MapleRead - eBook Reader and Server for iOS

[glenm125]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

Check the menu items under Prefer. By default, Skip Book is checked. To do the update you want, select Download Book instead.

Actually, this doesn't do quite what I want, and I think the difference may center on the concept of identical books.

For example, some book in my Calibre library is fanfiction - it is incomplete on first download, and extended from time to time with additional content. I added it to my library using fanficfare Calibre plugin, which (I believe) generates an EPUB. Later I have updated, thereby (I believe) generating a new EPUB which replaces the old for the same book.

In MR, I read the previous iteration of the book, establishing a last read position.

Now in MR, I download the book from Calibre again. If I elect to skip books I already have, it doesn't download the changes. If I elect to download anyway, it creates a complete separate book, and my reading progress is 0 in the new one. What I would like to have happen is, the newly downloaded metadata and file replace those already in the MR library. Except the read position, which ideally would become the latest of Calibre or MR.

I suspect MR is deciding these aren't the same book because the files and metadata aren't bit-for-bit identical (as described in the FAQ). While this rule probably works very well for traditionally published content, it doesn't seem to be the best test for fanfiction, which by its nature is extended over time.

In Calibre there is an Ids tag that uniquely identifies according to the upstream source and ID there .. but I don't see such tag when I view the book metadata in MR. Perhaps it isn't included in the OPDS source you have access to. But if that Ids tag were included in the OPDS, it would probably provide a more helpful match possibility than the bit content.

For benefit of others with the same issue, there is a workaround. The existing book in MR shows non-zero read progress (the little circle icon to right in the library list view). Open the original copy to determine the position in the book. Then return to the MR library, delete that original copy, and open the new copy. Advance to the desired read position (using TOC). It is a few steps, and tedious if you have many books (made more so because you are probably in Most Recent sort to see the updated books, but to see the other copy you'd probably want a different sort), but is functional.

HTH

glen

[romad]

Ah, never thought to look under Brightness! Sounds like the guy who designed my XM Radio's menus and put the auto power on/off with car power under the Time Set menu! Thanks.

BTW, what theme did you select?

[glenm125]

Originally Posted by romad

XM Radio's menus and put the auto power on/off with car power under the Time Set menu!

Amusing.

Originally Posted by romad

BTW, what theme did you select?

White. I'm a pretty low-tech kind of guy when it comes to reading prose. Give me the best contrast, or at night, give me amber/red (reduce eye fatigue).

[odamizu]

MapleRead has the best page-background customization of all the ereading apps I've tried. In addition to the pre-existing themes, you can use the color-picker to choose the exact shade you want. You can also export your theme to your other devices so you don't have to go through the whole process again.

[romad]

Since there isn't a MapleRead sub-forum in the ebook software forum yet, I thought I'd break this out here.

I set the sorting to Author+Series. I then imported four books of a 5-book series, but MR does NOT sort them according to series number but sorts by Author+Title so series is sorted books 4, 3, 1, 5 instead of 1, 3, 4, 5. How do I get the sorting into the proper sequential order? Is there a way to manually move the books into their proper order?

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by cedhax

Per your suggestion, I have posted a new thread in the calibre forum, and kovidgoyal has kindly responded. Would you kindly reply to his technical questions? It'll be great if you two can work out a new solution together. Anybody else interested too?

Take your time. I know this is the Labor Day long weekend. Thanks!

@cedhax - I really appreciate your zealous help.

I've just answered kovidgoyal with a quick post. The ball is in my court now on how to make use of the new data.

BTW, I have indeed taken a "long" break over the Labor Day long weekend.

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by romad

...
First, I set the sorting to Author+Series. I then imported four books of a 5-book series, but MR does NOT sort them according to series number but sorts by Author+Title so series is sorted books 4, 3, 1, 5 instead of 1, 3, 4, 5. How do I get the sorting into the proper sequential order? Is there a way to manually move the books into their proper order?
...

Can you show a screenshot of what's wrong in book list view?

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by glenm125

Actually, this doesn't do quite what I want, and I think the difference may center on the concept of identical books.
...

With your multiple posts, I think I understand what you want. Let's see what we can do technically with the newly enhanced calibre OPDS server code, thanks to kovidgoyal, to accomodate your requests without disrupting existing book models of MapleRead.

[sbaylor]

See my reply here.

[romad]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

Can you show a screenshot of what's wrong in book list view?

No, I already tried a few things and found that it will work this way:

In Calibre I edited the metadata of each book in the series to show the series name and the position of the book in the series. I then exported only the ePub files for those books which I then imported into MapleRead. This put the five books in the proper sequence.

Previously, thinking the problem was due to my missing a book from within the sequence, I had imported the missing book; even with all the books having the series name & numbers, they stayed in author+title. Deleting the books and then re-importing the series as a group seems to make it work.

So, now I need to go through all my books in Calibre and identify those that are in series. Once I check/edit the series metadata for each group, I'll then import each series as a group.

BTW, I was thinking that this MapleRead forum should be in the E-Book Software section rather than in the E-Book Readers section as the latter is hardware related.

[thomasmorus]

One of the real good readers out there, thanks

2 questions:
1.) I am using MR CE and when I import books via Calibre odps the series and series Number information are lost
2.) With the new version of calbre (2.67) the last modifcation date is avalible in the odps feed, i would really like to use this date as the book added date. Why: Every time i change the bookreader SW or my device, all my books are comming in with the am dae added (3000+ books at the moment)

Thanks for your help and best regards
Thomas

[sbaylor]

Originally Posted by thomasmorus

One of the real good readers out there, thanks

2 questions:
1.) I am using MR CE and when I import books via Calibre odps the series and series Number information are lost

I cannot reproduce this problem. I guess you're re-importing the same books that are already present in your MR library. If yes, try deleting the books first from MR and then re-importing from calibre.

2.) With the new version of calbre (2.67) the last modifcation date is avalible in the odps feed, i would really like to use this date as the book added date. Why: Every time i change the bookreader SW or my device, all my books are comming in with the am dae added (3000+ books at the moment)

Thanks for your help and best regards
Thomas

The new date info, as requested by glenm125, is supposed to be the "modified date". but not the (added) date of the book, as recorded in calibre. We can't use the same date to mean two different dates.

Please make your request known to the calibre developer as suggested in an earlier post.

[romad]

I'm following your recommendation and using PC Upload to get my ePubs into MR. However, your first answer to Thomas above leads me to conclude that if I upload an ePub but later I have to make a slight change in the metadata and upload it again, MR does NOT overwrite the previous uploaded file but installs the new version in addition so I'll end up with two ePub files of the same book. Am I understanding it correctly?

[thomasmorus]

Originally Posted by sbaylor

I cannot reproduce this problem. I guess you're re-importing the same books that are already present in your MR library. If yes, try deleting the books first from MR and then re-importing from calibre.

No, this is not the solution, as I moved to new device and had to reupload all my books and it is still not working. I then used the PC Upload method which worked!

Originally Posted by sbaylor

The new date info, as requested by glenm125, is supposed to be the "modified date". but not the (added) date of the book, as recorded in calibre. We can't use the same date to mean two different dates.

Please make your request known to the calibre developer as suggested in an earlier post.

I Understand this, but it would already help a lot if the date "Last modifed" could be used; as I do not modify many books after their intially load in Calbre

[thomasmorus]

Hello S. Baylor

according to Kovid, the date added is already part of the opds feed:

Kovidgoyal;3390861 -The date added is part of the OPDS acquisition feed as <published>

So please integrate it into the data twhen importing from the Calibre OPDS

Thanks and best regards

Thomas