Import cover

[SUSGOD]

How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

[cmbs]

Originally Posted by SUSGOD

How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

Sometimes covers don't show, and I can't make them show (like for prc files someone else made - I'm not sure what they're doing but their covers don't show in the desktop reader and I can't make them).

But other times the cover won't show, or the previous cover will show even though I changed it.

The way I make them show is to delete the book from the reader, open the folder and delete the cover image and image from the sub-folder "Bookshelf" and then when I put the prc file back into reader, it correctly extracts the correct cover image. This works for prc files I make, and for prc files I have bought.

It seems it won't overwrite an image already linked to a file. You have to delete the file, then delete the covers, then reinstall the file.

[tompe]

Many prc files are not true MobiPocket files and then you will not see the cover in the library view. You can use my mobi2mobi program to add covers and convert the file to a true MobiPocket file. Se the discussion in the Mobiperl thread in the Content section.

[SUSGOD]

tompe,

I have unzipped and saved mobiperl-0.02.tar in the MobiPocket folder, but I have no idea how to open or use .tar files. Will you instruct me? I would like to see the covers on the library shelves if possible.

Susan

Originally Posted by tompe

Many prc files are not true MobiPocket files and then you will not see the cover in the library view. You can use my mobi2mobi program to add covers and convert the file to a true MobiPocket file. Se the discussion in the Mobiperl thread in the Content section.

[tompe]

Check http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl

The current version is 0.0.25.

This page contains some information and links to the manual page for mobi2mobi. There are Windows binaries available. To tar file contains the Perl files and you must have a system with Perl installed to use them and you have to install some additional Perl modules.

This post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=65
give an example of how to add cover image and thumbnail.

[SUSGOD]

This old lady never learned to knit or Perl Thanks for trying to help me.

Susan

Originally Posted by tompe

Check http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl

The current version is 0.0.25.

This page contains some information and links to the manual page for mobi2mobi. There are Windows binaries available. To tar file contains the Perl files and you must have a system with Perl installed to use them and you have to install some additional Perl modules.

This post https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...1&postcount=65
give an example of how to add cover image and thumbnail.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by SUSGOD

How do I get covers to show in the Mobipocket Reader Desktop 6.2 Beta. I have a few .prc format BAEN e-books that show in this reader with cover images in the .prc. But, the covers do not show in the Reader library. I have downloaded images of the covers. I have converted images to .gif format. I placed the images in the Covers folder and in the Covers/Bookshelf folder both by the original ISPN number name and by book title. But, the covers still do not show on the Mobipocket Library shelf. I get the default image for every book. I can not find help for this problem on the Mobipocket web-site. What can I do to get the covers to show in the Library bookshelf?

If you make the .PRC file yourself using "Mobipocket Creator" (free download here) then you can add a cover image to the file at the second page of Mobipocket Creator (i.e. after you have "imported" the file). There is a frame on the right with a drop down menu under "View". One of the options is "Cover Image". Format can be JPEG, GIF, PNG or BMP.

Books downloaded from Baen can be downloaded again in any of their formats, e.g. HTML, so you could add their book's image or one of your own.

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.

This works for .PRC files read with "Mobipocket Reader" on a PC as well as on my Palm TX. Don'y have my Gen 3 yet so I'm not sure about that. Hope this helps some.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by slayda

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.

My mobi2mobi can manipulate and add cover images to a DRM:ed book.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by slayda

If you make the .PRC file yourself using "Mobipocket Creator" (free download here) then you can add a cover image to the file at the second page of Mobipocket Creator (i.e. after you have "imported" the file. There is a frame on the right with a drop down menu under "View". one of the options is "Cover Image". Format can be JPEG, GIF, PNG or BMP.

Books downloaded from Baen can be downloaded again in any of their formats, e.g. HTML, so you could add their book's image or one of your own.

Unfortunately if you have a DRMed .PRC with no image, you're out of luck.

