Error when trying to save new ePub project

rstevenson · 06-23-2011, 06:52 PM

Hi,

Confused and frustrated noob here.

I have a large chunk of a web site that is to be turned into an ePub. I couldn't find a way to add separate html files to my project in Sigil, so I put them all together into one huge html page and Opened that in Sigil. Then I went through and made chapter breaks in the file as needed. Worked like a charm!

But not quite. Having tired myself out I wanted to save it at that point and take a break. Easy, I thought, just select Save or hit the Save button. Nope. Sigil pops up an error dialog which says...

Quote:

Sigil currently cannot save files of type "html".
Please choose a different format.

Well, the file was originally html, it's true. But looking at the code view I see this at the top of every chapter...

Quote:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no"?>
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN"
"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">

<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">

And all the chapters were created with the default file names, all of which end in .xhtml. The original imported file did not, so I changed its filename ending to .xhtml too. (It also has that code chunk at top identifying it as, I think, XHTML.)

What do I do now? Am I going to lose all that work?

Rob

alansplace · 06-23-2011, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rstevenson

Hi,

Confused and frustrated noob here.

I have a large chunk of a web site that is to be turned into an ePub. I couldn't find a way to add separate html files to my project in Sigil, so I put them all together into one huge html page and Opened that in Sigil. Then I went through and made chapter breaks in the file as needed. Worked like a charm!

But not quite. Having tired myself out I wanted to save it at that point and take a break. Easy, I thought, just select Save or hit the Save button. Nope. Sigil pops up an error dialog which says...

Well, the file was originally html, it's true. But looking at the code view I see this at the top of every chapter...

And all the chapters were created with the default file names, all of which end in .xhtml. The original imported file did not, so I changed its filename ending to .xhtml too. (It also has that code chunk at top identifying it as, I think, XHTML.)

What do I do now? Am I going to lose all that work?

Rob

first i gotta' tell you i'm pretty much of a noob myself when it comes to sigil. with that said i'd like to ask why you just don't save your work as an epub (which is just a zip file full of html's)?

rstevenson · 06-23-2011, 07:56 PM

Hi Alan,

I'm not trying to save it as anything. I'm just clicking the Save button and Sigil gives me that error. So the question becomes, why does Sigil think I'm trying to save it as HTML?

(This is the first time the file/project/whatever it's called is being saved, if that matters.)

Okay, taking a hint from your reply, instead of clicking Save, I chose Save As.. in the File menu. The project saved just fine. Phew! Thanks Alan.

Note to developer: the Save As... dialog has no other options than ePub. So at this stage of development it should be grayed out and Save should just save instead of putting up that unhelpful error.

Rob

theducks · 06-23-2011, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rstevenson

Hi Alan,

I'm not trying to save it as anything. I'm just clicking the Save button and Sigil gives me that error. So the question becomes, why does Sigil think I'm trying to save it as HTML?

(This is the first time the file/project/whatever it's called is being saved, if that matters.)

Okay, taking a hint from your reply, instead of clicking Save, I chose Save As.. in the File menu. The project saved just fine. Phew! Thanks Alan.

Note to developer: the Save As... dialog has no other options than ePub. So at this stage of development it should be grayed out and Save should just save instead of putting up that unhelpful error.

Rob

You can start with HTML but you can only save as EPUB.

That is why it squawks (fails). It is a waning to remind you

that you are making a EPUB out of a HTML file

rstevenson · 06-23-2011, 09:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

You can start with HTML but you can only save as EPUB.

That is why it squawks (fails). It is a waning to remind you

that you are making a EPUB out of a HTML file

Sorry, but that's not sensible. When I write prose in Word I don't need to be told when I first click Save that Word doesn't do that, and then be forced to choose Save As... to select the doc format. Similarly, when I bring material into Sigil (no matter where I get it from) I am obviously trying to make an ePub -- that's all Sigil does. So giving me an error telling me I can't do what I didn't set out to do is rather silly.

Nor is it sensible UI design to require me to select Save As... to make the first save of a file. On first save of a file in Sigil, both the Save and the Save As.. commands could perform the same function since there is no other possibility. So if the file hasn't yet been saved even once (something Sigil must be keeping track of) then clicking Save should do the trick without any huffing and puffing. And until the Save As.. command has a useful function, it might as well be grayed out.

But this is beta software, so enough complaining.

Rob

alansplace · 06-24-2011, 12:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rstevenson

Hi Alan,

I'm not trying to save it as anything. I'm just clicking the Save button and Sigil gives me that error. So the question becomes, why does Sigil think I'm trying to save it as HTML?

(This is the first time the file/project/whatever it's called is being saved, if that matters.)

Okay, taking a hint from your reply, instead of clicking Save, I chose Save As.. in the File menu. The project saved just fine. Phew! Thanks Alan.

Note to developer: the Save As... dialog has no other options than ePub. So at this stage of development it should be grayed out and Save should just save instead of putting up that unhelpful error.

Rob

rob...you're welcome.

by the way, i've never clicked a save button (didn't realize that there was such a button) i just click the red x in the upper right corner and it asks (if i've made any changes) if i want to save the file. like i said, i'm a noob too!

theducks · 06-24-2011, 09:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alansplace

rob...you're welcome.

by the way, i've never clicked a save button (didn't realize that there was such a button) i just click the red x in the upper right corner and it asks (if i've made any changes) if i want to save the file. like i said, i'm a noob too!

