Feature proposal: attachments

chrisberkhout · 08-07-2013, 06:52 PM

Hi all,

I've been using Calibre for a while and I love it!

One extra feature that would help me a lot is to be able to add "attachments" to a book. I would be happy to develop this, but first I would like to get some feedback on the idea and some tips for where to start with the code.

I imagine this not as individual file attachments, but probably as an optional attachments directory that can exist inside each book directory within the Calibre library directory structure. The attachments get moved around with the book if it is renamed.

The current behaviour does not allow manually adding extra files into a book's directory (they are deleted if the containing path is changed by Calibre).

I have several use cases for this:

* I have PDF books that came in separate chapters. I grouped them into a single PDF and added that to Calibre, but I would like to keep the original, individual PDFs together with the book's entry.

* I have language learning books that come with associated audio files, and I would like to keep those audio files together with the book.

* I have programming books that have associated source code files and I would like to attach those to the book entry.

* I have books with several PDF versions (e.g. print-optimised and screen-optimised), and I would like to keep the extra versions as attachments (this is kind of a workaround for not being able to add several versions of one format, but I think it's a very clean workaround).

So, the first level of functionality would be as simple as... don't delete unmanaged files or directories in the book's path (no interface changes necessary). This would be totally adequate for the above use cases.

A heaver solution would be to have an attachments folder inside the book's path and expose this through the Calibre UI (e.g. like the book's path already is).

What do you think of this idea?

Do you have any tips for what parts of the code I need to look at to get this working?

Cheers,
Chris

kovidgoyal · 08-07-2013, 10:40 PM

Simply zip up your attachments and add them as an extra format to the book record.

08-07-2013, 06:52 PM	#1
chrisberkhout Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 3088 Join Date: Aug 2013 Device: Kindle Touch	Feature proposal: attachments Hi all, I've been using Calibre for a while and I love it! One extra feature that would help me a lot is to be able to add "attachments" to a book. I would be happy to develop this, but first I would like to get some feedback on the idea and some tips for where to start with the code. I imagine this not as individual file attachments, but probably as an optional attachments directory that can exist inside each book directory within the Calibre library directory structure. The attachments get moved around with the book if it is renamed. The current behaviour does not allow manually adding extra files into a book's directory (they are deleted if the containing path is changed by Calibre). I have several use cases for this: * I have PDF books that came in separate chapters. I grouped them into a single PDF and added that to Calibre, but I would like to keep the original, individual PDFs together with the book's entry. * I have language learning books that come with associated audio files, and I would like to keep those audio files together with the book. * I have programming books that have associated source code files and I would like to attach those to the book entry. * I have books with several PDF versions (e.g. print-optimised and screen-optimised), and I would like to keep the extra versions as attachments (this is kind of a workaround for not being able to add several versions of one format, but I think it's a very clean workaround). So, the first level of functionality would be as simple as... don't delete unmanaged files or directories in the book's path (no interface changes necessary). This would be totally adequate for the above use cases. A heaver solution would be to have an attachments folder inside the book's path and expose this through the Calibre UI (e.g. like the book's path already is). What do you think of this idea? Do you have any tips for what parts of the code I need to look at to get this working? Cheers, Chris

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08-07-2013, 10:40 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,305 Karma: 27111242 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Simply zip up your attachments and add them as an extra format to the book record.

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