Random characters on one xhtml file after importing.

BookieBlue · 08-30-2023, 04:45 PM

Hello.

I'm having some problems concerning one .xhtml file of just one chapter in a book. When importing it to Calibre it shows as a jumbled mess of random symbols:

While on Adobe Digital Editions it looks fine before importing it to Calibre:

The chapter is a long list of names that are mentioned throughout the book, ordered alphabetically and with the page number where they're mentioned in. I just want to keep the names and ditch the numbers.

How can make it so Calibre reads this long list properly?

I tried correcting html headers and setting the whole page to utf-8 thinking it was en enconding issue but none worked.

If you'd point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!

BetterRed · 08-30-2023, 05:34 PM

Moderator Notice

Moved to Editor subforum.

BR

theducks · 08-30-2023, 05:45 PM

That book is ?? (is it even a book).
Coded wrong Charset, encrypted, damaged archive, someone changed the extension to trick Calibre into loading
Note Calibre can not Edit or convert DOC format. It can file it and send it (as a DOC)

BetterRed · 08-30-2023, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

That book is ?? (is it even a book).
Coded wrong Charset, encrypted, damaged archive, someone changed the extension to trick Calibre into loading
Note Calibre can not Edit or convert DOC format. It can file it and send it (as a DOC)

Perhaps it's an embedded PDF, there's been mention of that in the Sigil forum in recent days… Kevin added the wherewithal to support it in the latest release.

PS: that's as much as I know about it, no idea of why it was added to the specs… if one can embed a PDF why not an Autocad project - a BoM on yer Kindle

BR

kovidgoyal · 08-30-2023, 10:12 PM

Could be any number of things impossible to say without access to the book file.

Quoth · 08-31-2023, 05:43 AM

Rename a copy of original epub to end in .zip in a new folder.
Unpack it.
Rename the weird .xhtml file to .pdf and if that doesn't open try .png, etc. It can't be really an xhtml file unless it's encrypted.

BookieBlue · 08-31-2023, 04:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Could be any number of things impossible to say without access to the book file.

I can't do it as the book is DRM'ed, and thus forbidden per site's rules.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

Rename a copy of original epub to end in .zip in a new folder.
Unpack it.
Rename the weird .xhtml file to .pdf and if that doesn't open try .png, etc. It can't be really an xhtml file unless it's encrypted.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

Perhaps it's an embedded PDF, there's been mention of that in the Sigil forum in recent days… Kevin added the wherewithal to support it in the latest release.

Copied the original ePub, zipped and extracted the whole content. Then I tried changing the extension of the file to both PDF and PNG and none opened, just a white page in preview and errors when opening with a dedicated PDF app. Doing the same to the copy I imported to Calibre I'm able to read all the other chapters that are in .xhtml form inside the zip, but not the one I'm having decoding issues (even when changing it to PDF).

The book is protected against copy but it lets you highlight portions of the text and those can be exported so I found a workaround to what I wanted to do I guess (?).

Quoth · 08-31-2023, 05:23 PM

So it's likely an encrypted xhtml file.

BetterRed · 08-31-2023, 07:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BookieBlue

I can't do it as the book is DRM'ed, and thus forbidden per site's rules.

You can create an obfuscated version via the ScrambleEbook plugin and post that.

Seems odd that a list of characters would get 'special' treatment, are there any other lists, e.g. locations.

BR

BookieBlue · 08-31-2023, 11:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Quoth

So it's likely an encrypted xhtml file.

Most probably, but I'm still puzzled on how the latest deDRM plugin unlocked the whole book except that one.

Quote:

Originally Posted by BetterRed

You can create an obfuscated version via the ScrambleEbook plugin and post that.

Seems odd that a list of characters would get 'special' treatment, are there any other lists, e.g. locations.

Installed the plugin and when pressing the Scramble now action the window closes itself.

The .xhtml file should only be a long list of full names ordered alphabetically and page numbers they are mentioned in.

Quoth · 09-01-2023, 07:06 AM

Screen shots of the page(s) in ADE. Then type up or OCR and edit...
Switch off "Cleartype" or any similar text enhancement as it colours the edges blue and red.

08-30-2023, 04:45 PM	#1
BookieBlue Junior Member Posts: 6 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2023 Device: none	Random characters on one xhtml file after importing. Hello. I'm having some problems concerning one .xhtml file of just one chapter in a book. When importing it to Calibre it shows as a jumbled mess of random symbols: While on Adobe Digital Editions it looks fine before importing it to Calibre: The chapter is a long list of names that are mentioned throughout the book, ordered alphabetically and with the page number where they're mentioned in. I just want to keep the names and ditch the numbers. How can make it so Calibre reads this long list properly? I tried correcting html headers and setting the whole page to utf-8 thinking it was en enconding issue but none worked. If you'd point me in the right direction I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance! Attached Thumbnails

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08-30-2023, 05:34 PM	#2
BetterRed null operator (he/him) Posts: 20,787 Karma: 27405072 Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Sydney Australia Device: none	Moderator Notice Moved to Editor subforum. BR

08-30-2023, 05:45 PM	#3
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 30,169 Karma: 57532200 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	That book is ?? (is it even a book). Coded wrong Charset, encrypted, damaged archive, someone changed the extension to trick Calibre into loading Note Calibre can not Edit or convert DOC format. It can file it and send it (as a DOC)

08-30-2023, 10:12 PM	#5
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 44,179 Karma: 23000000 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Could be any number of things impossible to say without access to the book file.

08-31-2023, 05:43 AM	#6
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,084 Karma: 89198465 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Rename a copy of original epub to end in .zip in a new folder. Unpack it. Rename the weird .xhtml file to .pdf and if that doesn't open try .png, etc. It can't be really an xhtml file unless it's encrypted.

08-31-2023, 05:23 PM	#8
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,084 Karma: 89198465 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	So it's likely an encrypted xhtml file.

09-01-2023, 07:06 AM	#11
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 12,084 Karma: 89198465 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Screen shots of the page(s) in ADE. Then type up or OCR and edit... Switch off "Cleartype" or any similar text enhancement as it colours the edges blue and red.