One of the great (IMHO) features of Sigil is the tool bars are movable and un-dock-able (but it is fun

to get them to dock again)
NB The 'Save'/Save As' are the disk drive icons on the right edge in my layout.

alansplace · 06-24-2011, 01:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

One of the great (IMHO) features of Sigil is the tool bars are movable and un-dock-able (but it is fun

to get them to dock again)
NB The 'Save'/Save As' are the disk drive icons on the right edge in my layout.

hmmmm....shows what one misses out on when not reading the docs/manual.

theducks · 06-24-2011, 01:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alansplace

hmmmm....shows what one misses out on when not reading the docs/manual.

What Manual ? All I saw were screen shots.

alansplace · 06-24-2011, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

What Manual ? All I saw were screen shots.

shows what i know

stevie1950 · 06-24-2011, 02:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rstevenson

Hi,

Confused and frustrated noob here.

I have a large chunk of a web site that is to be turned into an ePub. I couldn't find a way to add separate html files to my project in Sigil, so I put them all together into one huge html page and Opened that in Sigil.Rob

What about try this ?

open the html file with web browser program

click edit - select all - then edit - copy

open a text editor like textpad, and paste that in to a new page of it.
then in the text editor, do the same thing, select all, and copy.

load sigil, with new 1st blank page, type 'start here' at the top of that page and hit return to a new line

type an x and a space

put sigil in to code display mode

then click edit - paste - to paste in the text you have copied from the text editor

- then save the sigil project - and then - you can do your formatting changes to what you pasted in

I just tried it - it does work

rstevenson · 06-24-2011, 03:41 PM

Thanks, but, um, no thanks.

I use good standard HTML code, the vast majority of which can be used within the ePub code, so I certainly don't want to redo all that, in book length. The method I used to get the code into Sigil worked fine. It was the odd error when I tried to save that was the issue, and that has been solved.

Rob

stevie1950 · 06-24-2011, 03:49 PM

well, then, did you try copy/pasting the html source code of your html pages in to sigil xhtml pages when in sigil code display mode ?

stevie1950 · 06-24-2011, 05:49 PM

One more step - if copy/pasting your hmtl code in to sigil xhtml pages in sigil code display mode does paste in, afterwards try the Sigil 'cleaning with html tidy' from the Tools menu.

Sigil might pop up a window saying the code has errors, and ask if you want to fix automatically, or manually.

experiment.

I just did, the result is not what I'd want but it did work - sorta.

Or, search the web for a convertor, I believe there are some out there.

bobcdy · 06-24-2011, 07:39 PM

rstevenson
I'm not sure if you've solved your problem; if not you need to realize that all programs have certain rules. Sigil will accept html code BUT it will ONLY save the html material as an epub - you have no choice. If you want to save the work you have already done, you cannot save as a html file. If you don't like this approach, you should work on your html code, combining everything, etc. outside of the epub until you have it the way you like and save it as an html, then import that file into Sigil and save the result as 'your file name'.epub.

Often I do exactly that in creating an epub - I work on the html including chapter breaks and everything that sigil insists on, then send to sigil and finish it. I think that once you get used to Sigil, you will appreciate it.
Bob

06-23-2011, 07:56 PM	#3
rstevenson Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Dartmouth, NS Device: iPad, etc.	Hi Alan, I'm not trying to save it as anything. I'm just clicking the Save button and Sigil gives me that error. So the question becomes, why does Sigil think I'm trying to save it as HTML? (This is the first time the file/project/whatever it's called is being saved, if that matters.) Okay, taking a hint from your reply, instead of clicking Save, I chose Save As.. in the File menu. The project saved just fine. Phew! Thanks Alan. Note to developer: the Save As... dialog has no other options than ePub. So at this stage of development it should be grayed out and Save should just save instead of putting up that unhelpful error. Rob Last edited by rstevenson; 06-23-2011 at 08:00 PM.

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06-24-2011, 03:41 PM	#12
rstevenson Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Dartmouth, NS Device: iPad, etc.	Thanks, but, um, no thanks. I use good standard HTML code, the vast majority of which can be used within the ePub code, so I certainly don't want to redo all that, in book length. The method I used to get the code into Sigil worked fine. It was the odd error when I tried to save that was the issue, and that has been solved. Rob

06-24-2011, 03:49 PM	#13
stevie1950 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	well, then, did you try copy/pasting the html source code of your html pages in to sigil xhtml pages when in sigil code display mode ?

06-24-2011, 05:49 PM	#14
stevie1950 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2011 Device: none	One more step - if copy/pasting your hmtl code in to sigil xhtml pages in sigil code display mode does paste in, afterwards try the Sigil 'cleaning with html tidy' from the Tools menu. Sigil might pop up a window saying the code has errors, and ask if you want to fix automatically, or manually. experiment. I just did, the result is not what I'd want but it did work - sorta. Or, search the web for a convertor, I believe there are some out there.

06-24-2011, 07:39 PM	#15
bobcdy Fanatic Posts: 527 Karma: 1048576 Join Date: May 2009 Device: bebook; prs-950; nook simple touch; HTC Jetstream tablet	rstevenson I'm not sure if you've solved your problem; if not you need to realize that all programs have certain rules. Sigil will accept html code BUT it will ONLY save the html material as an epub - you have no choice. If you want to save the work you have already done, you cannot save as a html file. If you don't like this approach, you should work on your html code, combining everything, etc. outside of the epub until you have it the way you like and save it as an html, then import that file into Sigil and save the result as 'your file name'.epub. Often I do exactly that in creating an epub - I work on the html including chapter breaks and everything that sigil insists on, then send to sigil and finish it. I think that once you get used to Sigil, you will appreciate it. Bob

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