kindlegen plugin for Sigil

[AlanHK]

The plugin size is now fixed at 330 px high, suitable for 220 dpi or lower, where it will fill the 1.5" high "grid view" slot. But on 300 dpi like the PW-3, you need 450. While changing the code in plugin.py works, it is lost when the plugin is updated.

So can this be made a preference, and preferably in the gui?
Also, when launching the plugin, the gui displays links for the starting point, the cover file and the TOC.

However, while it has a setting to "Add fake ASIN", it does not indicate if there is already one set in the epub, or what it is. Since there are several formats for these in the OPF: EPUB2, EPUB3, AMAZON, MOBI-ASIN; I'd like to see what the ASIN will be read as in the end; or if the syntax is wrong and a random one will be generated. In the latter case, display the string that will be used.
Ideally: have the "Fake ASIN" be settable from the GUI and written into the epub.

Motivation:
When working on a book file I will almost always load several different versions on the Kindle to check. With the random ASIN, each will have a differently named thumbnail, sdr folder and AZW. Deleting a file from the Kindle GUI only deletes the book file (AZW/MOBI), not the other files.
With a fixed ASIN, I just have to upload the AZW (unless I've changed the cover, which is rare). The info in the sdr folder works, though bookmarks may be off.

So these redundant folders and images remain, and with the random names from the ASIN, aren't obvious in the file listing for manual deletion. I've got 100 or so books on my Kindle now and it's not too hard to find them, but I have room for thousands, and cleaning them up then would be rather tedious.
I know these files are not harmful, but hate to see junk pile up from every time I've loaded, paged through and deleted a book to replace with a revised one.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by AlanHK

The plugin size is now fixed at 330 px high, suitable for 220 dpi or lower, where it will fill the 1.5" high "grid view" slot. But on 300 dpi like the PW-3, you need 450. While changing the code in plugin.py works, it is lost when the plugin is updated.

The latest version allows you to change the thumbnail size via the GUI.

Originally Posted by AlanHK

Ideally: have the "Fake ASIN" be settable from the GUI and written into the epub.

The latest version will display the ASIN that'll be used, if the Add fake ASIN option is checked, however, you won't be able to change it via the GUI.

If you want to add a custom ASIN, simply define a clip with the following contents:

    <dc:identifier opf:scheme="MOBI-ASIN">B001234567</dc:identifier>

and insert it before running the plugin.

BTW, you can tell by the length of the ASIN its most likely origin:

1. ASIN: B001234567 (a genuine ASIN added by the user or Calibre)
2. ASIN: 52d5b24103ac (a 12 character hex number generated by the plugin)
3. ASIN: 20c486dd-6a45-4c9c-bb86-ce68590ef015 (a UUID generated by Calibre)

[AlanHK]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

The latest version allows you to change the thumbnail size via the GUI.
The latest version will display the ASIN that'll be used, if the Add fake ASIN option is checked, however, you won't be able to change it via the GUI.

Thanks! Working well.

If you want to add a custom ASIN, simply define a clip with the following contents:

<dc:identifier opf:scheme="MOBI-ASIN">B001234567</dc:identifier>

I've been doing that. I make a short mnemonic "ASIN" so I can ID the associated files easily: e.g. "MOBYDICK".
But while it mostly works, sometimes there are problems, e.g xmlns:opf not defined, so "opf:scheme" does not work.
Seeing the ASIN in the plugin tells me that it's correct or not immediately, instead of waiting for the compilation to finish when I see I have a random ASIN and have to fix the OPF and do it again.

[odamizu]

Here's a little quirk.

I started with a valid ePub2. When I ran the KindleGen plug-in, it picked up the ASIN just fine from:

<dc:identifier opf:scheme="MOBI-ASIN">B123456789</dc:identifier>

Then I ran the ePub2 through the ePub3-itizer plug-in and got a valid ePub3. The identifier was converted to:

<dc:identifier>urn:mobi-asin:B123456789</dc:identifier>

When I ran the KindleGen plug-in, it failed to pick up the ASIN.

Changing "urn-mobi-asin" to "urn-MOBI-ASIN" fixed the problem.

Can the KindleGen plug-in be revised to recognize lower case "urn-mobi-asin" — or should I post in the ePub3-itizer thread and request that it convert the identifier to upper case instead of lower case?

