Using WindowScript to product IMP files

[ancalex]

Hi
I made a little research and testing this days and I came up with a solution to access those "vanishing" temporary files created by the time .imp is building.

Now, if you look inside the ETI .epub (open it up with winzip or my preference being winrar), you will see the .opf above and THAT .tmp (html) file missing above. That file is what I want to have access to and most definitely would post-process it using many desirable text substiutions. However, that file and any images only existing in the temp directory created by eBook Publisher (and then deleted BEFORE I can get to it).

My solution (maybe not the best anyway):
- passing 2 more arguments to any2imp jscript from the any2imp autoit script, $UserTmpDir holding the user temporary files path and $DocTmpDir holding the actual path to document that will be converted
- two more lines in jscript

        oFSO.CopyFile ( userTmpDir + "\\" + "wrd*.tmp",docTmpDir);
	oFSO.CopyFolder (userTmpDir + "\\images",docTmpDir + "\\images" );

placed in OnBuildStartEvent after saving the .opf file

Like you see i made it only for .doc converting but (if it is working good) it can be done for the other file type conversion.
For testing here are the source files

P.S. Copy back the tmp's to their original location, double click on the saved .opf and done. (or edit the opf for the new paths) to do

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by ancalex

Hi
I made a little research and testing this days and I came up with a solution to access those "vanishing" temporary files created by the time .imp is building.

My solution (maybe not the best anyway):

Wonderful research!!! Just absolutely wonderful solution!

Thanks again for this!

Oops: I get Bad Arguments with the GUI. Do the last two parameters need to have quotes for any spaces in the directory names? It works fine from the command line if I quote the last parameter.

p.s. for RTF .rtf its the same prefix as Word .doc files i.e. wrd*.tmp, but
- for PPT files the .tmp file is prefaced by ppt*.tmp and its images are called Slide*.jpg in the temp directory itself and not in an images subdirectory.
- for Text .txt files, the .tmp fiile is prefaced by odf*.tmp
- for .htm, there are no .tmp files, just the files in the source directory used in the .opf or just .html.

[nrapallo]

OK, I took ancalex's progress with copying those temporary files to the source file's directory and tried to eliminate those two extra parameters recently added for userTmpDir and docTmpDir as those are known within the .js script. The results are posted below in any2IMP v0.1.2. The .zip includes the source .au3, compiled .exe and modified .js script.

Basically, I used the variable project.SourceFile(0) to provide me with the filename of the first spine entry (zero-based index) in the .opf; which will usually contain the source (html) .tmp file I need to modify before the .imp conversion takes place.

This file can then be opened and various replace operations can be applied to remove inconsistencies or add functionality. I prefer small margins, big pictures, and use of the default fonts and will develop some replace regex once I brush up on how jscript implements these.

[ancalex]

I was thinking about not building the final .imp file if we need to edit anyway the sources, only build the final result after making all the changes. Also I think it's better to do all the necessary replacements using the AutoIt scripting flexibility (and not jscript)
So I made a little change in any2imp.js, used a function (after function ev_oBuilder_OnBuildStart) for detecting the OnSourceDone event for aborting the build like this:

function ev_oBuilder_OnSourceDone(file_name, file_index, tot_files){
WScript.StdOut.WriteLine("Abort Build");
oBuilder.AbortBuild();
}

What's your opinion?

By the way your modds for temporary file access are not better... but the best

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by ancalex

What's your opinion?

My preferences would be to use an all-in-one solution, producing a .imp after pressing the Convert button and perhaps after choosing some checkboxes/radiobuttons options on the GUI screen. For advanced/complex builds an Option to Abort the build midstream could be useful. The GUI's job should be to just to pass the parameters to the script. The .js script should produce the .imp ebook.

This is the way Lit2sb, Mobi2IMP and PDFRead work to produce usable .imp's from various sourced ebook formats. However, that doesn't mean that the user cannot later re-build the .imp after further editing it, but at least the easy changes will have already been made.

By the way your modds for temporary file access are not better... but the best

Thanks, hopefully this is the tip of the iceberg, with even better Build/GUI support to come.

[ancalex]

My preferences would be to use an all-in-one solution, producing a .imp after pressing the Convert button and perhaps after choosing some checkboxes/radiobuttons options on the GUI screen.

That will the best choice. My reserve is somehow caused by the fact that I'm working with jscript for the first time and I'm struggling to learn the basics. So excuse me if I will came with solutions a little bit slower.

[nrapallo]

Fixed a minor bug introduced with the last version where any subsequent conversion was not available. New v0.1.3 attached.

I tried converting Zelda.doc recently uploaded and any2IMP did a fine job (but I would like an option to change the base font family used).

I added a cover afterwards as can be seen by the converted .imp ebooks below!

[nrapallo]

I could not get the ETI SBPubX COM interface to properly process and/or support .epub manipulations within 'any2IMP', so I cannot, at this time, add any support for converting from .epub.

