Calibre problems

[starrigger]

Hi. I've used Calibre a bit, with success. But today I've tried to do some things that have gone wrong. The first is, bringing a batch of .prc files into the Calibre library has resulted in the error:

list index out of range
Detailed traceback:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 646, in add_books
File "main.py", line 691, in _add_books
File "calibre\gui2\library.pyo", line 167, in add_books
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 1132, in add_books
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 688, in add_format
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 242, in refresh_ids
IndexError: list index out of range

I have no idea what to do with that.


The second is:

I selected some files and clicked "remove from library." All I wanted to do was remove them from the library listing, not delete the actual book files. I was, shall we say, aghast to see that the books themselves were gone from Windows Explorer. I was able to recover some from the recycle bin, but not most of them. Is there something I can do to recover these files, or are they just gone?

If they are gone for good, I would have to say this is not Calibre's best feature. At the very least, it would be much more user-friendly if it asked, "Do you want to remove the files from your computer?" before deleting them.


Thirdly, I had a number conversions to EPUB format fail. (However, I did not copy and paste the long error details, so I guess troubleshooting on that will have to wait.)

Thanks.

[kovidgoyal]

What version of calibre are you using?

[starrigger]

I had just downloaded and updated to the most recent version, as of yesterday.

This is on Win XP.

[kovidgoyal]

There was an EPUB conversion regression in 0.4.120, try it with 0.4.121.

As for the import errors, try importing the files one at a time until you find the one that is causing the problem.

[starrigger]

Aha. I just installed 0.4.120 on my laptop, then an hour later saw that another version was up. I'll try that and report.

Regarding deletion of books, is there a way to have Calibre leave the book files alone while removing them from the library listings? I was hoping to keep the library listings limited just to the books I'm currently converting for upload to the device.

Thanks.

[starrigger]

I just got this error msg while installing 0.4.121:

Error in action ExecuteAction: Error in action InstallSelectedFiles: error deleting "C:/Program Files/calibre/.2EBD5A12-1B92-40A5-8FFD-B10F7C121767._ctypes.pyd": permission denied
Error in action ExecuteAction: Error in action InstallSelectedFiles: error deleting "C:/Program Files/calibre/.2EBD5A12-1B92-40A5-8FFD-B10F7C121767._ctypes.pyd": permission denied
while executing
"$obj execute"
(procedure "::InstallJammer::ExecuteActions" line 64)
invoked from within
"::InstallJammer::ExecuteActions $id -when $when"
(procedure "::InstallJammer::RaiseEventHandler" line 79)
invoked from within
"::InstallJammer::RaiseEventHandler .wizard"
(command bound to event)

Same thing happened on my other computer the first time I tried updating yesterday.

I'll try running the installation again.

-----

Added:
Hm, I just checked in Task Manager, and calibre.exe was still active. It might be that it didn't close down completely before I ran the undate installation.

[kovidgoyal]

You have to quit the running calibre before upgrading (right click on systray icon and select quit)

[starrigger]

I had closed it down (I thought), but the process was still running.

Anyway, the reinstall worked, and I successfully converted a large html file to epub--a conversion that previously had failed. That's the good news. That was a biggie.

I'm still having trouble moving files into Calibre. The files in question are Tor free ebooks and Baen free ebooks. They're in folders for Baen and Tor, and they're not read-only. When I try one at a time, I sometimes get a book to appear in the Calibre list, but with the metadata wrong, and when I try to edit, I get something like:

list index out of range
Detailed traceback:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre\gui2\dialogs\metadata_single.pyo", line 345, in accept
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 894, in set_title
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 534, in set_path
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 688, in add_format
File "calibre\library\database2.pyo", line 242, in refresh_ids
IndexError: list index out of range

This is similar to the error I get when I try adding to the library.

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks.

[itimpi]

What format are you selecting to add?