Many thanks!

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Can the KindleGen plug-in be revised to recognize lower case "urn-mobi-asin" — or should I post in the ePub3-itizer thread and request that it convert the identifier to upper case instead of lower case?

I've updated the plugin to look for "urn-mobi-asin" in epub3 books.

[KevinH]

As an aside, the urn prefix values themselves are supposed to be case insensitive. So whatever is interpreting the opf should see "urn:mobi-asin" exactly the same as it sees "urn:MOBI-ASIN" and in its canonical form it should be lowercase.

I once looked that up in the spec just to make sure.

[odamizu]

Thanks for the quick work, @Doitsu!

Running more tests, I've found:

ePub3 now works with lower-case urn:mobi-asin/urn:amazon but no longer works with upper-case urn:MOBI-ASIN/urn:AMAZON.

ePub2 works with upper-case opf:scheme="MOBI-ASIN"/"AMAZON", but does not work witih lower-case opf:scheme="mobi-asin"/"amazon".

Not a biggie for me to edit this manually, but if the plug-in could be updated to case-insensitive, that would be great.

Thanks!

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by KevinH

As an aside, the urn prefix values themselves are supposed to be case insensitive.

Originally Posted by odamizu

Not a biggie for me to edit this manually, but if the plug-in could be updated to case-insensitive, that would be great.

I made the ASIN search case-insensitive for epub2 and epub3 books.

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

I made the ASIN search case-insensitive for epub2 and epub3 books.

Awesome! Thank you muchly!

[msh2050]

please suddenly I get this error with all books

Status: failed


************************************************** ***********
Warning: Missing TOC guide item. Use Add Semantics > Table of Contents to mark the TOC.
Warning: Missing SRL guide item. Use Add Semantics > Text to mark the SRL.
Warning: Cover not specified (cover metadata missing).
************************************************** ***********

Running KindleGen ... please wait
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "C:\Program Files\Sigil\plugin_launchers\python\launcher.py", line 135, in launch
self.exitcode = target_script.run(container)
File "C:\Users\****\AppData\Local\sigil-ebook\sigil\plugins\KindleGen\plugin.py", line 551, in run
result = kgWrapper(*args)
File "C:\Users\****\AppData\Local\sigil-ebook\sigil\plugins\KindleGen\plugin.py", line 117, in kgWrapper
process = Popen(list(args), stdout=PIPE, stderr=PIPE)
File "subprocess.py", line 947, in __init__
File "subprocess.py", line 1224, in _execute_child
FileNotFoundError: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified
Error: [WinError 2] The system cannot find the file specified

[Doitsu]

This error is usually displayed, if the Kindlegen binary couldn't be found, or couldn't be executed because it was either locked by another process, e.g. Kindle Previewer, or blocked by an Antivirus program.

Try the following:

1. Uninstall the KindleGen plugin.
2. Select Edit > Preferences > Open Preferences Location.
3. Double-click the plugins_prefs folder and delete the KindleGen preferences folder.
4. Re-install KindleGen.

If this doesn't help, temporarily disable your Antivirus program before running the plugin.

[msh2050]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

This error is usually displayed, if the Kindlegen binary couldn't be found, or couldn't be executed because it was either locked by another process, e.g. Kindle Previewer, or blocked by an Antivirus program.

Try the following:

1. Uninstall the KindleGen plugin.
2. Select Edit > Preferences > Open Preferences Location.
3. Double-click the plugins_prefs folder and delete the KindleGen preferences folder.
4. Re-install KindleGen.

If this doesn't help, temporarily disable your Antivirus program before running the plugin.

Thanks a lot.
It worked for me

[exaltedwombat]

Is there any benefit in this plugin over dropping the epub file into Kindle Previewer? Serious question, not a snark!

[msh2050]

how I can use this with this negative margin script should I make it as azw then import to sigil and lastly export?

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...17&postcount=8

I suggest you to merge this script with your plugin.

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by msh2050

how I can use this with this negative margin script should I make it as azw then import to sigil and lastly export?

My KindleGen plugin is primarily intended for KDP authors and book designers. All other users are better off simply using Calibre.
Besides negmarg.py apparently depends on the Calibre API and I simply don't have the time (and skills) to rewrite it for the Sigil API.