This works for .PRC files read with "Mobipocket Reader" on a PC as well as on my Palm TX. Don'y have my Gen 3 yet so I'm not sure about that. Hope this helps some.

Yes, covers added that way show up just fine on the Gen3.

[SUSGOD]

Thank you,

With "Mobipocket Creator" I can place a book cover with the .opf files I create from HTML. I am still a bit confused. The "Mobipocket Creator" will not recognize Mobipocket .prc files (of course, it did not create them!). Unfortunately, the "Mobipocket Reader" will recognize .prc files but not the .opf files created by the "Creator". I hope the NAEB Cybook Gen3 I ordered will read the .opf files. That format name is not specified in the software specs.

Susan
Taking baby steps on the way to e-literacy!

[slayda]

Originally Posted by SUSGOD

Thank you,

With "Mobipocket Creator" I can place a book cover with the .opf files I create from HTML. I am still a bit confused. The "Mobipocket Creator" will not recognize Mobipocket .prc files (of course, it did not create them!). Unfortunately, the "Mobipocket Reader" will recognize .prc files but not the .opf files created by the "Creator". I hope the NAEB Cybook Gen3 I ordered will read the .opf files. That format name is not specified in the software specs.

Susan
Taking baby steps on the way to e-literacy!

Susan,
I'm not the expert on this but as I understand it, the OPF file is a variation of HTML. If that is the case then maybe the Cybook will read it but you may need to change the extension. I'll find out when I get my NAEB Cybook Gen3.

Are you trying to use the OPF files in Mobipocket Reader? That is just an interim product of Mobipocket Creator. If that is the case, you need to select the HTML file and click the "Build" icon to get the finished .prc file. That is also on the second page of Creator (upper right).

[SUSGOD]

Got it! MobiPocket Creator's Step 5: Build the ebook converts the .opf to .prc. Everything should work properly now. I'll build my e-library! I can hardly wait to get my NAEB Cybook to try it. Thank you all!

Susan

Originally Posted by slayda

Susan,
I'm not the expert on this but as I understand it, the OPF file is a variation of HTML. If that is the case then maybe the Cybook will read it but you may need to change the extension. I'll find out when I get my NAEB Cybook Gen3.

Are you trying to use the OPF files in Mobipocket Reader? That is just an interim product of Mobipocket Creator. If that is the case, you need to select the HTML file and click the "Build" icon to get the finished .prc file. That is also on the second page of Creator (upper right).

[Snuffi]

the opf file, all the html files are produced by Creator - as someone already pointed out - as an intermediate stage. At this point it would be possible to manually edit those files before building the finished .prc file.
E.g. I had an html file where Chapters were formatted using the <h2> tag. In Creator I could automagically have it create an TOC for me taking all <h2> headings from the html. Unluckily there were other parts also formatted as <h2> and so I took those out in the intermediate files and built the book afterwards.

Of course it might an easier way to edit the html file before importing it into Creator, that depends on how many changes are necessary.

Another thing I stumbled over and which might be useful information for people working with creator: Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

[SUSGOD]

Originally Posted by Snuffi

-SNIP-
Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

Thank you! I have created my first e-book (of my personal genealogical research). The picture of my pivotal ancestor showed up once I included the image in the same directory. Will this also work when I get my NAEB Cybook and load my homemade e-book in it?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Snuffi

Another thing I stumbled over and which might be useful information for people working with creator: Images in the html file (i.e. <img src=... ) are not copied to the working directory of Creator and are therefore not present in the intermediary files. The tag is converted just fine so if you manually copy the pictures to the directory where the other intermediary files are located then the pictures will apear in the .prc files as expected. Otherwise you get missing links to the images which might even crash the Cybook.

You should not add linked image files to the "file list" in MobiPocket Creator - if you do, they get added to the eBook twice. For a book which consists of a single HTML file with linked images, all that should be referenced in the OPF is the HTML file. The image files should be present in the same folder, but not referenced in the OPF's file list.