I use Baen books a lot, and seem to have the best results adding the .lit format books to create the initial book entry. If I have additional formats for a book I then add them through the dialog for editing metadata.

I like the fact that Baen allow you to download a wide variety of different formats of the same book without any additional charge. Hopefully they will soon add EPUB as a standard format removing the need to convert books to that format.

[kovidgoyal]

Hmm can you attach (or link too) a couple of these files.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Hmm can you attach (or link too) a couple of these files.

Okay, one is attached. It's from the Baen Free Library, so there should be no problem with my attaching it here.

This is one that failed to convert, with an error msg that I just lost. (!!)

I am having better luck right now on my laptop. The Calibre installation is identical on it and on my desktop, but I copied the folders of books from desktop to my laptop and it's allowing me to add the books to the library there. (Usually with the metadata messed up. But now it's allowing me to edit the data.)

I wonder if there's something about the folder attributes on my desktop computer that's affecting my ability to add books to Calibre.

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by itimpi

What format are you selecting to add?

Almost entirely .prc files, because I have a large number of them on hand.

[kovidgoyal]

Originally Posted by starrigger

Okay, one is attached. It's from the Baen Free Library, so there should be no problem with my attaching it here.

This is one that failed to convert, with an error msg that I just lost. (!!)

I am having better luck right now on my laptop. The Calibre installation is identical on it and on my desktop, but I copied the folders of books from desktop to my laptop and it's allowing me to add the books to the library there. (Usually with the metadata messed up. But now it's allowing me to edit the data.)

I wonder if there's something about the folder attributes on my desktop computer that's affecting my ability to add books to Calibre.

Hmm I suspect an antivirus/malware program. That prc file certainly added perfectly to my installation of calibre (with the correct metadata as well)

Title: Telzey and Trigger
Author: James H. Schmitz

[starrigger]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Hmm I suspect an antivirus/malware program. That prc file certainly added perfectly to my installation of calibre (with the correct metadata as well)

Title: Telzey and Trigger
Author: James H. Schmitz

Sorry, I was jumbling up similar-looking error msgs from adding to the library and trying to convert to epub. I was able to add that file (with somewhat mangled metadata), but I couldn't get it to convert, though I ran it a couple of times.

I just tried it again. Here's the error msg:

Job: **Convert book: TNT - Telzey and Trigger**
**tuple**: ('IndexError', u'list index out of range')
**Traceback**:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "parallel.py", line 935, in worker
File "parallel.py", line 893, in work
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 147, in any2epub
File "contextlib.pyo", line 34, in __exit__
File "contextlib.pyo", line 113, in nested
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 137, in any2epub
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 46, in mobi2opf
IndexError: list index out of range

**Log**:
Exploding MOBI file: c:\docume~1\jeff\locals~1\temp\calibre_0.4.121_x_1 8gw.prc
[WARNING] Unknown codepage 235802126. Assuming cp-1252
('IndexError', u'list index out of range')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "parallel.py", line 935, in worker
File "parallel.py", line 893, in work
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 147, in any2epub
File "contextlib.pyo", line 34, in __exit__
File "contextlib.pyo", line 113, in nested
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 137, in any2epub
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\epub\from _any.py", line 46, in mobi2opf
IndexError: list index out of range



I did, however, get all of the Tor free books to load and convert, but only after I moved them to a folder on a different machine.

One thing I'm doing here is trying to decide whether I like the Sony Reader enough to put up with having to convert a large number of Mobipocket files to read on it. (But my wife has a new ipod Touch, so I'm also creating the epub files for her.)

[Banshay]

starrigger-

That TNT file loaded fine for me in 4.121 on XP. Plus it enticed me to visit your site and download your books as well!

For the deleted files, I think (?) Calibre is just deleting its own database copy, so the original files should still be wherever you added them from. As far as the new EPUB files, can you just pull them back off the device? I know you can pull lrfs from the PRS-505, but I remember the ebookwise exploded imps once they were added, so I guess it depends on the device.