Once ETI properly documents the new changes to this COM interface, then it may be possible to add this functionality.

As it stands now, the SBPubX cannot be used via Perl or Windowscript to read/write .epub, even though it did work well with .oeb.

I guess these two are really NOT interchangeable, as stated by ETI.

Growing pains....

[ancalex]

Sorry for this long absence from the forum but in may i was moving to a new apartment and I was very busy with the moving and the arrangements.
I was worked this day to port any2imp to vb express because the lack of good com support from autoit and also jscript has some limitations (especially the lack of byref support of com's callings).
In vb everything is working very well, the code is very similar to autoit so the porting was not a big problem.
That was in the middle of may.
From some long weeks now, I'm working to implement in the new any2imp a wysiwyg html editor to make last minute changes to the source file(s) before the imp generation.
Hard task.
There are many free solutions (wrappers, components for .net) based on mshtml for example
- http://itwriting.com/htmleditor/
- http://www.planet-source-code.com/vb/scripts/
- http://groups.google.com/group/csexwb
but i tried also others, for example i tried even some javascript based programs.
I found some interesting things in my searches for example a beautiful html renderer from terrainformatica:
- http://www.terrainformatica.com/htmlayout/
So if you have some ideas/demands for/from this future editor please share your opinion with me.
What I want specifically from this editor:
- access to the header style made by SBPubX for changing the global layout of the ebook
- make changes like bold, italic, ... in text
- make changes for justifying text (left, right, justify, center) for paragraphs
- insert anchors, make (manually) tocs
- insert running headers, footers
- code cleaning
- render the html file with ebookwise like ttf fonts
I hope this is interesting enough.
I'm also thinking about not using the publisher's internal document converter but use this html2rtf converter
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/RtfConverter.aspx
Waiting for your opinions.

[shighfield]

Sounds good to me! Having everything in one tool like this might be the way to go and make it easier for new users.

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by ancalex

Sorry for this long absence

You're excused, just this one time, ...

I was worked this day to port any2imp to vb express because the lack of good com support from autoit and also jscript has some limitations (especially the lack of byref support of com's callings).
In vb everything is working very well, the code is very similar to autoit so the porting was not a big problem.
That was in the middle of may.

Does it still have a nice GUI? Do any vb calls to the new .epub/OCF related functions/methods work for you?

From some long weeks now, I'm working to implement in the new any2imp a wysiwyg html editor to make last minute changes to the source file(s) before the imp generation.

Will it support RegEx? I like using Perl-like RegEX substitutions to fix things "en masse".

So if you have some ideas/demands for/from this future editor please share your opinion with me.
What I want specifically from this editor:
- access to the header style made by SBPubX for changing the global layout of the ebook
- make changes like bold, italic, ... in text
- make changes for justifying text (left, right, justify, center) for paragraphs
- insert anchors, make (manually) tocs
- insert running headers, footers
- code cleaning
- render the html file with ebookwise like ttf fonts
I hope this is interesting enough.

See this eBook Publisher tips/hints thread and our EBook Publisher wiki.

I'm also thinking about not using the publisher's internal document converter but use this html2rtf converter
http://www.codeproject.com/KB/recipes/RtfConverter.aspx
Waiting for your opinions.

I agree that the internal ETI rtf converter is not the best, but it's "free" and comes with the COM support. Why not just fix what you don't like about it's output (using RegEx); just my take on this. But if you can get the RtfConverter to work then kudos to you!

[ancalex]

Hi
I put here for testing the source code and the executable of any2IMP+
Because it was made with vb express 2008 you must have net 3.5 installed.
Hope everything is ok.


edit - it's enough to have net 2.0 installed, sorry my mistake.

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by ancalex

Hi
I put here for testing the source code and the executable of any2IMP+
Because it was made with vb express 2008 you must have net 3.5 installed.
Hope everything is ok.


edit - it's enough to have net 2.0 installed, sorry my mistake.

I can't get it to work on my WinXP SP3 with .NET 3.5 installed (as well as 2.0) computer. I tried on another WinXP computer and even installed the (free) VB Express 2008 there and still no go.

See the end of this message for details on invoking 
just-in-time (JIT) debugging instead of this dialog box.

