Process/modify files as they are transferred to a device?

[snarkophilus]

Hi folks,

Is there any way for Calibre to process or modify a file as it's being transferred to a device?

A little background - over on this Sony PRS T1 thread we're discussing ways of emulating PRS+'s "User CSS" and one way of doing this is adding an @import to the top of the stylesheet inside an epub. It would be handy if this could be automated when the epub is transferred to the device.

A special bonus point if this could be disabled on a per-book basis too, if that's not asking too much!

I wasn't sure which Calibre sub-forum was best for this query, so I've posted it in the main Calibre forum. Mods - please move if necessary.

Cheers,
Simon.

[kovidgoyal]

calibre already modifies files (updating metadata) when they are sent to the device, so in principle, this is easy to do. But you would have to modify calibre to do it. And I'm not really clear on what the benefit of User CSS is as opposed to just converting the file with your settings.

[snarkophilus]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

calibre already modifies files (updating metadata) when they are sent to the device, so in principle, this is easy to do. But you would have to modify calibre to do it.

At least it's good to know it's possible.

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

And I'm not really clear on what the benefit of User CSS is as opposed to just converting the file with your settings.

Two main reasons are to avoid doing anything manual (whether conversion, plugin, etc) to add the required line to the css in the epub, and also that this particular modification is specific to a given reader type (PRS T1 in this case).

A third reason is that by having a User CSS on the device means that you don't need to make a decision at conversion or transfer to device time. If I decide next year that I like a different font or wider margins I have a single file to edit to make that change.

Cheers,
Simon.

[kovidgoyal]

Seems like a lot easier to just modify the firmware on the reader. Is PRS+ not being ported to the T1?

[snarkophilus]

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Seems like a lot easier to just modify the firmware on the reader. Is PRS+ not being ported to the T1?

That would be good! At the moment I don't believe there are any plans to port PRS+.

On the T1, you do have the freedom to use alternate epub viewers if you "root" your T1 (hack it to allow extra privileges including allowing you to run software you install), but the alternate viewers (FBReader, CoolReader, MoonReader) don't do as good a job of rendering epubs as the Sony viewer in some people's opinions.

At this stage, it doesn't appear that the Sony viewer can be told to pre-load some CSS like PRS+ does.

Cheers,
Simon.