Setting first HTML file Image as Cover?

phnord · 01-08-2010, 08:34 PM

Hey guys,

I have a large amount of HTML files (500 or so) that I want to convert to ePub's for my iPhone stanza app - and Calibre has been doing great with it.

However, there's one thing I'd like to be able to do. Each HTML file has a single image in it. This image precedes the content of the rest of the page.

I would like to be able to automatically set each ePub's cover to be this image.

I can't seem to find a way to do this in Calibre. The closest has been to the following:
- Import them into Calibre normally
- Convert the books to ePub w/ the No Cover Page option
- Individually edit the meta-data of each to grab the first image from the ePub format

There are two problems with this method:
- It is not feasible to edit the metadata individually of all five-hundred books
- The resulting cover image is just a snapshot of the top of the page - sometimes it cuts off the image, sometimes it grabs some of the rest of the page, etc.

Is there a way to do this in Calibre? If not, could someone point me in the right direction of a program that I can use to do this?

I also may be able to write a shell-script, php script, etc. to do this myself if someone could point me in the right direction...

Thanks!

kovidgoyal · 01-09-2010, 02:13 AM

Just write a shell script to set the covers programatically in calibre using the calibredb command. Once hte covers are set, a bulk convert will use those covers.

phnord · 01-09-2010, 03:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Just write a shell script to set the covers programatically in calibre using the calibredb command. Once hte covers are set, a bulk convert will use those covers.

How would I set a cover of an item using calibredb? I can't seem to find information on this. The image I would want to use would want to use would be the only .jpg that exists within the ZIP archive of the book that Calibre has created.

Could you give me an example of the syntax for the calibredb commands I'd need to use - both to get the name of the .jpg bundled in the .zip archive and to set the cover to a .jpg of that name?

Thank you!

01-08-2010, 08:34 PM	#1
phnord Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: iPhone	Setting first HTML file Image as Cover? Hey guys, I have a large amount of HTML files (500 or so) that I want to convert to ePub's for my iPhone stanza app - and Calibre has been doing great with it. However, there's one thing I'd like to be able to do. Each HTML file has a single image in it. This image precedes the content of the rest of the page. I would like to be able to automatically set each ePub's cover to be this image. I can't seem to find a way to do this in Calibre. The closest has been to the following: - Import them into Calibre normally - Convert the books to ePub w/ the No Cover Page option - Individually edit the meta-data of each to grab the first image from the ePub format There are two problems with this method: - It is not feasible to edit the metadata individually of all five-hundred books - The resulting cover image is just a snapshot of the top of the page - sometimes it cuts off the image, sometimes it grabs some of the rest of the page, etc. Is there a way to do this in Calibre? If not, could someone point me in the right direction of a program that I can use to do this? I also may be able to write a shell-script, php script, etc. to do this myself if someone could point me in the right direction... Thanks!

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01-09-2010, 02:13 AM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,860 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Just write a shell script to set the covers programatically in calibre using the calibredb command. Once hte covers are set, a bulk convert will use those covers.

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