Release : New Tool to Edit ePubs TOC, Edit with Sigil and keep you TOC

[nrapallo]

Oops another issue.

I downloaded a Gutenberg .html and created a .epub using calibre via my GuteBook program and the resulting .epub fails to continue/open when the Add screen is invoked in v1.3.4. It does open at the Add screen properly in v1.3.2.

Is it coded improperly? The underlying .html is straight from Project Gutenberg etext #22381.

I attach that troublesome .epub below for your perusal.

[Nigol]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Oops another issue.

I downloaded a Gutenberg .html and created a .epub using calibre via my GuteBook program and the resulting .epub fails to continue/open when the Add screen is invoked in v1.3.4. It does open at the Add screen properly in v1.3.2.

It is because you have a image in the Table of Content, because the previous version didn't care if Anchors were already present or not in the TOC when opening the Add dialog. Now it parses the files in the TOC to see which Anchors are present, And the problem was due to the App trying to parse the image (I guess that it would have taken a long time, but would have finished eventually.)

For now just remove your Unnamed file at the top and it will open right up, but I will put a check to remove it all together, because it will not work in calibre viewer (opens a different window) and ADE. I do not think it is supported to have a image directly in the TOC.

[nrapallo]

Pushing the envelope always allows you to discover the weirdest things....

Thanks again!

[nrapallo]

Nigol, any interest in adding a new edit option in ePubFixer on the main screen, namely an "Edit Text Files" using any user-supplied text editor?

I have used tweak_epub (part of the Atlantis Word Processor) and it's simplicity is it's strength. It just opens the .epub, let's you change some text using your own text editor for any file therein contained (except images) and then saves the .epub.

It's useful for deleting/editing a CSS style that doesn't work or changing some metadata info. It doesn't pre-parse nor post-split like Sigil, but it get's you (quickly) right to the text you want to change and move on!

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Nigol, any interest in adding a new edit option in ePubFixer on the main screen, namely an "Edit Text Files" using any user-supplied text editor?

Wouldn't this duplicate Calibre's Tweak epub feature?

(...Nigol is of course free to add whatever functionality he wants...)

[Nigol]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Nigol, any interest in adding a new edit option in ePubFixer on the main screen, namely an "Edit Text Files" using any user-supplied text editor?

I have used tweak_epub (part of the Atlantis Word Processor) and it's simplicity is it's strength. It just opens the .epub, let's you change some text using your own text editor for any file therein contained (except images) and then saves the .epub.

It's useful for deleting/editing a CSS style that doesn't work or changing some metadata info. It doesn't pre-parse nor post-split like Sigil, but it get's you (quickly) right to the text you want to change and move on!

Well there's kind of actually is this option. The Edit in Sigil option is not bound to the Sigil executable, but whatever program you set. You could actually use any editor. On closing it will restore the Table of Content by finding the files in the zip.

I have not tested it with the program you talked about, but I am sure it would work.

Update : I have tested it with the Tweak_epub you talked about and it works perfectly.

[Chang]

Originally Posted by Nigol

The program is written in C#, which means that to run it you will need either .Net Runtime (3.5) or Mono on Linux or MAC.

That said Mono is not an exact port of the .NET framework and there will surely be some parts of it that are not working. Maybe someone with some experience with Linux could give a hand, has I don't really plan on using Linux soon.

But I have checked the compatibility with Mono. The only problem I see is the WebBrowser window not running on OSX. On version 1.2 only (I changed some things that would not have pass the tests.)

But there is some problems with the libraries I am using, but looking at the report it does not look like something that is used in my App and could be safely removed (all are open source). But there will have some testing to be done and some code modification to do.

Looks like a nice piece of software and would become handy because I use Sigil for editing my EPUB files. Problem is that I'm working on Mac. Any progress on building Mac version? Other question that comes in my mind is: after Sigil 0.4.0 release, will this be useless? Anyway, keep up the good work!

[Nigol]

The Edit in Sigil would probably be useless, but it could be use changed to more easily send to third party editor. But the whole program will still have a use, the Table of Content editor for example.

Why don't you have a try at it with Mono? the split chapters will probably not work because the dll is native for windows (you could just replace it with the MAC version of Tidy). I think the preview might not work on MAC. BUt maybe someone could test it, I would love to have some feedback about OS X / Linux compatibility.

[crutledge]

I have been playing with the tool and it can be very useful.

Can it convert the inline toc to the toc.ncx? To me this would be very useful since the inline toc contains data no carried in the chapter header.

Perhaps I just need the "for dummies" version of instructions.

[Nigol]

Originally Posted by crutledge

I have been playing with the tool and it can be very useful.

Can it convert the inline toc to the toc.ncx? To me this would be very useful since the inline toc contains data no carried in the chapter header.

Perhaps I just need the "for dummies" version of instructions.

No it does not, but you can recreate it pretty easily with the Add window. But since calibre does exactly that it might not be necessary to have.

To do it in calibre, just type / in structure detection to disable it and click force auto generated chapter in the second screen and it will use the inline TOC to generate the toc.ncx. (I think, info from memory) You could then tweak it with ePubFixer.

[nrapallo]

Originally Posted by crutledge

Can it convert the inline toc to the toc.ncx? To me this would be very useful since the inline toc contains data no carried in the chapter header.

Charlie, it doesn't automatically do this, but you can manually manipulate it to resemble that TOC. However, right now, ePubFixer works opposite to this way of thinking/processing, i.e. it shows you where the anchors are not where the hrefs are.

As an ebook creator, I too would like to know where <a href>'s are located and where they point (as I mentioned before ). This way it would be easy for you to replicate the internal TOC in toc.ncx form i.e. the Table of Contents .html page shows all the necessary hrefs/links, so it would be easier to have ePubFixer show you those href's in a way that adding them would duplicate its TOC structure.

Perhaps, Nigol, can revisit this and include a Show href option?

Perhaps I just need the "for dummies" version of instructions.

I'm happy to assist, just link to an existing .epub you want to "fix" and how.

[Nigol]

Originally Posted by nrapallo

Perhaps, Nigol, can revisit this and include a Show href option?

I could, but like I said earlier calibre does convert inline TOC to a standard TOC.

But, I would like request where you can't really do that with anything else, or it takes 2 hours where I could automate this so it is easier.

[Nigol]

Posted a new update. Some tweaks and bug fixes.

v1.3.6
- Put a Check that will prevent any none html file to be loaded or saved in the TOC.
- Changed the Version.xml location on the web, so it is more easily changed. Older version might not always show the new version number.
- Multiple Tweaks to Splitting so more file are compatible and do not crash.
- Changed the way settings are stored, so they are kept regardless of version, build or file location.
(The default MS was to have a setting file for each location and each version, so moving the executable would have all your setting lost.)
- A message will pop-up when opening a protected file, telling you it is protected and preventing you from editing this file.
- Added a Expand & Collapse All option in the Add window.
- When adding new Chapters, the text that was already selected in the Add window will now be remembered.
- In the Add window, clicking the columns header will sort the files.
- Added a Recent Files list under a new File Menu in the Main window.
- Fixed a Couple of Bug.

[arman68]

How can we get the DRM build?

[Nigol]

Originally Posted by arman68

How can we get the DRM build?

You need to build it from the source, this way you also have the latest unreleased changes.

You will need Visual C# 2010 Express (free) or Visual Studio 2010
and tortoise SVN (free) to download the source from Google code

There is a special build called Release_DRM.

Also the option is turned off by default, you will need to enable it.