PLEASE NOTE: For the new Unread Books collection management feature, the plugin makes updates to the cacheExt.XML file on the Sony reader (to update an "opened" attribute on book records, controlling inclusion in the collection). This same file holds information like notes/annotations/history/bookmarks. If you want to be certain that you don't lose any of that, you might want to take a backup of the file (along with the others) - just in case. I've been testing the plugin pretty extensively for the last week on my device and it looks good, but you never know...