************** Exception Text **************
System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Configuration system failed to initialize ---> System.Configuration.ConfigurationErrorsException: Unrecognized configuration section system.serviceModel. (C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\Config\machine.config line 146)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationSchemaErrors.ThrowIfErrors(Boolean ignoreLocal)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfParseErrors(ConfigurationSchemaErrors schemaErrors)
   at System.Configuration.BaseConfigurationRecord.ThrowIfInitErrors()
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(String configKey)
   --- End of inner exception stack trace ---
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.EnsureInit(String configKey)
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.PrepareClientConfigSystem(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.ClientConfigurationSystem.System.Configuration.Internal.IInternalConfigSystem.RefreshConfig(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.ConfigurationManager.RefreshSection(String sectionName)
   at System.Configuration.ClientSettingsStore.ReadSettings(String sectionName, Boolean isUserScoped)
   at System.Configuration.LocalFileSettingsProvider.GetPropertyValues(SettingsContext context, SettingsPropertyCollection properties)
   at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.GetPropertiesFromProvider(SettingsProvider provider)
   at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.GetPropertyValueByName(String propertyName)
   at System.Configuration.SettingsBase.get_Item(String propertyName)
   at System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.GetPropertyValue(String propertyName)
   at System.Configuration.ApplicationSettingsBase.get_Item(String propertyName)
   at any2IMP.My.MySettings.get_LastBuildTarget() in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\any2IMP+\any2IMP\My Project\Settings.Designer.vb:line 74
   at any2IMP.MainForm.MainForm_Load(Object sender, EventArgs e) in C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\My Documents\Visual Studio 2008\Projects\any2IMP+\any2IMP\MainForm.vb:line 175
   at System.EventHandler.Invoke(Object sender, EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnLoad(EventArgs e)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.OnCreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl(Boolean fIgnoreVisible)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.CreateControl()
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ScrollableControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.ContainerControl.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WmShowWindow(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Form.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.OnMessage(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.Control.ControlNativeWindow.WndProc(Message& m)
   at System.Windows.Forms.NativeWindow.Callback(IntPtr hWnd, Int32 msg, IntPtr wparam, IntPtr lparam)


************** Loaded Assemblies **************
mscorlib
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3082 (QFE.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/Microsoft.NET/Framework/v2.0.50727/mscorlib.dll
----------------------------------------
any2IMP
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///E:/ebooks/Coding_Mobi2IMP_PDFRead/Conversion-Perl%20scripts/WindowScripts/any2IMP+_executable/any2IMP.exe
----------------------------------------
Microsoft.VisualBasic
    Assembly Version: 8.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 8.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/Microsoft.VisualBasic/8.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll
----------------------------------------
System
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Windows.Forms
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Windows.Forms/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Windows.Forms.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Drawing
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Drawing/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Drawing.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Runtime.Remoting
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Runtime.Remoting/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Runtime.Remoting.dll
----------------------------------------
Interop.SBPUBXLib
    Assembly Version: 1.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 1.0.0.0
    CodeBase: file:///E:/ebooks/Coding_Mobi2IMP_PDFRead/Conversion-Perl%20scripts/WindowScripts/any2IMP+_executable/Interop.SBPUBXLib.DLL
----------------------------------------
System.Configuration
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3053 (netfxsp.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Configuration/2.0.0.0__b03f5f7f11d50a3a/System.Configuration.dll
----------------------------------------
System.Xml
    Assembly Version: 2.0.0.0
    Win32 Version: 2.0.50727.3082 (QFE.050727-3000)
    CodeBase: file:///C:/WINDOWS/assembly/GAC_MSIL/System.Xml/2.0.0.0__b77a5c561934e089/System.Xml.dll
----------------------------------------

************** JIT Debugging **************
To enable just-in-time (JIT) debugging, the .config file for this
application or computer (machine.config) must have the
jitDebugging value set in the system.windows.forms section.
The application must also be compiled with debugging
enabled.

For example:

<configuration>
    <system.windows.forms jitDebugging="true" />
</configuration>

When JIT debugging is enabled, any unhandled exception
will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer
rather than be handled by this dialog box.

This is the error message I get when it starts up. I see the GUI screen afterwards, but can't use it.

Help...

[ancalex]

I'm sorry, i don't now what is wrong. You sad you even tried with vb express?
Have you tried loading the solution file ?
I saw in the errors about complying about missing settings...
Anyway I think the problem is with not supplying all the files necessary to run the exe. Again my mistake, i wanted to simplify the installation but i caused only troubles. sorry again.
So I "published" in vb the sources, with clickonce you can install it.
unzip and setup.exe

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by ancalex

Anyway I think the problem is with not supplying all the files necessary to run the exe.

Yes, that was the issue!

Again my mistake, i wanted to simplify the installation but i caused only troubles. sorry again.
So I "published" in vb the sources, with clickonce you can install it.
unzip and setup.exe

Works great, but the setup.exe calls (just once) 'dfsvc.exe' that wants to access the internet, presumably to verify the 'Publisher' (I denied internet access to 'dfsvc.exe' just to be extra safe).

It installed just fine, except it indicated that the "Publisher cannot be verified". No loss! It works great (did I say that before) and even leaves a copy of the .html used as a .tmp in the target directory. Just edit the .opf to use that file and you're set!

Suggestion: I would probably place all related files (.tmp and any images, but not the .opf) in a subdirectory named as the source file (without the extension). This makes it feasible to convert multiple documents in the same folder.

To run the program a second time, use the link in the start menu (I just copied it to my desktop for future use)!

Well done!