EPUB Validator Persistent Errors

johnarthurnichol · 01-22-2018, 12:00 PM

I'm trying to validate a find layout EPUB and I keep getting the same two errors:

OPF-001 (ERROR) Message: There was an error when parsing the EPUB version: Version not found.
RSC-005 (ERROR) Message: Error while parsing file 'The entity name must immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference.'.

This is the beginning code in my .opf file:

Code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<package xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" unique-identifier="BookID" version="2.0" >


<metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:opf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">

I'm really stumped and would be grateful if you could help.

JSWolf · 01-22-2018, 12:33 PM

Code:

<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<package xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" unique-identifier="BookID" version="2.0">
<metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:opf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf">

That is correct code.

johnarthurnichol · 01-22-2018, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

That is correct code.

Hi, and thank you. It's good to have that confirmed at least. What could be causing the error messages then?

Doitsu · 01-23-2018, 03:07 AM

The first message is most likely displayed because there are other syntax errors in the .opf file. Simply open and save it with Calibre Editor or Sigil to fix it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnarthurnichol

RSC-005 (ERROR) Message: Error while parsing file 'The entity name must immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference.'.

This message is displayed, if you use a stand-alone ampersand instead of an ampersand entity. E.g.

<p>a & b</b>

instead of

<p>a & b</b>

johnarthurnichol · 01-24-2018, 10:32 AM

Thank you, Doitsu.

I had ampersands in the middle of categories (eg Action & Adventure) in the BISAC categories. I hadn't thought they would affect the validation, but when I replaced them with & the two persistent errors went away (thank you).

But in their place I had a long, long list of things the Validator didn't like in my pages, and in the opf file and the nav.html file. A huge list. None of it had turned up in the Validator reports before.

I worked on the page errors, thinking I could resolve those more easily, but each time I fixed one, it would find something else wrong. I had to add a viewport setting, then I had to add a height and width to it. When I'd done that it said I had a fatal error on every page because the <head> tag wasn't closed with a </head> tag ... But it was there. Every page had a </head> tag at the end of the <head> section.

I downloaded Sigil then, and opened the EPUB with that as you'd suggested. Sigil offered to fix errors and I chose yes. Then I saved that version and tried it in the epub validator. It returned a much shorter list of errors in the opf and nav.html files (no fatal errors listed).

In the meantime I have no Idea if the other changes I made (viewport) were even necessary.

jackie_w · 01-24-2018, 11:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by johnarthurnichol

None of it had turned up in the Validator reports before.

I don't think its unusual for validators to stop looking for more errors once serious errors have been found. You have to keep doing the fix/re-validate loop until it's clean.

I think if all the errors are only warnings then you're more likely to catch them all in one pass.

It's also possible that different validators have different approaches.

JSWolf · 01-24-2018, 11:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jackie_w

It's also possible that different validators have different approaches.

But the only validator that matters to publishers/stores is epubcheck.

01-22-2018, 12:00 PM	#1
johnarthurnichol Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: none	EPUB Validator Persistent Errors I'm trying to validate a find layout EPUB and I keep getting the same two errors: OPF-001 (ERROR) Message: There was an error when parsing the EPUB version: Version not found. RSC-005 (ERROR) Message: Error while parsing file 'The entity name must immediately follow the '&' in the entity reference.'. This is the beginning code in my .opf file: Code: <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <package xmlns="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf" unique-identifier="BookID" version="2.0" > <metadata xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:opf="http://www.idpf.org/2007/opf"> I'm really stumped and would be grateful if you could help.

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01-24-2018, 10:32 AM	#5
johnarthurnichol Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2018 Device: none	Thank you, Doitsu. I had ampersands in the middle of categories (eg Action & Adventure) in the BISAC categories. I hadn't thought they would affect the validation, but when I replaced them with & the two persistent errors went away (thank you). But in their place I had a long, long list of things the Validator didn't like in my pages, and in the opf file and the nav.html file. A huge list. None of it had turned up in the Validator reports before. I worked on the page errors, thinking I could resolve those more easily, but each time I fixed one, it would find something else wrong. I had to add a viewport setting, then I had to add a height and width to it. When I'd done that it said I had a fatal error on every page because the <head> tag wasn't closed with a </head> tag ... But it was there. Every page had a </head> tag at the end of the <head> section. I downloaded Sigil then, and opened the EPUB with that as you'd suggested. Sigil offered to fix errors and I chose yes. Then I saved that version and tried it in the epub validator. It returned a much shorter list of errors in the opf and nav.html files (no fatal errors listed). In the meantime I have no Idea if the other changes I made (viewport) were even necessary.

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